Online Safety
At Northease, we take Online Safety seriously. We use Lightspeed Systems filtering to ensure that web content is suitable for our students and helps safeguard them from potential dangers or unsuitable material. Any Online Safety incidents are recorded and managed in accordance with our Online Safety Policy.
Our Online Safety committee meets on a termly basis to discuss a wide variety of Online Safety activities including policies, awareness and incidents. The Online Safety Coordinator meets at least weekly with the Designated Safeguarding Lead to review any suspicious searches that have been blocked by our filtering system.
We try to raise the awareness of Online Safety across the whole school: holding termly Online Safety assemblies, teaching Online Safety as part of the PSHE curriculum, holding parent awareness sessions and training staff. Our Safeguarding Governor Geraldine Des Moulins has had online e-safety training, and both our Head of Safeguarding and Head of E-Safety are attending an event to increase their knowledge on apps, software and legislation. We recently facilitated a peer-led presentation and workshop with our Years 5,6,7 and 8 on how to recognise unkind and bullying behaviour, and what to do about it. We are committed to developing this work.
We believe that to be truly successful in keeping children safe online, we need to work with parents to ensure the Online Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents are aware of what their children are doing online and feel comfortable talking to them about it, giving them guidance on how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online.
It is important to have regular conversations about staying safe online and to encourage children to speak to you if they come across something worrying online.
The following resource is also a great tool to use for starting discussions with your child about online safety. An approach that involves your child in the discussions can reduce tension and increase buy-in with safety measures.
The useful links in this section provide guidance for parents and carers to keep children safe online. They will, amongst other things, support you to talk to your child about a range of online safety issues, set up home filtering in a child-friendly way and set up age-appropriate parental controls on digital devices.
https://www.internetmatters.org/
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/
https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/
Are you worried about online sexual abuse or the way someone has been communicating online? Make a report to one of CEOP's Child Protection Advisors: https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/