Online safety resources for parents

The internet is an extraordinary learning resource and is a whole world of fun for our children.  Make sure your children are safe online by checking out the following resources:

• A good website is Thinkuknow and it has some great advice for parents of Primary school children about going online
• The NSPCC have some great advice for parents here
• Please check you have enabled the restrictions on all your computers and mobile devices at home

• Safer Internet  is another site where you can find e-safety tips, advice and resources to help children and young people stay safe on the internet.

• CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) is dedicated to eradicating the sexual abuse of children. That means we are part of UK policing and very much about tracking and bringing offenders to account either directly or in partnership with local and international forces

• CBBC Stay Safe gives tips and tricks to stay safe online, beat the cyber-bullies and become a super-surfer

The Internet has become an important part of children's lives, enabling them to research school projects, talk to their friends and access information from around the world. Increasing provision of the Internet in and out of schools brings with it the need to ensure that learners remain safe. Internet development is constantly evolving into ever more innovative areas with many websites enabling amazing creativity and interaction between peers.

Unfortunately though, there are times when Internet use can have a negative effect on children.

Parents, carers and adults in schools should be aware of the potential dangers and be taking measures to ensure safe usage by all.

Children at Great Kimble use both tablets and computers on a regular basis as part of their learning. In school, we have regular 'e-safety' activities, that are age-appropriate to remind children of the importance of keeping themselves safe online.

At home, many children are often given unsupervised access to the Internet. This potentially allows them to access all kinds of content (both good and bad) and bring it into their homes.

Here are a few tips:

• Keep your computer in a shared area so that you can always see what sites are being visited
• Talk to your child about what they are doing online 
• Facebook and all other Social Media Sites have a minimum age limit of 13, so our pupils should NOT be using them
• Google Safe Search is designed to screen sites that contain sexually explicit content and remove them from your search results. While no filter is 100% accurate, SafeSearch helps you avoid content you may prefer not to see or would rather your children did not stumble across.  By default, Moderate SafeSearch is turned on, which helps keep explicit images out of your search results. If you prefer you can change your setting to Strict filtering to help filter out explicit text as well as images. You can modify your computer's SafeSearch settings by clicking on Search settings at the top right of the Google homepage.
• Explore e-safety sites. They are great fun to explore, so why not browse through them with your children?

Always be careful when you or your children are using the internet. It can help you to keep in touch with your friends and help your child's education – but it can also cause harm – to you and to others.

Remember help is always available at school if you are having any problems online.

We encourage your children not to be afraid to talk to their teachers or another adult at school.

If you or anyone you know is worried about Child Exploitation, Online Protection or anything related to Internet safety please click the links below which will take you to the CEOP reporting page as well as other useful sites.

Tips for staying safe online:

· Make sure you keep new online friends strictly online. If someone you don't know asks to be your online friend you must ensure an adult knows about it.

· Know how to use the CEOP Button and how to report it to the CEOP Centre if you are concerned about someone’s online behaviour towards you.