E-Safety at St Gabriel’s

The internet is such an integral part of our children’s lives, whether it be on a computer, laptop, games console or mobile phone.  Here at St Gabriel’s we ensure E-safety is part of our children’s education and we embed it into their learning.  Children need to understand the risks when online and be able to make sensible choices so they can stay safe online.

At Home

As a parent you’ll know how important the internet is to children and what an amazing resource it is.  You might worry about the risks your child can face online. It is important to have regular conversations about staying safe online and to encourage children to speak to you if they come across something worrying whilst on the internet. Here are some tips to help support you when discussing e-safety with your children.

• Be clear what your child can and can’t do online, for example when they can go on the internet and for how long!
• Explore the internet together
• Install parental controls on your home broadband.
• Search safely. Use safe search engines. For example;Kids-search, kidrex.
• Check if sites are suitable. For example; the minimum age for a Facebook and Instagram account is 13. Although sites aimed at under 10s, for example Club Penguin, these still have social network elements.

These resources provide guidance for parents and carers to keep children safe online. They will, amongst other things, support you to talk to your child about a range of online safety issues, set up home filtering in a child-friendly way and set up age-appropriate parental controls on digital devices:

• Childnet has developed guidance for parents and carers to begin a conversation about online safety, as well as guidance on keeping under-fives safe online
• Parent Info is a collaboration between Parent Zone and NCA-CEOP, providing support and guidance for parents and carers related to the digital world from leading experts and organisations
• National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has guidance for parents and carers to help keep children safe online
• UK Safer Internet Centre provides tips and advice for parents and carers to keep children safe online – you can also report any harmful content found online through the UK Safer Internet Centre

At School

As part of your child’s curriculum and the development of ICT skills, children are supervised when accessing the internet.  Our school internet access provider operates a filtering system.  At the start of the school year each class discuss how we can stay safe online and sign an acceptable use policy.  During ICT lessons and PHSCE we continually discuss the importance of staying safe on-line.  Children are taught:

• Always ask a grown up before you use the internet.
• Do not give strangers personal information, for example where you live, your phone number or your school.
• Don’t send photos to people you don’t know.
• Tell a grown up if you see something you don’t like on-line or if somebody says something not nice to you.