Safer Internet day 2021

On Tuesday this week it was Safer Internet day. Throughout the week, schools across the UK have participated in activities to raise awareness about staying safe in the online world. During lockdown this is more important than ever, as children are spending increasing amounts of time online.

Both the NSPCC and SWGfl (a charitable trust set up to help everyone benefit from technology, free from harm) both report that during lockdown children are at a significantly increased risk of harm online. See the following resource for more information on this https://swgfl.org.uk/assets/documents/graphic.pdf.

Their theme this year was ‘An internet we trust: exploring reliability in the online world.’ To investigate this in Upper School we made Youtube style videos to warn others about unreliable sources and misleading content. We discussed how Youtubers and Influencers are likely to illegally try to advertise products for personal gain and how we can recognise this. Watch some the pupils' brilliant presentations on the links at the bottom of this article. 

Over the last week we have also been recapping some of the key issues which are likely to affect children in KS2. These include cyberbullying, talking to strangers and keeping personal information safe. It is really important that the children understand these fundamental issues in order to be able to safely enjoy all that the internet has to offer.

How can you help?

The important thing to remember is that the internet is a brilliant tool when used safely and responsibly. We would encourage you to help keep your kids safe online by asking them questions about what they have been doing and challenging them to think about the potential dangers in doing everyday activities such as playing online games, or messaging their friends. Make sure you know their passwords for all their devices. Encourage them to come to you with any questions or concerns that they may have and supervise their online activities. This is important even during online lessons as the children could be accessing other material at the same time as their learning activities.

This link has a great pack you can download. It has conversation starters, family online safety plans and activities for you and your children.

https://www.saferinternet.org....

Miss Jenny