Online Safety Help and Advice

Online Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at Baltonsborough CE VC Primary School. Online Safety is taught to all pupils and makes them aware of how they can to stay safe and behave appropriately online but we can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with you.

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Your help is needed to talk to your children about how they can keep themselves safe and behave appropriately online.  Children can accidentally or deliberately be exposed to illegal, unwanted or unpleasant content, comments or activity online and there are steps you can take at home to minimise this risk.

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Discuss together as a family how the internet will be used in your house. Consider what information should be kept private (such as personal information, photos in school uniform etc.) and decide rules for making and meeting online friends. Ensure your children know the risks of accepting friends’ requests from strangers online and make sure you know what your child is doing online much as you would offline.

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Take an active interest in your child’s life online and talk openly with them about the things they do. Talk to your child and ask them to show or even teach you how they use the internet, learn which websites or tools they like to use and why. Learning together with your child can often open opportunities to discuss safe behaviour online.

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Make sure your child knows it’s important that they tell an adult they trust if anything happens online that makes them feel scared, worried or uncomfortable.

Remember, the internet is an essential part of young people’s lives and provides them with tremendous opportunities. The vast majority use it without coming to any harm so it’s essential to be realistic: banning the internet or web sites often will not work and it can make a child feel less able to report a problem or concern, so education around safe use is essential.

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The NSPCC highlight the importance of online safety. To children, online friends are real friends. Online life is real life. There's no distinction.

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For advice and support on setting up parental controls, adjusting privacy settings, understanding social networks and more check out the links below or call the NSPCC online safety advice helpline 0808 800 5002 - Lines are open from 9am - 7pm, Monday to Friday and 10am - 6pm on weekends. All calls are free of charge.

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