Online safety help and resources for families

We all want our children to benefit from a great resource like the Internet. In this digital age, children are increasingly spending more of their time online with their devices. They will be going online for school work, to keep in touch with friends, to play games and to explore new things.

Being online can be a very positive experience but, as always, we need to be aware of the risks too. That’s why schools and parents need to work together to help educate our children about how to use the Internet responsibly and safely.

If you would like to work with your children at home on how to be online safe – and we strongly urge you to – you might like to look at the following resources that we use to support the online safety elements of our computing curriculum.

In Key Stage 1, we use the Childnet ‘SMART with a Heart’ resources. There are videos and other resources designed to help you have discussions with your children about what some of the issues might be when they are online, and what they can look out for and do to help protect themselves. With Year 1, we use the Smartie the Penguin resources (also available for Year 2) and with Year 2 we use the ‘SMART with a Heart’ videos to guide discussion.

In Key Stage 2, we use the Be Internet Legends resources (created by Google in partnership with Parentzone). The resources provide a good mix of discussion-based and practical activities, reinforced by the excellent Interland games.

Please also look at our Online Safety Resources Guide which signposts the main organisations and websites providing parent and carer advice on matters of online use and safety. New information and articles are added all the time, so keep checking back, or sign up for free newsletters such as those provided by Parentzone .

For families with children in the EYFS, there are many resources to be found through our guide that will help you establish good habits and ground-rules from an early age.

Remember, it is never too early to start thinking about online safety and well-being.