E-Safety

E-Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at St Mary's. 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. Any e-Safety incidents are recorded and managed in accordance with our e-Safety Policy. 
E-Safety is taught to all pupils explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online.

We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the e-Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately 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.

Cyberwise workshop

On Wednesday, March 7, we held a Cyberwise workshop in the hall for parents to press home the importance of children staying safe online. Here is some of the feedback.
I found it very interesting and learned a lot, I enjoyed it very much.
D. Bignall.

Great workshop, very interesting and I now have a better understanding and knowledge of online safety and parental control.
Julia Camara.

Very useful information. Good to have more training like that.
Joanna Roaynell.

Great workshop, I learned a lot about safety on the internet. Lots of good info, which I didn't know before.
Frances McCourt.

The handouts were informative as were the family work. Enjoyed it.
Lisa Johnston.

Very useful workshop. Improved my understanding of some of the apps available and what we need to do to keep children safe from inappropriate content. I think it would be really helpful to do with children too to improve their understanding.
Caroline Johnson.

Very useful - could have been condensed as there was a bit of repetition. Very good presenter, who was very good with the kids. Could have got more people if held at 3.15pm?
Rosie Hunt.

I found this workshop extremely interesting and useful. As a non-gamer myself, it has highlighted to me many of the good and especially the bad points, but modern technology is far from one of my strong points. However, it was worth attending this workshop. Thank you.
Keith Brookes.


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Useful Leaflets to Download
Nottingham City Safeguarding Children Board
​Staying safe online - Useful websites and phone numbers for parents and carers
Leicestershire County Council - Cyberbullying
Advice for parents and carers on supporting your child to be safe and happy online.
Derby City Council
​Staysafe Online
Childnet International
​An information and advice sheet for parents and carers including links to web-based resources such as Internet Matters, ChildLine, CEOP and the Internet Watch Foundation. 

Search Engines

Please note that no search engine is ever 100% safe but below provides some links to some “safer” search engines:

Research searching
CBBC
Kids Yahoo

Google also offers a safer search option for children searching on the Internet. 

Image searching
Pics4Learning
picsearch

Gaming
When children are accessing games via Xbox LIVE, privacy settings can be set up.  To read more, click here.

Websites for more information

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 ‘e’ 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.

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The “Thinkuknow” website is brought to you by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre.



Kidsmart gives you lots of advice on how to stay safe online.

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.

E-Safety in School

Throughout the school, each class spent time focusing on E-Safety and how to stay safe online. Here is what a few of the classes got up to: 

The Foundation Unit heard the story of Smartie the Penguin and worked together to help Smartie make the best decisions when on the internet. 

Later in the week, the F2 children designed a poster to help remind each other how to keep safe on the Internet.   
The Year 6 children also designed e-safety posters using software called Textease.  

bCyberwise Workshops - Y4, Y5 & Y6

In April, Children in Years 4, 5 and 6 worked on the bCyberwise programme delivered by Coram Life Education. The online safety workshops helped children to learn how to be respectful and safe online and to promote positive cyber citizenship.

The skills developed in the session included:
  • Safe and respectful behaviours when using communication technology
  • Identify responsible, self-protective assertive techniques to respond to unsafe or disrespectful behaviour in online and offline situations
  • Identify strategies for keeping personal information safe online
  • Demonstrate strategies to deal with both face-to-face and online bullying
  • Demonstrate strategies and skills for supporting others who are bullied
  • Accept that safe, responsible and respectful behaviour is necessary when interacting with others online and face-to-face
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