-Primary-School.png "Powell's School Church of England (VA) Primary School")
Powell's SchoolE-Safety
Online safety at Powell’s
At Powell’s School we welcome and encourage the use of new technologies and aim to use them, when they are appropriate, to support children enhancing their work. We recognise our responsibility to take all reasonable measures to ensure that the risks of harm to children’s welfare are minimised; and, where there are concerns about young people’s welfare, to take appropriate actions to address those concerns.
E-safety Curriculum
Our work regarding online safety with children from Early Years to Year 6 is supported through the Computing (Purplemash) and PSHE (Gloucestershire’s Pink) scheme of work and curriculum. The knowledge and skills children need to remain safe online are taught throughout the year and to all year groups in an age appropriate way.
Whole School Long Term Computing Overview
Whole School Progression Knowledge and Skills
Cultural Capital - E-safety Committee and our Cyber Superhero’s.
To enhance the children’s knowledge of e-safety Powell’s we continue to work with the local police schools beat team. The team deliver an assembly to the children in Key Stage 2 and run workshops for Years 4,5 and 6. In addition our Year 6 children are supported by a separate visit by the team to prepare them for life in secondary school.
We have an E-safety committee which is composed of the e-safety coordinator, school link governor and representatives from Year 6 children who are known as our Cyber Superstars. The committee meet three times a year to address online issues and promote e-safety awareness both at school and at home.
The work of the committee is very important, we have recently held a whole school e-safety poster competition where the winning entries ideas contributed to creating a new Powell’s School Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 Online Safety poster. The posters are displayed at points around the school where there is access to the internet.
Our Cyber Superstars support our children outside of the classroom environment. They meet with the e-safety leader at our School’s ‘Chatty Café’ every Wednesday to listen to any concerns or questions that children would like to share. They also join with the e-safety leader to plan and deliver online safety assemblies to the whole school three times a year. Our children’s voice
As staff, we believe that it is essential to listen to our ‘children’s voice’ in order to understand and support children to the best of our ability. Our children would like to share some e-safety and online safety advice.
Early Years, “Mummy and Daddy know what I play so I’m safe.”
Year 1, “Using an Avatar is fun, but it’s really to hide who you are and keep you safe.“
Year 2, “Don’t share your passwords or people can get into your work and ruin it. You wouldn’t know who it was either.”
Year 3, “Make sure parents know what you are looking at online, some websites are not safe.”
Year 4, “You have to be old enough to play some games, some games are not made for us to play. Check with your Mum and Dad first. ”
Year 5, “You wouldn’t send a photo of yourself around class, so why would you post it on to the internet where you don’t know who can see it.
Year 6, “The first person to keep me safe is me. I control what I share.”
Online Learning:
Childnet has grouped potential online risks into four categories known as the ‘4 c’s’ - Content, Contact, Conduct and Commercialism.
Conduct: children may be at risk because of their own behaviour, for example, by sharing too much information
Children need to be aware of the impact that their online activity can have on both themselves and other people, and the digital footprint that they create on the internet. It’s easy to feel anonymous online and it’s important that children are aware of who is able to view, and potentially share, the information that they may have posted. When using the internet, it’s important to keep personal information safe and not share it with strangers. Discuss with your child the importance of reporting inappropriate conversations, messages, images and behaviours and how this can be done.
Content: age-inappropriate or unreliable content can be available to children
Some online content is not suitable for children and may be hurtful or harmful. This is true for content accessed and viewed via social networks, online games, blogs and websites. It’s important for children to consider the reliability of online material and be aware that it might not be true or written with a bias. Children may need your help as they begin to assess content in this way. There can be legal consequences for using or downloading copyrighted content, without seeking the author’s permission.
Contact: children can be contacted by bullies or people who groom or seek to abuse them
It is important for children to realise that new friends made online may not be who they say they are and that once a friend is added to an online account, you may be sharing your personal information with them. Regularly reviewing friends lists and removing unwanted contacts is a useful step. Privacy settings online may also allow you to customise the information that each friend is able to access. If you have concerns that your child is, or has been, the subject of inappropriate sexual contact or approach by another person, it’s vital that you report it to the police via the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (www.ceop.police.uk). If your child is the victim of cyberbullying, this can also be reported online and offline. Reinforce with your child the importance of telling a trusted adult straight away if someone is bullying them or making them feel uncomfortable, or if one of their friends is being bullied online.
Commercialism: young people can be unaware of hidden costs and advertising in apps, games and websites
Young people’s privacy and enjoyment online can sometimes be affected by advertising and marketing schemes, which can also mean inadvertently spending money online, for example within applications. Encourage your children to keep their personal information private, learn how to block both pop ups and spam emails, turn off in-app purchasing on devices where possible, and use a family email address when filling in online forms.
Children are keen to explore the online world, but often they are not mature enough to manage or understand the risks they come across. Help your child to manage these risks at home can be achieved by asking the questions:
-
Where are they going and what do they see? – This will help you talk about the content risk.
-
What do they do online? – This will help you understand any conduct risks and see whether they are chatting on anonymous sites or posting comments about themselves.
-
Who are they talking to? – This will help cover the contact risks, particularly if their online friends are people they don’t know.
-
Have you been asked for money or payment? – This will help you discuss the commerce risk and if any payments have been exchanged.
Guidance for Parents
At Powell’s we strive to keep up to date with any e-safety issues or concerns which are children maybe experiencing.
Please follow the link to view the E-safety awareness guide for parents at Powell's School created by the school’s e-safety leader.
Below is a guide to help inform parents and carers of appropriate age limits for children to access some social media sites.
Online Safety Websites:
Click icons to open
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 online world.
The "Thinkuknow" website is brought to you by The Child Exploitation and Online protection (CEOP) centre. It is a guide to online safety for young people. It offers e-safety advice and resources for children and parents.
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.
Ask About Games provides details on PEGI ratings, parental controls and advice on video games. It aims to answer questions parents and players may have about video game ratings and provide advice on how to game responsibly and get the most of them for their family.
ParentZone is an online site devoted to providing expert information to families and schools. They check and provide a range of issues with the aim of improving outcomes for children in a digital world.
The Internet Watch Foundation works internationally with the internet industry, police and governments to remove inappropriate content from the web. It can be used for reporting criminal online content in the UK.
Common Sense Media provides valuable information for parents to enable them to make smart media choices for the family. It provides unbiased information on educational ratings and reviews for movies, games, apps, TV shows, websites, books and music.
Childline provides free advice and information to those aged 18 years and below, including advice on 'online and mobile safety'. Childline also provides the 'zipit' app for iOS and android devices. The app aims to help young people respond safely to requests for inappropriate images by sending back a 'joke image. Information on the Zipit app may be found Here
