Online Safety Resources

The online world is posing an ever-increasing risk to children, and it is important that schools, parents and carers work together to take an active role in teaching children about online dangers. Learning how to act safely when using the internet is an incredibly important part of safeguarding our children.

Family Lives offers a confidential helpline service for families in England and Wales. (This service was previously known as Parentline.) There is advice on many issues, including bullying.

Childnet produces educational resources for students, parents, carers and teachers about topics that include cyberbullying, sexting, copyright and grooming. Childnet stated aim is to “<strong>make the internet a great and safe place for children and young people

National College produces a comprehensive online safety programme for parents, carers, students and teachers. This is a resource GMS has signed up to because knowledge is important if online dangers, and how best to react to an incident, are to be understood.

Internet Matters has guides and practical tips, specifically designed to support families online.

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) is the forum for reporting incidents.  Its aim is to protect young people from child exploitation. There is advice and guidance on what to do and how to seek help.

Mobile Chat Apps

We strongly encourage parents and carers to take an active and curious role in their child’s online world. In particular, we recommend regular conversations and checks using the “Three Cs” as an entry point:

• Content – what is your child seeing, sharing, or being exposed to online?
• Communication– who is your child communicating with, including group chats and direct messages?
• Commerce – are there any requests, links, or activities involving money, purchases or personal information?

Popular chat apps like WhatsApp are commonly used amongst students. Please remind your child that they should never accept invitations, links, or messages from people they do not know; they should immediately report, to a trusted adult, anything that makes them feel suspicious or uncomfortable. We also encourage families to review privacy settings, age restrictions and reporting/blocking tools on all apps or platforms used by the family.
As a school, we continue to educate students about digital citizenship, respectful online behaviour and how to seek help if something does not feel right.