Safer Internet Day – 8th February 2022

Safer Internet Day takes place every February. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate all the amazing things we all do online; and also to find a different way, each year, for everyone to safe online. This year the theme is being respectful and maintaining good relationships when playing games online.

As a show of hands in the morning’s “kick-off” assembly showed, nearly everyone in the school loves playing online games: there was palpable excitement as the children thought of it! And every device is used to play games on. All the more reason to make sure we can all enjoy a favourite hobby while keeping ourselves and everyone else safe!

We want gaming to be a fun, respectful way of spending some time, according to each family’s rules. What we do online should make our online friends post emojis like these

We discussed the questions “Should you behave as well towards your friends online as well as you do offline? Why?“, “If you’re online and no-one knows your identity, can you behave how you like?” and, perhaps the most difficult one, “If someone else makes the wrong choice and doesn’t show respect, what can -or should – you do in response?”

Following are some photos of children completing activities in their classrooms and a few photos of the sharing assembly at the end of the day. As well as developing understanding of online safety, the activities provided opportunities for collaborative learning and creative writing.

There are lots more resources from the organisers on the website – https://saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/safer-internet-day-2022.

We hope you enjoy finding out about what the children have learnt about the essential topic of internet safety.

At the end of the day the children shared what they had learnt with the rest of the school.

Reception learnt the Smartie the penguin song which tells us, “Before you click, click, click, make sure you think, think, think – and tell someone.”

Year 1 learnt about what it’s OK to share online and what not to. You can share non-personal things, such as the colour of your socks, or your favourite fast food, but not your full name or where you go to school.

Year 2 wrote “spells for internet kindness”. They learnt that whenever we play online games, we need to be prepared to show respect even if other people make wrong choices.

Year 3 wrote “gaming guides”. Some advice about what you can do online is the same as what you can offline – for example, don’t give out personal information like your address to someone you’ve never spoken to before or met.

Year 4 played “roll a story”, where they acted out given scenarios – such as your friends have fallen out during an online game – and then found ways to resolve the problem.

Year 5 discussed good and bad decisions in online behaviour, including how hard it can be to make the right choices. 

Year 6 also considered the different scenarios in “roll a story” and made posters informing people how to resolve situations, based on these predicaments.

All the activities provided the children with opportunities to discuss the issues, focusing on solutions and remembering that online games are a source of fun and communication for nearly everyone.

Year 4
Year 2

Year 2 wrote some spells for a kinder internet.

We all stirred up the spells in our cauldrons and recorded them. Here are some of our spells. Can you think of any other ingredients we should add?

Year 2 spells for a kinder internet
Year 6 presenting at the end of the day.
Year 4 presenting at the end of the day.

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.

Online Safety and Well-being

We will post important, relevant and up-to-date information on online safety and wellbeing here. As with all aspects of your child’s education, learning and wellbeing, close school/home relationship is the best way to support children, parents and carers. Navigating the internet so your family can benefit from all it has to offer, while protecting your young people, can be complicated and time-consuming. These resource should help. Please feedback with successes and particular issues so we can inform other parents and carers.

Could your family do with a “reset” on digital use? To start 2024 there are some New Year Digital Resolutions below….

HfL produces a termly newsletter to update parents and carers on current online safety issues. The latest edition will be published here.

The organisations below publish authoritative, relevant information on online safety and their websites are updated. Together with ChildLine, they are the first places to go to to if you have queries or worries about your child or young person online.

(As suggested by Ineqe Safeguarding Group). Any links in the text below (in blue or not) can be found here https://ineqe.com/2023/12/20/new-digital-resolutions       

There’s no denying that the way we use tech continues to evolve. Let’s pledge some New Year resolutions to take on tech with a new approach, where we’re in control and can enjoy the advantages it brings.

Words matter. Whether spoken out loud or posted online, what we say to each other has an impact. This resolution means that, as a family, you’ll avoid online conflict (like engaging in arguments on Facebook, saying mean things out of frustration while gaming, or criticising a stranger’s outfit on Instagram), and instead pledge to say kind or encouraging things whenever possible. You can use our ‘What Are Your Words Worth’ activity pack to find more information, ideas, and ways to explain to the whole family what this resolution is all about. Find it here.

If your family rules got thrown out the window over Christmas, you’re certainly not alone! Now that the New Year is here, it’s time to get everyone back on track. A lot of New Year resolutions fail because the expectations aren’t reasonable, so keep any ideas for new screentime limits realistic. A good example would be to have a device-free dinner time including all mobile phones. Use our Family Screen Time activity pack to help the whole family make better screentime decisions all year round.

Being privacy and security aware is one of the greatest tools for creating a safer online experience for the whole family. This resolution could include doing things like creating better passwords, learning how to spot dodgy links and emails and keeping scam aware. To help you on your way, check out our Cyber Security Toolkit for children. You’ll find more helpful articles and ideas in our Online Safety section.

What are your most visited sites, platforms, or apps? For most of us, the answer is probably a social media site but there’s also a whole online world full of interesting platforms that can help us learn new and exciting things. You could learn a new skill to try together, like making simple origami or learning a new language. Watch our video for more hints about learning a language online.

Through our Home Learning Hub, and Safer Schools App (available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store), you can use practical tools to help you stay in the know. You can also listen to our weekly Safeguarding Soundbytes podcast. It’s free, easy to access, and delivers the latest safeguarding news in a ‘byte sized’ way. You can also sign up to our Online Safeguarding Hub newsletter. For the young people in your care, we have recently launched the brand-new Online Safety Show. Find it on our Safeguarding Apps and on Teach Hub.