Online Safety at Home
Online safety (formerly referred to as E-Safety) is something we practise in school but we hope the following information will be useful to parents at home.
Follow these links for lots of useful information:
Cyberstreetwise – HM Government; this site provides excellent advice on how to protect yourself, your family and your business.
SafeSearchKids – UK delivers safe results from google.col.uk, powered by Google
Privacy Settings on XBox - Find out how to set up privacy settings for children accessing games via Xbox LIVE.
Internet Matters - find out what children are doing online, issues that might be affecting children, how to take action
Common Sense Media – provides trustworthy and reliable age appropriate media reviews for videos, games and films
ThinkUKnow – support and guidance for teachers, parents, carers and children
Digizen – advice on cyberbullying and social networking
Kidsmart – online e-Safety learning for the whole family
Childnet – hot topics and how to get to grips with digital issues
Safer Internet Centre - UK Safer Internet
NSPCC Online Safety Guidelines - helpful advice and tools
The Ultimate Parent Guide for Protecting your Child on the Internet - Protecting your child on the Internet
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The table below was published by Cornwall Learning - the result of surveys in primary schools, the table indicates how KS1 and KS2 children are using technology at home.
|
Typical % per school |
Use the internet at home |
88 |
Access to the Internet unsupervised |
58 |
Lack of parental controls – based on pupils viewing YouTube |
68 |
Accessing YouTube |
68 |
Playing on-line games |
71 |
Using New technology – iPads/Hudl/Kindle/Smart TV |
81 |
Have their own mobile phone |
42 |
Have their own games console (usually in their bedroom) |
69 |
Claim to have their own Facebook profile |
30 |
Claim to use parent or siblings Facebook |
21 |
The keys issues and themes Cornwall Learning identified from this survey are:
- Mobile devices – phones accessing the internet
- Smart TVs – ability to email, Skype, watch ‘adult theme’ programmes
- Catch-up TV – ability to watch inappropriate programmes
- Access to games consoles appears to be increasing
- Children not realising that when they are ‘online’ they are using the Internet
- Playing 13+, 18+ games and then simulating what they have seen and heard in the playground
- Playing online games with multiple players
- Accepting requests to be a ‘friend’ from an unknown source
- Online ‘friends’ in excess of 100.
Cornwall Learning has identified areas of concern as:
- Accessing the Internet unsupervised and from their own room
- No parental controls or ground rules in place
- Accessing YouTube
- Accessing inappropriate websites
- Online games – potential for violence, cyber-bullying, addiction
- Social media – lack of or inadequate privacy settings