Online Safety – Keeping Your Children Safe on the Internet – St. Mary the Virgin Church of England School, Hartfield

As we are now living in a digital age, it is becoming more and more important for teachers and parents to keep up to date with the technological advances that are going on around us in order to protect and safeguard our children. The school has subscribed to a magazine called 'Digital Parenting' which will give teachers and parents resources and ideas for how to support children's online learning and understanding, while safeguarding them against the many risks. Once the magazine is in school, we will distribute for you to read. The website that supports this magazine has some effective tools which may be useful for you and your children - www.vodafone.co.uk/newscentre/smart-living/digital-parenting

If you have any concerns or queries regarding your child's online behaviour, please come and see Mrs Bastin, Mrs Hill, Mr Procter or your child's class teacher.

Every Windows laptop in our school that children have access to will have The Big Red Button installed. This button is located at the top right corner of the computer screen. The children are taught that if something on-screen upsets or worries them, perhaps they might feel uncomfortable by what they have seen or heard, they should immediately click on The Big Red Button. Once activated, the computer screen will be covered with a colourful scene with a written message that instructs the child to get adult help.

Children and young people are likely to be as good as, if not better than, their parents at using the Internet. However, being good at using technology does not mean they have the life-experience and wisdom to handle all of the situations they can come across.

Children and young people are prone to the same kinds of risks (including spam and scam emails, fraud and identity theft) as everybody else. However, there are also other, more sinister threats that may result from going online, such as inappropriate contact from people who may wish to abuse, exploit or bully them, and exposure to inappropriate material.

Click the following links for more information: