Online Safety
News
CEOP
On the homepage of our school’s website is a new hyperlink button you can click on called CEOP. CEOP stands for Child Exploitation and Online Protection. The CEOP is a law enforcement agency and helps protect children and young people from online abuse. Towards the bottom of the website there is an additional information box. Here you can click on the different categories, for example parents / carers or 4-7 years old, to gain age appropriate information.
Roblox
Roblox is used to create games or play games other users have made. Parental controls is crucial to ensure your children are safe online. The age rating for Roblox used to be 7+ but has been changed to PG (Parental Guidance). Click here to read more information. However, Roblox has introduced Allowed Experiences, which allows you to select age appropriate experiences. Click here to read more information.
National Online Safety
Click on the link below to access a free course to learn more about keeping children safe.
"Children aged between 3 and 7 are at the beginning of their journey through life with technology. It’s through these formative years that they learn to understand what they can access online, how they can access it and how it can benefit them, so it’s essential parents take an active interest in their children’s safety online. That’s why we’ve created this online safety course for parents and carers – to provide you with the knowledge and skills you need to feel confident and empowered to keep your children safe online."
'Huggy Wuggy'
It is important for us all to be aware of this character, in case children mention it. It is certainly not a nice cuddly bear, as its name suggests. This is a character that children are being exposed to on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube. The character is named 'Huggy Wuggy' from the 2021 horror game 'Poppy's Playtime'.
The character sounds like a cuddly bear, but is actually encouraging children to copy behaviours - hugging people randomly, carrying out violence and verbal abuse. There are also disturbing images in the game and within videos of this character. Make sure your child is only viewing videos on verified channels. Some videos maliciously posted to streaming platforms have been created to inflict 'jump scares', which feature this character. The child thinks they are watching something nice, but then the character suddenly appears. For younger children especially, this can be very frightening and upsetting.
'Poppy's Playtime'
An app described as: "A first-person horror/puzzle adventure where the player must try to survive the vengeful toys waiting for them in the abandoned toy factory." A quick heads-up about this app, as there have been reports of children under 7 playing it on their own and their parents' devices. There is no published age limit to the game, however it is horror-based and we believe that most of the younger audience would find the imagery very frightening.
Parent Guides
Click on the link below to access a 'How To' guide to set up parent controls on digital devices which children access at home.
Parent Information
Click on the links below to find further information about how to keep your child safe when they are using the internet. There are videos for your child to watch which they have already seen in class.
'Jargon Busting'
We thought you'd appreciate National Online Safety's guides to some of the lingo and current issues regarding children's online safety.
Class Charter
Each class in Key Stage One have created a class 'E-safety Charter' which can be found next to the computing areas. The children suggested their own ideas having listened to an E-safety story, to understand what it is and how they can keep safe. The children signed their names on the charter to ensure that everyone is kept safe. See below for an example of an 'E-Safety Charter'.
Progression of Skills
Curriculum
“We wanted to “evolve” the online safety messages that children and young people were being taught into something more appropriate; more meaningful; that encouraged reflection; that generated positive outcomes. We wanted to provide the right opportunity for discussion; prompted by appropriate questions accompanied by honest and useful information to shape thinking and challenge misconceptions.” ProjectEvolve
"The Education for a Connected World framework describes the Digital knowledge and skills that children and young people should have the opportunity to develop at different ages and stages of their lives. It highlights what a child should know in terms of current online technology, its influence on behaviour and development, and what skills they need to be able to navigate it." Education for a Connected World
National Curriculum
Key Stage One
Pupils should be taught to:
- use technology safely and respectfully, keeping personal information private; identify where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies
Safer Internet Day
Having access to online information and the opportunities that the digital world can offer has many benefits and, for some, it plays an important part of our everyday lives. However, as technology moves on at such a pace, it is sometimes difficult to keep up with new trends and developments, particularly with regard to mobile/gaming technology and secure and safe accessibility to online material.
The child participated in a range of activities, practising and learning how to keep safe online. We used different picture books to read to the children to develop their understanding, for example DigiDuck and sharing pictures online. The campaign's slogan, "Together for a better internet", is a call to join together and create a safer internet for everyone, especially younger users.
Look at the pictures below to see Safer Internet Day in action.
