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Penwortham Primary School

PenworthamPrimary School

Online Safety

Teaching children how to be safe online is vital work that feeds into all of our computing teaching at Penwortham. We train pupils to become 'Digital Leaders' so that they can support their peers and lead assemblies and workshops to teach others about staying safe online. 

If you want to report harmful content or online abuse  to make a report.

Safer Internet Day took place on 9th February 2021 this year, and our pupils took part in some filming to make videos to share with parents and carers. The theme for the day was:

An internet we trust: exploring reliability in the online world

The UK Safer Internet Centre has put together this report, entitled: How young people are managing reliability and misleading content online.

 Videos of Definitions

Definitions: Sceptical (Film for 5-11 year olds) from UK Safer Internet Centre on Vimeo.

  

Definitions: Phishing (Film for 5-11 year olds) from UK Safer Internet Centre on Vimeo.

  

Definitions: Persuasive design (Film for 5-11 year olds) from UK Safer Internet Centre on Vimeo.

  

Definitions: Misinformation (Film for 5-11 year olds) from UK Safer Internet Centre on Vimeo.

 

 

Definitions: Hoax (Film for 5-11 year olds) from UK Safer Internet Centre on Vimeo.

 

 

Definitions: Fake news (Film for 5-11 year olds) from UK Safer Internet Centre on Vimeo.

  

Definitions: Disinformation (Film for 5-11 year olds) from UK Safer Internet Centre on Vimeo.

 

Parent Info 

 Please visit https://parentsafe.lgfl.net/ for great resources and support around online safety at home. 

Roblox is really popular with our pupils but we have had some children concerned about content they have seen via the game. Please watch this video about keeping your child safe when using Roblox. 

We believe that technology can bring so many varied benefits to children's lives and is a brilliant source of information and entertainment. However, all online activity carries risks, so we want to ensure our children know how to stay safe online. Our school takes online safety very seriously, and whenever children are using the internet, we will discuss ways to stay safe and use the internet respectfully. This is complemented by online safety afternoons every term which the whole school takes part in.

The London Grid for Learning's Digisafe team carried out a survey of 40,000 pupils on online safety. The findings have been used to create the document 'Hopes and Streams.' 

 

The key messages we give the children are:

  • They should be supervised (from EYFS and KS1 children being monitored and watching while online to KS2 children not having phones or consoles in private rooms). We link this to Article 3: A child's best interests must always be considered. 
  • They need to be responsible users of the internet and  think before they write, post or share. We link this to Articles 13, 14 and 15: All children have the right to express themselves, as long as this does not harm others. 
  • They should have time limits for their access to the internet. We link this to Article 29: All children have the right to reach their full potential.
  • Age limits on games and social media are set for a reason, and should be respected. We link this to Article 31: All children have the right to play and relax and also Article 19: All children have the right to be protected from harm.

 

There is a lot of information to help you keep your children safe online. We have collected here some of the most useful guides. 

Below you can find out how to: 

  • set up parental controls
  • check age and content of apps and games
  • report inappropriate or worrying content 

Our Penwortham Online Safety Workshop 

Click on the link below to download the Power Point which was used at the parent workshop. 

Keeping Ourselves Safe Online

Childnet have produced leaflets in various languages. Please click on the links below:

Bengali     Hindi     Polish     Punjabi     Urdu

 

Parental controls

Parental controls is the name for a group of settings that put you in control of what content your child can see. Combined with privacy settings these can help you protect your children from the things they shouldn’t see or experience online. According to Internet Matters, 65% of young people aged 11- 16 are in favour of parental controls!

The 4 big internet providers in the UK – BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media - provide their customers with free parental controls which can be activated at any time, follow the link here:  Parental Controls

 For individual apps and devices there are many different guides for how to set up parental controls.

 Guides for parental controls

Playstation 4 Parental Controls

Youtube: YouTube offers an app made specifically for children which allows parents to restrict searches, set timelimits and create a password to ensure only you can change the settings. We strongly advise all parents to use YouTube kids.

 

Checking an app or game

Children use a huge range of games and apps and it is difficult to keep up with trends. The website NetAware gives guidance on all games and apps including the age restriction (which is there due to content rather than ability), content and potential risks. 

 

Making a report

Most services have rules about what kind of content is allowed on the site. Often if something is harassing an individual, pornographic or violent it breaks the rules and can be reported. Here's how to make a report

Report Harmful Content

 When children are using websites and become worried or concerned, they should look out for the report symbol, that looks like this:

 

Useful websites