Online Safety
Online Safety is an important part of life at Lindow Community Primary School. As technology, and the online world, can offer amazing learning opportunities for children, the teachers at Lindow try to incorporate the use of technology across the curriculum, as often as possible.
However, it is important that we do everything we can to keep our young people safe online. One way that we do this at Lindow, is by building awareness of the risks the online world poses, and teaching online behaviours that avoid these risks. We teach this across the curriculum, but explicitly through our Whole School Assemblies, our Computing Curriculum and our PSHE Curriculum.
It is also about working together with parents and carers, so that our young people are safe at school and at home. On this page, we have compiled numerous links to valuable websites that can be found in the table below. We have also attached parent guides to specific social media apps, such as TikTok, at the bottom of the page - these are full of very actionable advice.
Firstly, however, here is some general advice for keeping children safe:
- Check that parental controls are enabled and that you have checked the online chat options - even games like Roblox have a means to talk to strangers.
- Try to agree limits for how much time your children are allowed to be on devices each day.
- Getting the right amount of sleep is vital for children. Keeping devices out of the bedroom at nighttime means children have less temptation to be on devices when they should be sleeping.
- Be curious. Regularly check to see what they're doing online. This is easier to do if you agree that devices can only be used in communal family spaces.
- Talk to them about the risks and open up a dialogue about what sort of content they are seeing.
Here are some useful sites to be familiar with:
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Provides information for young people, parents and professionals including training and educational materials. |
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ChildNet |
Offers a toolkit to support parents and carers of children of any age to start discussions about their online life, and to find out where to get more help and support. |
https://www.childnet.com/resources/parent-and-carer-toolkit/ |
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Commonsense Media |
Provides independent reviews, age ratings, & other information about all types of media for children and their parents. |
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UK Safer Internet Centre - Reporting |
Guidance on how to report and remove harmful online content. |
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NSPCC helpline |
NSPCC helpline is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our advisors are available to give support and advice to any adult who is worried about a child |
0800 800 5000 |
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Net Aware |
Net Aware is the NSPCC and O2’s guide to the most popular sites, apps and games that young people use. This is a great site for parents as well as anyone working with children |
Download the app for free on the App Store or Google Play. |
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Marie Collins Foundation |
Advice and guidance for parents/carers on sexual online abuse. |
https://www.mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk/How-We-Can-Help/Resources |
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Parent Zone |
Parent Zone are the experts in digital family life. They provide support and information to parents, children and schools, working globally to help families to navigate the internet safely and confidently. |
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Childline |
Childline is a free, private and confidential service where you can talk about anything. Whatever your worry, whenever you need help, we’re here for you online, on the phone, anytime. |
0800 1111 |
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Internet Matters - parental controls |
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Digital 5-a-day |
Children's Commissioner's easy to follow, practical steps for children and parents to achieve a healthy and balanced digital diet |
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LGfL Online Resource Centre for Parents |
A resource portal for parents, containing useful links to support pupils of all ages. |
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PEGI website |
Pan European Game Information This is a website which can tell you what age you have to be to play any game. |
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BBC Own IT |
Online safety videos for children and teenagers |
https://www.bbc.com/ownit/its-personal/when-you-see-something-scary-online |
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YouTube Supervised Experience |
Learn more about how to set-up supervised YouTube experience for children. |