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Online Safety

 

In today’s world, it is more important than ever that children know how to keep themselves safe. We make e-safety a high priority within our school community. It is incredibly important that parents take the time to talk to their children and set rules within their homes. We strongly suggest that you put a filter in place at home to prevent your children accessing adult sites, and that you monitor your child’s computer access.

E-safety is a hugely important issue both in school and at home.  In school, the sites children are able to access are strictly filtered and their activity on the computers and iPads closely monitored.

We understand that this is more difficult at home, and we are able to offer advice to parents on how to keep children safe online.

Some of these are listed below, but if you require any further information please contact Mrs Lane or Mrs Rising, our E-safety co-ordinators, via the school office.

Top Tips for keeping your children safe online

1. Use the parental safety feature offered by your internet provider. Here you can set time limits, restrict access to sites and specify age limits.

2. Ensure that mobile devices have the safety settings activated

3. Monitor use by checking the history of all Internet-enabled devices.

4. Don't be fooled by your child telling you they are the 'only' one without a social media account. They are not! Please keep in mind that anything posted on the Internet never fully disappears even after deletion. There are age limits attached to these sites for a reason.

5. PEGI ratings are issued to inform you that the content is unsuitable for children below the age specified. Again, don't let your child pressure you into thinking they are the 'only' one without a particular game.

Online Safety Update

It has been brought to our attention that we have a lot of children in our playground currently playing the 'Red light, Green light' game from the Netflix show Squid Games.  We understand that this is also coming through altered versions on Roblox and TikTok. 

Obviously, the original version of this 'game' is highly unsuitable for all children, and we just wanted to draw your attention to the adapted versions, which are still manifesting as the player being 'shot' in different forms if they are moving on a red light.  This is something that we are obviously discouraging within school.

Further information regarding the concerns around this can be found at

https://nationalonlinesafety.com/wakeupwednesday/squid-game-trending-across-platforms-what-parents-need-to-know?fbclid=IwAR3B2t_PHwuo2hUU46lj7KiWnxqSnd4fBGwUfKz-L3wn_JJ6w35DqpRYhcw

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak to Mrs Lane, Mrs Smith, Mrs John or your child's class teacher.

Because of this increase in the use of technology, we felt that it was important to send you a few online safety reminders that may help to protect your child in this ever-changing world.   We will also be celebrating Online Safety Day every year and embrace the lessons that  it teaches.

Attached are a range of information sheets relating to the most influential games and apps that children are currently accessing online and are causing us some concern.  These include the game 'Among Us' and the chat sites 'Discord' and 'Omegel'.  In school, we have been supporting some children and families dealing with issues relating to these.   

We understand that these issues can cause some difficult conversations at home, so please do not hesitate to contact staff through the year group emails if you would like support in dealing with anything that may arise.  We are able to offer support to children and families ourselves or can signpost you for further help and information. 

We suggest that you check your child’s devices and delete apps that are inappropriate. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Lane or Mrs Rising via the office, and we will be happy to help.

The NSPCC  have great help pages for parents to browse and discuss with their child. 

https://parentsafe.lgfl.net/#h.2g9eejsu7naf

https://www.net-aware.org.uk/networks/

The Essex Safeguarding Children Board has links to organisations and information covering a range of topics, including online safety and child exploitation.

Digital Parenting Guide. NetMatters

The 2 Johns – former Essex police detectives - have produced informative YouTube videos to explain the steps you can take to keep your child safe online. Stay up to date with the latest videos from The 2 Johns. Be aware of the content. We recommend watching without children present.

Skipssafetynet.org For Parenting guides to help you keep you child safe online and stay informed.

For more information on how to keep your family safe and well, visit the Staying Well Children and Families page.

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