Online Safety
Online Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at Saint William's Catholic Primary School and Sparklers Nursery. We have extensive security measures in place in school, which are monitored both internally and externally, to help safeguard pupils from potential dangers or unsuitable material. Our web filtering is provided by BTLS and information can be found here. Any Online Safety incidents are recorded and managed. Online Safety is taught to all pupils, explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online as part of our Computing and PSHE curriculums.
We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the Online Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online. Please follow the link below for further advice and guidance on how to keep our children safe online.
It’s essential to be realistic – banning the internet or technology will not work and it often makes a child less likely to report a problem. Education around safe use is essential.
Search engines
As you will be aware, we do ask children to extend their knowledge and skills through doing extension work at home. This can often include research. No search engine is ever 100% safe but below provides some links to some “safer” search engines:
Gaming
When children are accessing games via Xbox LIVE we need to be extra cautious; privacy settings can be set up. To read more, click here.
Websites for more information
Please click on the icon to go to the relevant site
CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) delivers a multi-agency service dedicated to tackling the abuse and exploitation of children in the real and in the ‘online’ world. Often it is referred to as an online 999. By clicking on the button, young people and parents can get advice on a range of issues such as viruses, hacking and dealing with bullying online.
Vodafone have produced a digital parenting magazine which informs parents about the various technologies children are accessing today. There is information on Facebook settings, Xbox 360 settings, Blackberry settings, jargon busting and many more ‘How to Guides’. They are well worth a read and some are attached below for you to download.
New e-Safety Portal for Parents and Schools – Internet Matters
Internet Matters is a new online portal designed for parents to access simple, easy and practical advice about online safety for their children, right through from pre-school to teens. It provides tips on protecting children from online grooming, cyberbullying, privacy and identity theft and inappropriate content. Internet Matters is a not-for profit organisation set up by BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media.