Online Safety
Find out more about Online Safety at Oughtrington...
Resources for parents, as well as useful files to download, can be found at the bottom of the page.
Our mission...
Whether you know this best as e-safety, internet safety or online safety, they all mean the same thing. Teaching children how to stay safe online is an extremely important life skill as the number of people connected to the internet grows daily by approximately 1,000,000 (2018). Online safety isn't about completely irradicating potential pitfalls (which is impossible); it is teaching awareness and strategies to mitigate the inherant risk of using digital technologies. Online Safety at Oughtrington is promoting awareness of potential threats that our learners could encounter online relating to security, privacy, online reputation and avoiding harmful or illegal content. We promote the SMART Rules!
Digital Leaders
A team of Digital Leaders from Year 5 and 6 are appointed each academic year to help promote online safety in school. The children have access to their own personal "class page" in Google Classroom and are responsible for looking after our digital equipment, supporting teachers in the classroom, helping to collect feedback through pupil voice and promoting Online Safety.
Digital leaders create posters and have run workshops for parents promoting Online Safety and becoming responsible digital citizens.
Internet Safety Day
Every year the whole school celebrates Internet Safety Day. We take part in exciting and meaningful classroom activities, have assemblies, take part in live lessons and in 2023 we even made a video (with a little help from the Digital Leaders).
Online Safety in KS1
In KS1, we promote internet safety using stories, such as Smartie the Penguin. Smartie learns to tell his parents when he sees something on the internet that upsets him. Mummy and Daddy penguin are always pleased that Smartie lets them know so that they can help.
We know children are using the internet from a very young age. Therefore, we teach them to stay safe in an age appropriate and fun way.
We use resources from Project Evolve and Teach Computing (Computing Curriculum) and Jigsaw (PSHCE) to support our teaching of Online Safety.
Online Safety in KS2
In KS2, we develop the children's understanding of how to keep themselves safe online in a rapidly changing world. We use up to date resources (Project Evolve) and try to keep a finger on the pulse of which apps and games are popular with our children. Using the assessment tools from Project Evolve gives us an insight into where the gaps in our children's understanding may fall, and provides focused resources to challenge misconceptions. It also has strong links with Oughtrington's Anti-Bullying message.
As in KS1, we continue to use resources from Teach Computing (Computing Curriculum) and Jigsaw (PSHCE) to support our teaching of Online Safety.
How we protect children at Oughtrington
The school's internet is provided, filtered and monitored by a company who specialise in working within the education sector. Exa's "SurfProtect" system meets the filtering requirements of DfE KSCiE, Prevent Duty and Ofsted. It should be noted, however, that no filtering and monitoring system can ever claim to be 100% effective and therefore staff, as well as students, are trained in taking sensible precautions to help keep themselves and their students safe online. Staff report concerns to the Computing and Safeguarding leads using CPOMs. Children are taught to let a trusted adult know if they see something that makes them feel uncomforable. Parents can contact school using Class Dojo or through the school office.
Online Safety - Support for Parents
Home Broadband Providers
Parents can set up filters at home to help prevent age inappropriate content being accessed on devices in your home.
Follow this link to find out how the 4 big internet providers in the UK – BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media – provide their customers with free parental controls which can be activated at any time.
Safer Internet Guide - Broadband Filters
Setting Up Parental Controls on Devices
Setting Parental Controls in Apps to Limit Age-Inappropriate Content
Downloads
Links
NSPCC Understanding online safety is tricky for all ages. We have advice to help you learn about staying safe online as a family. | https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/parental-controls/ |
Internet Matters Find information and safety settings for your child's devices and apps, along with guidance to tackle online issues they may face. | |
Common Sense Media This is a FANTASIC website to help parents decide if a new game, app or even a book is age appropriate for their children. | |
Childnet Helping make the internet a great and safe place for children and young people. | |
ThinkUKnow Your first port of call if you have concerns about your child's internet use. Contains information about making reports to CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) and relevant links. Sensitive content. | |
CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) |
