Keeping Children Safe Online
What is E-Safety?
E-Safety is about safeguarding young people in the digital world. It is about learning to understand and use new technologies positively.
E-safety is not about restricting children, but educating them about the risks as well as the benefits, so they can feel confident and happy online. Adults must ensure they are educated to be able to support and help young people.
How does Blenheim Park ensure our children and adults are E-safe?
We have an E-safety policy and policies covering safe use of the Internet and our computers and Ipads.
We use the Norfolk Services recognised Internet Service Provider and have an age related filtering system for our Internet access.
How can you ensure your child is E-safe at home?
- Make sure your child knows to always keep private information safe and watch what they say on the Internet. People may not be who they say they are online, and it’s not always possible to control who can see your child’s information.
- Your child should know not to give out information like: their full name/ photos/ postal or email addresses/ school information/ mobile or home telephone numbers/ details of places they like to spend time
- Make sure your child knows that they shouldn’t arrange to meet people that they have only met online. Even if they have been chatting with someone for a while, that person is still a stranger.
- If you have an older child who uses social networking sites, then you can help keep their information safe by setting privacy settings. This can restrict access to personal information and photos on things like facebook.
- You should also encourage your child to use a nickname instead of their real name in chat rooms or on instant messaging services.
- To stop people accessing your child’s online accounts, encourage them to keep their passwords secret, and to change them regularly.
- If your child is using e-mail, then ensure they know how to block people who send offensive messages and tell them not to open unknown links and attachments. They should delete any suspicious emails or attachments as they may contain something offensive or have a virus that can cause damage to the computer.
- One of the main ways children can come across inappropriate content online is through search results. Most search engines include a ‘safe search’ option that excludes results containing inappropriate images or keywords.
- You can also install parental control software to filter out harmful and inappropriate content for computers and some mobile phones and games consoles.
- The final rule is that your child should come to you or a trusted adult if they are worried or unhappy about anything they see online. They should also do this if a friend they have made online has asked to meet them in the offline world.
- If your child does experience inappropriate content online, report it to the website it appears on. CEOP has developed an Internet safety web page with more information. Visit http://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/
Children - BE SMART!
S is for Safe - Keep your personal information safe. When chatting or posting online don’t give away things like your full name, password or home address. Remember personal information can be seen in images and videos you share too. Keep them safe to keep yourself safe.
M is for Meet - Meeting up with someone you only know online, even a friend of a friend, can be dangerous as this person is still a stranger. If someone you only know online ever asks you to meet up, for personal information or for photos/videos of you then tell an adult straight away and report them together on www.thinkuknow.co.uk
A is for Accept - Think carefully before you click on or open something online (e.g. links, adverts, friend requests, photos) as you never know where they may lead to or they may contain viruses. Do not accept something if you are unsure of who the person is or what they’ve sent you.
R is for Reliable - You cannot trust everything you see online as some things can be out of date, inaccurate or not entirely true. To fi nd reliable information compare at least three different websites, check in books and talk to someone about what you have found.
T is for Trust - Tell a trusted adult if something or someone ever makes you feel upset, worried or confused. This could be if you or someone you know is being bullied online. There are lots of people who will be able to help you like your teachers, parents, carers or contact Childline – 0800 11 11 or www.childline.org.uk
...and remember to always be smart with a heart by being kind and respectful to others online. Make the Internet a better place by helping your friends if they are worried or upset by anything that happens online.
Here are more websites with information and support about E-safety:
www.childnet.com/young-people/primary
www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/topics/stay-safe
Safeguarding
At Blenheim Park we are committed to supporting all of our children to do well. We will do everything we can to ensure our children are safeguarded and protected from harm.
What does safeguarding mean?
Every child has the right to be safe from harm and danger. It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure every child is free from fear and able to learn and develop in safe, secure environments.
All parents and carers of children in our school will be informed about safeguarding and what that means in school. This information explains what we must do if we are worried about a child or young person.
We have staff who are responsible for all aspects of safeguarding in our school. Ms Taylor is the designated safeguarding lead and Ms Starr is the deputy safeguarding lead.
What can you expect from us?
- A safe environment for your child to learn that complies with safeguarding in education legislation and guidance.
- We will take good care of your child whilst they are with us.
- We will talk to you about anything we see that we are worried about.
- We will keep accurate up to date records.
- If your child transfers to another school we will share important information with them that will help to support your child’s move.
- We will contact you if your child is absent and you haven’t let us know why.
- We will respond promptly to any problem you tell us about.
- Our staff will offer support and assistance when needed.
We have a Safeguarding Policy which is on the policies page. This includes a section on PREVENT, the government's strategy on how to protect children from radicalisation and extremism.
PLEASE NOTE: Links from our website
Our website includes hyperlinks to other websites owned and operated by third parties; such hyperlinks are not recommendations.
We have no control over the contents of third party websites, and we accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.