The internet for many parents can be a daunting place but to our children it is a necessity of life. Access to the internet has never been so vast and continues to spread with the increasing popularity of tablets devices and access through mobile phones. To support you in protecting your child on line there are some useful links below to sites with tips and guidance:
Get clued up on the short video app that has over a billion users.
Click here to find out more about what TikTok is
Click here for a fabulous review of TikTok
WhatsApp is great for free phone calls, video calls and messages, but do you know the dangers of it?
Click here for a fabulous review of WhatsApp
As well as lots of weekly advice from Mr. Knight, Every year, we send home a free copy of the Digital Parenting Magazine. It is a wonderful resource full of useful information and top tips, covering a huge range of online safety topics.
Click here to view the latest edition of the Digital Parenting Magazine
Click here to view previous editions of the Digital Parenting Magazine
This site offers advice and guidance for all types of online behaviours be it on line gaming, social networking, sharing and much more. Your children will be familiar with the child version of this site as it used in school you could perhaps ask them to help you with navigating through it.
What do you know about the app that many people use for communicating or a quick bit of silly fun?
Click here for a fabulous review of Snapchat
What is Instagram?
Click here for a fabulous review of Instagram
Would you know whether your son/ daughters profile is set to public or private? Would you know how to check? Do you know what POS stands for when children are online chatting (Parent Over Shoulder)? Do you know what Phishing is? Facebook is very popular amongst young people (and many adults) this guide is produced annually to keep parents up to date with tips for keeping their children safe when using Facebook and informing them of the latest trends for Facebook usage.
http://www.connectsafely.org/pdfs/fbparents.pdf
Cyberbullying is becoming more prevalent amongst children and young people when they are online, particularly as the popularity of online gaming continues to increase. To help parents deal with any incidents of cyberbullying or if you think your child maybe a victim of online bullying there is advice and guidance for you as a parent and how to deal with such scenarios.
http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/advice/parents-and-carers.aspx
Family Lives – Information and advice about bullying for children, parents and schools.
Kidscape – An organisation which helps to prevent bullying and child abuse.
KidSMART – An award-winning internet safety programme for children.
Think U Know – containing internet safety advice for those aged from 5 to 16, along with parents and teachers, this site is produced by CEOP (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre).
Net Smartz Kids – Click on the image opposite to visit the Net Smartz Kids website for lots of e-safety activities.
Childline – ChildLine is the free helpline for children and young people in the UK.
BBC Stay Safe – Test your Internet safety knowledge with Hacker and help the Horrible Histories gang stay safe online.
Childnet International – website to “help make the Internet a great and safe place for children”.
At St Patrick’s RC Primary School, we are aware of the benefits of social media and accept them as forms of communication for people aged 13 and over. We are also aware that these platforms are open to many forms of abuse such as bullying, verbal abuse and grooming.
As such, we do not expect our pupils to be accessing social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok etc. and appreciate your cooperation and understanding. As ever, our primary concern is for the safety of your child in this matter. Whilst we know that many children in school are accessing these platforms, we would ask you to reconsider the appropriateness of this. All social media platforms have a minimum age of 13 – WhatsApp is 16. This age restriction is set to protect your child from unnecessary abuse whilst using the internet.
We are all unique individuals and know, therefore that it is difficult to make decisions that will please everybody involved, but we feel that it is not acceptable to use social media platforms to make negative statements about children, parents or members of staff that belong to our school family. We greatly appreciate you informing us of any groups or individuals who use social media platforms to target children, other parents or staff members so that we can take any necessary action such as reporting those individuals. We recognise that the majority of our school community use social media in a sensible and appropriate way and are very grateful.
We believe that the opinions of all members of our school community, whether negative or positive, are extremely useful in helping us to improve the support and impact of your child’s education. Therefore, we invite you to use the correct channels to make contact with school so that any matters can be discussed in the most appropriate way. You can get in touch with us by using the school’s app, contacting your child’s class teacher or phoning the Office.
For more information from the Internet Matters website, click here.
