E-Safety
The Internet has become an integral part of children's lives and has a valuable role to play in the education of our children. In today's society children interact with a range of technologies such as computers, mobile phones, tablets and games consoles on a daily basis. Whilst the Internet offers incredible potential with regards to teaching and learning, its use can also have a negative impact on children if it is not used with care. For this reason we give high priority to creating a safe e-learning environment which includes three main elements in our school:
- establishing policies and procedures which set out clear roles and responsibilities with regards to e-safety
- providing an effective range of technological tools to support e-safety
- embedding e-safety teaching into the whole school curriculum
We use the Kidsmart safety code, developed by the Childnet charity to support our teaching of e-safety. This approach encourages pupils to follow five SMART rules:
Safe - keep safe by being careful not to give out personal information when you're chatting or posting things online.
Meeting - meeting someone that you have only been in touch with online can be very dangerous. Only do this with your parents or carers' permission and even then, only if they are with you. Remember that online friends are still strangers even if you have been talking to them for a long time.
Accepting - accepting emails, IM messages, or opening files, pictures or texts from people you don't know or trust can lead to problems - they may contain viruses or nasty messages.
Reliable - someone online may lie about who they are and information on the internet may not be true. Always check information with other websites, books or someone who knows. If you like chatting online it is best to only chat to friends and family from your real world.
Tell - tell your parent, carer or a trusted adult if someone or something makes you feel uncomfortable or worried, or if you or someone you know is being bullied online.
'Sometimes it can feel like cyber bullying will never stop but there is always something that you can do to make it stop. This is what our teachers teach us and it helps us.'
Koebie Year 4
Orgill's E-safety Ambassador
CEOP is a police led, child protection agency which specialises in tackling sexual abuse on and offline.
Holly Collins has received CEOP's E-Safety Ambassador training. CEOP has a network of over 5,500 Ambassadors across the UK. This is an active network of professionals delivering CEOP's Thinkuknow resources in their local communities to fellow professionals, parents, carers and young people.
It is the role of the Ambassador to raise awareness of e-safety and ensure that staff, parents, carers and young people:
- understand potential risks
- know how to stay safe online
- know what to do if something goes wrong
Parents and carers will:
- be invited to attend awareness raising workshops
- have the opportunity to discuss their concerns surrounding technology and the internet
- be given information about e-safety and current popular apps, games and websites in a termly newsletter
- have the opportunity to complete questionnaires regarding internet use and e-safety
- be able to contact Holly Collins at hollycollins@orgill.cumbria.sch.uk or 01946 820234 to discuss any issues or concerns regarding internet use and e-safety
Children will:
- have designated e-safety days each half term where they will be taught how to use technology safely and respectfully, the importance of keeping personal information private and know what to do if they are concerned about anything
- have relevant e-safety sessions throughout the year to ensure that online safety is at the forefront of their minds
- have constant reference made to the SMART code
- have access to 'Chat E' - a weekly lunchtime e-safety drop-in session, with Holly Collins, to discuss any issues or concerns
ClickCEOP
If someone has acted inappropriately towards your child, it may be sexual chat, being asked to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable or someone being insistent on meeting up, you must report it to ClickCEOP using the link on our homepage.
Meet our eCadets!
We’re proud to announce we’ve become an eCadet school. The eCadets is an award winning programme which trains, empowers and supports a team of pupils to keep their friends safe online.
The programme is run by a team of former police officers and there is also the opportunity for every other child at the school to benefit and get involved through Bubble – the 100% safe social platform which is run and moderated by eCadets HQ and enables children to safely engage with children the same year group age as themselves in complete safety.
If you’d like to know more please visit: https://ecadet.zone or check out their Twitter account: @ecadets
Chat E
It is important that pupils have regular opportunities to discuss things that may concern them with regards to keeping themselves safe online, both at school and at home. For this reason, Holly Collins holds a drop in session every Friday lunchtime for pupils to come along and ask questions and share any concerns that they may have. These sessions are very well attended and have helped to give pupils the confidence to talk about the things that worry them and be open and honest. It was a Year 5 pupil who came up with the name, Chat E!
"School helps me to keep safe online. We have a fun lunchtime club called Chat E. We talk about our problems on the internet and Mrs Collins gives us help and advice."
Millie Year 6
Involving Parents In Keeping Pupils Safe Online
It is vital that we share information with parents and fully involve them in keeping pupils safe online. Holly Collins provides parents with a termly E-safety newsletter giving the most up to date information that we have with regards to what pupils are doing online and the potential dangers that they face. She also holds regular workshops for parents to attend where she will explore the use of technology at home and at school and the risks that pupils may face. Parents will be able to see the resources that teachers use with pupils and learn how to monitor their child's internet use and set parental controls on devices.
The most recent parent workshops took place in December 2015 and were extremely well attended with very positive feedback. The following quotes are taken from the parent feedback forms:
I feel happier that the approach to helping our children is going to be more holistic.
I feel really knowledgeable after this workshop and shall be keeping a closer eye on whatever apps are being used.
It is very reassuring that the school is educating children on how to be safe on the web.
Please come along to our next workshop!
The following leaflets all provide advice and support for parents and carers with regards to e-safety. Hard copies are available upon request.
The following are links to websites that provide a range of resources to support parents and carers.
Cumbria Police also have some useful information with regards to online safety.
The following link will take you to the Parent section of our website. Here you will find a wealth of support and advice surrounding many topics including e-safety.