At St Bernadette’s we take the safety of our pupils very seriously, including their safety while they access the internet. We want to support you as parents to help your child be equally safe when using the internet outside of school. We are sharing with you some tips and resources to help you guide your children and help you keep up to date in a digital world.
Think u know https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/ is always a good place to start – you will see the ‘Report Abuse’ button that your child will know about from school.
Also check out the following articles from the CEOP Education Team they aim to help parents and carers keep their children safer online:
A parent's guide to privacy settings
Gaming: what parents and carers need to know
What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?
The NSPCC website https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/ has a wealth of information on their website to support parents on a wide range of issues.
Another site that is helpful for parent controls is UK Safer Internet Centre https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/parents-and-carers. This site advises you to take four steps:
1. Have ongoing conversations with your children about staying safe online
2. Use safety tools on social networks and other online services, e.g. Facebook privacy settings
3. Decide if you want to use parental controls on your home internet
4. Understand devices and the parental control tools they offer in our Parents' Guide to Technology
Safer Internet Day is celebrated each each year and will next take place on the 11th of February 2025 with learning in school based around the theme ‘Together for a Better Internet' Attached is a link you could use at home to discuss safer internet use at home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl_gZTQ9F7w
The week beginning 20th March 2023 will be an Online Safety Week in school with guidance and activities shared with pupils on how to keep safe online.
Additional information on social media and apps can be found on this website - https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/social-media-guides.
Please do not hesitate to contact school if you have any concerns or questions about keeping your child safe online.
There are many sites that allow you to talk to other people on the web. Chat rooms and networks give you the chance to have a conversation with other people and get instant replies, while online message boards let you post up questions or comments and ask other users to give their opinion in their own time.
They can be a great way to communicate to other people who share your interests, but you should always be careful not to pass on any of your personal details. You should always keep in mind that Internet users can pretend to be anyone they like. They can lie about their age, their interests and whether they're male or female. No matter how long you've been chatting, remember that they're still strangers; you don't really know them at all.
Some of you may have your own web page set up that lets you chat with friends or communicate with other users who share your interests. These 'social networks' also let you create your own blog, upload photos and videos for others to see, and add people to an online friends list.
Social networks are a great way of keeping in touch but you should think carefully before adding someone to your list of online friends or posting a blog entry that could get you into trouble at school, college or work. Remember that:
To stay safe, make sure that when you're using a chat room or posting on a message board, you never give out any personal information like your address or your phone number. You should always use a nickname, so no-one can look you up in a telephone directory and get your home phone number. It’s usually not a good idea to arrange to meet up with someone that you've been chatting to online. Remember that you can never be sure that they're telling the truth about their age or their interests and you could be putting yourself in danger.
If you do want to meet up with someone you've met online, make sure that you discuss it with your parents beforehand. If they do agree, make sure that you arrange a meeting in a public place and that you take an adult with you.
Bullies are very cunning and are expert at getting away with it.
As a Catholic School, we believe every child is unique and made in God’s image. We all know that bullying goes on in every school but it is the way it is dealt with which makes the difference. Helping children to recognise bullying is so important so please look through this guide with your child. You can also read our Behaviour and Discipline Policy on the School Policies Page.
Bullying includes:
Bullies can also frighten you so that you don't want to go to school, so that you pretend to be ill to avoid them.
If you are being bullied, tell a friend, tell a teacher and tell your parents. It can be hard to do this so if you don't feel you can do it in person it might be easier to write a note to your parents or teacher explaining how you feel, or perhaps confide in someone outside the immediate family, like a grandparent, aunt, uncle or cousin and ask them to help you tell your parents what's going on.
Your class teacher also needs to know what is going on. You could stay behind on the pretext of needing help with some work. Tell someone, often Teaching Assistants are available when your teacher is not.
Remember: Speak up to stop bullies - watch this video which reminds us of the importance of speaking up.