On this page you will find e-safety updates and links (below)to CEOP and ThinkUKnow where you will find lots of information about keeping safe on line.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding e-safety please e-mail or speak to Mrs Besant or Mrs Grigg.

Please visit these websites for useful information regarding keeping your child safe on line and managing device usage at home.

Use of Social Media

As you will be fully aware, the internet has become a powerful tool to connect and to share ideas and opinions. In recent years, social networking sites such as Facebook have grown in popularity and many people use them to communicate with family, friends and others.

The vast majority of people who use social networking show respect in their communication with others and this is something that we must encourage to show our children that we are positive ‘digital role models’. However, like other aspects of society, there are people who disregard the rules set and will use social networking sites to cyberbully, harass or stalk others.

Recently, there have been a number of high-profile cases in the media were people have used the internet to intimidate and bully others. These have been investigated by the police and, in some instances, have led to criminal prosecutions.

As a school, we encourage parents to support us with the education and wellbeing of their children and if at any time, parents feel that they have any issues regarding their child’s education, they should make an appointment with me. As a community, we should all frown upon the use of social networking sites by parents to criticise and make unsubstantiated comments about the school or any members of staff.

We do not want to go down the line of having to send out legal letters from solicitors to parents about untrue and damaging comments made on social networking sites. Current laws such as the 1988 Malicious Communication Act, 1997 Protection from Harassment Act and 2003 Communication Act all can be used to protect people from malicious and threatening posts on the internet.

Thank you for your continued support.

SECURE PRIVACY SETTINGS ON FACEBOOK

Please make sure you have secure privacy settings on your facebook account.  It is advisable to not post photos of your children, especially in clearly identifiable school uniform, or post information about them such as their name, school, interests.  The GPS location of photos can be tracked and there are unfortunately people out there who are actively looking for vulnerable people.  

Visit Think u Know for tips on keeping you and your family safe online https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/ 

NEW DEVICES - SETTING THE BOUNDARIES TO HELP KEEP YOUR CHILDREN SAFE ONLINE.

Many children will have received games and devices that allow them to go online. The internet does pose certain risks and dangers to children - but it offers lots of opportunities too.

There are things you can do to keep your child safe:

Set boundaries for how long your child can spend online and what they can do.

• Agree this as a family so that access to devices can be shared fairly.
• Make the use of the internet a family activity.
• Remember there are tools that can help you manage and monitor access and use across all devices.
• Remember to share these rules with babysitters, child-minders and other family members

 Understand the games that your children play.

• Have conversations about online safety little and often and build it into other conversations.
• Ask questions about what they do online, such as what sites they visit and who they talk to

 Ensure your child knows what to do if someone they don’t know makes contact with them.

• Tell your child that strangers can pop up anywhere online: email, instant messenger, social networking sites or online games.
• Your child may feel they know someone well, even if they have only played a game with them online. So remember to talk to them about what they share with people they have only met online.

USE OF IMAGES ONLINE AND GEOTAGGING

The Data Protection Act is unlikely to apply in many cases where photographs are taken in schools and other educational institutions. Fear of breaching the provisions of the Act should not be wrongly used to stop people taking photographs or videos which provide many with much pleasure.

Where the Act does apply, a common sense approach suggests that if the photographer asks for permission to take a photograph, this will usually be enough to ensure compliance.

• Photos taken for official school use may be covered by the Act and pupils and students should be advised why they are being taken.
• Photos taken purely for personal use are exempt from the Act.

For example:

• A parent takes a photograph of their child and some friends taking part in the school Sports Day to be put in the family photo album. These images are for personal use and the Data Protection Act does not apply.

• Grandparents are invited to the school nativity play and wish to video it. These images are for personal use and the Data Protection Act does not apply

HOWEVER…

• Parents must not upload images which contain children other than their own without permission onto Social Networking sites such as Facebook. We must ask you to respect the wishes of other parents and to consider possible reasons why parents may not wish their children to be on the internet.

If you are using a digital device to take pictures of your children that you intend to place online please switch off your GPS to avoid geotagging.  This is essential when posting images of children.

It is important you know how to disable your mobile or camera's geotagging feature. Every smartphone has the geotagging feature automatically set to operate, so you need to put in the effort to prevent it from doing this. It's recommended that you disable the geotagging ability and enable it again when you make a conscious decision to use it; it's far better to opt in than to try to remember to opt out.

FAMILY FRIENDLY FILTER SETTINGS

Check your Family Friendly Filter settings with your internet service provider (ISP). Log onto your ISP website and make sure you have the right level of filtering on for your home devices for example:

BT: http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/manage-broadband-extras/#protect-your-family-with-parental-controls  

SKY: http://www.sky.com/products/broadband-talk/sky-broadband-shield/features/  

TALK TALK: http://www.talktalk.co.uk/security/homesafe-demo.html  

If you would like further advice about keeping your children safe online please visit the following websites where you will find a wealth of advice:

CEOP: http://ceop.police.uk/

Think You Know http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/