Online Safety is an integral part of children’s education in today’s digital world and is embedded in their learning at school. Online safety covers all electronic media and devices, we constantly strive to protect and educate our pupils in the digital world we live in. At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, we strive to support and help, our parents and children, to improve their own understanding of Online Safety issues so they can learn to use the internet and all digital media in a safe and secure way.

Education for a connected world – 2020 provides a framework to equip children and young people for a digital life. The introduction within this document states that ‘Children have the right to enjoy childhood online, to access safe online spaces, and to benefit from all the opportunities that a connected world can bring to them, appropriate to their age and development. As they grow older, it is crucial that they learn to balance the benefits offered by technology with a critical awareness of their own and other’s online behaviour and develop effective strategies for staying safe and making a positive contribution online.’

As part of your child’s curriculum and the development of computer skills, we provide the children with the opportunity to access the internet and use it in a variety of different ways. Your child will always be supervised in these lessons and we have taken positive steps to deal with the risks that online activity may pose in school. Our school internet access provider operates a filtering system that restricts access to inappropriate materials.

Above you will find the link to our online safety policy in school.

As a parent you'll know how important the internet is to children; they use it to learn, play, socialise and express themselves. It's a highly creative place of amazing opportunities. But the technology children use every day can seem a bit daunting and you might worry about the risks your child can face online - such as bullying, contact from strangers or the possibility of them seeing illegal or inappropriate content.

Here are some useful guides, websites and other information to help you keep yourselves and your children safe. As adults we can sometimes be worried that we do not have enough information about games and apps. These websites will help you to learn about the important elements of online safety, and will give you the knowledge to make informed decisions.

Thinkyouknow.co.uk is a fantastic resource for parents, they have provided a set of Home Activity packs that can be completed with your children. These activities will support you online safety at home. 

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/support-tools/home-activity-worksheets

The nationalonlinesafety.com website has a wide variety of useful online safety guides available for parents to access. Follow the link below and you will be able to access these guides, 

https://nationalonlinesafety.com/guides

Some useful guides published by the national online safety website include – age ratings, safer apps to use with the children, how to keep your child safe online and how to be kind online. These are all very useful for children and parents/carers.

The NSPCC have written some excellent advice for parents and carers about setting parental controls on a number of different types of devices. Please access this information by following the link below: 

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/parental-controls/

Vodafone publish a useful and up to date guide for all the family to access, they produce regular updates within their own digital parenting magazine which can be downloaded below: 

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/digital-parenting

Internetmatters.org is another useful resource for parents and carers to use, it provides up to date information. They provide excellent guides for your child’s age, as your child’s internet use grows you can use these guides to help you promote positive online behaviours.

https://www.internetmatters.org.uk

More useful websites include:

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk

https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety centre/ This website allows you to seek advice and report instances of online bullying or behaviours that are concerning for you or others. It also has advice and support for children, parents and carers.