Episode 4 - Staying Safe Online

Link the overarching principles that SLTs, DSLs and all staff apply to the classroom

Reach out to children with a young presenter (no boring grown-ups to lecture them!)

Appeal to young people with their YouTube-style presentation

Encourage classroom discussion with 'jump in' points, small group activities, and similar

Empower young people to think about their choices rather than demanding they "do not do..."

The safety of children and young people when they are online is probably one of the most important features of safeguarding.

Because the internet and social media can be used as a gateway for abuse, online safety is a concern for everyone, from parents to senior leadership teams.

No matter how well-trained teaching and support staff are, there is no foolproof way to monitor how the children in our care use the internet. These are a generation born into a world of smart technology and portable computing, who are as wilful and disinclined to listen to the adult voice of warning as any other generation.

If we want children to be safe when using the internet, we need to empower them to make good choices.

These are the first of our e-safety support videos intended to do just that by looking at individual aspects of online safety. The videos come in pairs. One video will support the knowledge and safeguarding policies for the teaching staff, support staff, and SLTs; the classroom support video will then pass the same message on to your students.

As a training provider, we know that as good as our training is, it has much more value if extends into the classroom as part of daily activity.

In the first videos, we look at the basic principles of how online safety fits into the overall safeguarding policy.

For the school team, we cover...

The role of governance and safeguarding in relation to online safety
How Education, Raising Awareness, and Empowerment aid online safety
Five key elements that young people must be aware of
The importance of awareness of the online world for all staff to ensure any e-safety issues are responded to appropriately

In the classroom support videos, presenter Lou Carpenter is faced with a version of herself who simply cannot be bothered with learning about online safety – so she finds a way to bring to the screen 5 easy rules to follow when online.

Lou Carpenter's 5 online safety rules for students...

Keep your information private - don't let people know who you are
Not everyone is who they say they are - remember, not everything is as it seems
Don't look at things that feel wrong - no matter who sent it
Stop and think before you post - once on the internet, always on the internet
Tell someone if something goes wrong - seek advice from a trusted adult

Fast, fun, to the point, and delivered by a witty peer presenter, these videos will give teachers a solid foundation from which to jump into discussions and classroom activities with Primary and early Secondary aged learners.