Online safety at home

Creating a safe online environment for children at school is a responsibility we take very seriously and you can find more information on how we do this in our E-Safety Policy (available on our policies page). We know that parents or carers will also wish to create a safe online environment at home and the following information and resources may help if you are unsure how to go about this.

We strongly recommend you set age-appropriate parental controls on digital devices and use internet filters to block malicious websites. These are usually free, but often need to be turned on. The resources below or device instruction manuals will help you find information on how to do this for your devices.

Don't know where to start?

These resources support parents and carers to keep their children safe online:

• Thinkuknow provides advice from the National Crime Agency (NCA) on staying safe online
• Parent info is a collaboration between Parentzone and the NCA providing support and guidance for parents from leading experts and organisations
• Childnet offers a toolkit to support parents and carers of children of any age to start discussions about their online life, to set boundaries around online behaviour and technology use, and to find out where to get more help and support
• Internet matters provides age-specific online safety checklists, guides on how to set parental controls on a range of devices, and a host of practical tips to help children get the most out of their digital world
• London Grid for Learning has support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online, including tips to keep primary aged children safe online
• Net-aware has support for parents and carers from the NSPCC, including a guide to social networks, apps and games
• Let’s Talk About It has advice for parents and carers to keep children safe from online radicalisation
• UK Safer Internet Centre has tips, advice, guides and other resources to help keep children safe online, including parental controls offered by home internet providers and safety tools on social networks and other online services

Reporting concerns

If you have any concerns regarding a child's welfare, please report this to one of our Safeguarding Team, led by the Safeguarding & Welfare Officer, as soon as possible.

You can also report harmful or upsetting content found online as well as online bullying or abuse to, and seek advice from, other agencies in the following ways:

• report harmful online content to the UK Safer Internet Centre
• get government advice and trusted resources from Educate Against Hate on safeguarding from radicalisation, building resilience to extremism, and promoting shared values
• get advice on reporting online abuse from the National Crime Agency’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection command
• get advice and support from Anti-Bullying Alliance for children who are being bullied

Covid-19 closure

During period of school closure or when children are self-isolating they will be spending more time than usual online and we know that parents and carers will be concerned to manage this extra use of technology and support their children to learn remotely as well as browse and play safely online. Childnet have published a good summary here which provides recommendations for age-appropriate online safety activities as well as suggestions on how to make the most of the internet as a family if you are sharing access to computers and other devices.

Remote education

A lot of research and time has been spent setting up our remote learning portal and in respect of online safety we will:

• follow advice from the UK government and other agencies on undertaking remote education safely
   
• ensure teaching staff understand how to undertake remote education safely
   
• adopt the same principles for staff behaviour as set out in our staff code of conduct
   
• continue to only communicate with parents and staff from school email accounts and not personal ones
   
• expect a "classroom standard" of behaviour from all participants, staff and students
   
• consider carefully the appropriateness of any one to one online tuition or pastoral support to help safeguard children and staff
   
• provide information to parents, via email and this webpage, on ways they can help to keep their child safe online

It is especially important that parents and carers are aware of what pupils are being asked to do, including:

• sites pupils are being asked to use
   
• school staff pupils will interact with

Our e-safety team

Mandy Sands, our Safeguarding & Welfare Lead, also leads on e-safety. If you have any concerns about safeguarding in respect of online activities please report this to Ms Sands or another member of our safeguarding team.