Message to pupils: Always be careful when you are using the internet. It can help you to keep in touch with your friends and help your education – but it can also cause harm – to you and to others.

Remember help is always available at school if you are having any problems online.

Don’t be afraid to talk to your teacher or another adult at school.

Potential online risks can include:

• Access and exposure to inappropriate /disturbing images and content
•  Access and exposure to racist or hate material
•  Sexual grooming, luring, abuse and exploitation by/with strangers
•  Sharing personal information with strangers that could identify and locate a child offline
•  Online bullying (cyber bullying) by peer and people they consider their ‘friends’
•  Being encouraged take part in violent behaviour such as ‘happy slapping’
•  Sending or receiving sexually explicit films, images or messages of themselves or others (this is known as sexting when sent by mobile phone)
•  Glorifying activities such as drug taking or excessive drinking
•  Physical harm to young people in making video content, such as enacting and imitating stunts and risk taking activities
•  Leaving and running away from home as a result of contacts made online.

The Four Cs (four areas of risk):

The breadth of issues classified within online safety is considerable and ever evolving, but can be categorised into four areas of risk:

content: being exposed to illegal, inappropriate, or harmful content, for example: pornography, fake news, racism, misogyny, self-harm, suicide, anti-Semitism, radicalisation, and extremism.

contact: being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users; for example: peer to peer pressure, commercial advertising and adults posing as children or young adults with the intention to groom or exploit them for sexual, criminal, financial or other purposes.

conduct: online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm; for example, making, sending and receiving explicit images (e.g. consensual and nonconsensual sharing of nudes and semi-nudes and/or pornography, sharing other explicit images and online bullying.

commerce: risks such as online gambling, inappropriate advertising, phishing and or financial scams. If you feel your pupils, students or staff are at risk, please report it to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (https://apwg.org/).

Filtering and Monitoring 

Filtering and monitoring technology is highlighted in KCSiE 2023 as a vital part of ensuring that pupils are not accessing harmful or illegal content on school owned devices. 

Keeping Children Safe in Education has long asked schools to ensure “appropriate” webfiltering and monitoring systems which keep children safe online but do not “overblock”.

Since KCSIE 2023, in recognition of the importance of these systems to keeping children safe, the designated safeguarding lead now has lead responsibility for filtering and monitoring.

At Holbrook Primary we now follow the new DfE filtering and monitoring standards, which require us to:

● identify and assign roles and responsibilities to manage filtering and monitoring systems

● review filtering and monitoring provision at least annually

● block harmful and inappropriate content without unreasonably impacting teaching and learning

● have effective monitoring strategies in place that meet our safeguarding needs

Keeping your child safe

There are several way to help keep child and young people safe online:

• Educate yourself and children and young people know about the dangers online
• Tell them what they should do if anything goes wrong online or upsets them i.e. tell someone about it
• Explain that anything shared online or by mobile phone could end up being seen by anyone
• Ensure computers and laptops are used where you can see and not out of sight in a bedroom
• Use parental settings, filtering software and privacy setting to block inappropriate sites and content

If you or anyone you know is worried about Child Exploitation, Online Protection or anything related to Internet safety please click the link below which will take you to the CEOP reporting website, or click the CEOP button from this website:

• CEOP Helpful links to look at with your family.

• Think You Know  Age 5 - 7

• Think You Know. Age 8 - 10

• Think You Know. Age 11 - 13

Other useful sites for further information and advice:

NSPCC - National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to ChildrenNSPCC - National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children: Advice and support for adults concerned about a child.

Childnet: Information on benefits, risks and safety on the internet.

Which?: Information and advice on child internet safety.