SAFEGUARDING OUR CHILDREN ONLINE
Hello Parents, I am sharing a simple resource video to support everyone to support their children with screen time, internet filtering, access to suitable internet content, age appropriate apps, online grooming, gaming, cyberbullying, online hate and social networking. It has been produced by the E-safety office, which St Joseph's work alongside to support school e-safety and general data protection compliance. Please log onto the 20 minute video https://vimeo.com/730312242 the password to gain access is ESORET150722
In addition, I attach a leaflet with important links.
I hope this support all families at home.
Following the parent's E-safety workshop please find below a summary of information
E-Safety workshop
It is an established thought that parenting is often passed down through generations, however technology is always changing and so we all have to adapt and respond to keep our children safe. It is also true that wisdom in parents is the key to supporting children staying safe online.
A key question to consider is; can children connect to and share information with people they do not know, if so the app they are using can be unsafe. Consider the controls and settings that can be modified to support your child’s safety. With any new technology ensure you gain experience of the equipment and the technology before handing it over to your child. It is important that we teach children safe principles of acceptable use of technology, especially because children will access not only their own technology but other friend’s technology.
6 Tips to support online safety
Tip 1 - SCREEN TIME – there are guidelines on how much screen time is recommended. https://www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/who-guidelines-screen-time/
Technology should not always be seen as negative, but its use should be considered.
There is evidence to suggest children should not take their technology to bed, or use it at meal times. It is recommended that children have 1 hour away from technology prior to bedtime. Consider the balance between active lifestyles and screen time.
A good idea to support parents is the Activity Passport produced by the government to support parents with activities other than using technology in the home for each year group. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/772070/My_Activity_Passport.pdf
Tip 2 – ONLINE CONTENT - set Family Filters at home in the security settings, just as we do in school. Please note that YouTube can be accessed at home, as YouTube has its own filters. You can sign into YouTube and set it to safety mode (you will need a google email address). A good idea is to support children to visit a particular YouTube channel which is more appropriate. Visit commonsense.org for more information.
There is an app called YouTube Kids which has more appropriate videos loaded onto its platform.
Tip 3 – APPS – there are age restrictions to apps, so when you or your child/ren sign up and download an app ensure your look for the age recommendations. It is often that apps are for children 13 years old. Whatsapp is an app for 16 year old children. There is an app called Monkey and Tiktok which is an app where children create a random video chat for 15 seconds which anyone watches – it is for 17 year olds (plus). Comments are posted on the apps and this can be monitored by parents. Ensure you review the apps that your child wants to download and has downloaded. Look at the privacy controls. It is important to note that adverts on apps can also be aimed at children who are older.
Tip 4 – SET PARENTAL CONTROLS – online grooming happens every day. Check out who is in communication with your child/children through apps. False profiles are created by people. Ensure you speak to your child about who they communicate with and set controls on their technology. Ensure children know they can come and talk to you about queries they have. In settings, tap on screen time, turn on screen time and set content and privacy restrictions.
Tip 5 – MONITOR BEHAVIOUR – children spend time playing video games and each game has an age rating. The content of the game is set to the age rating and will not be appropriate for younger children. The average age of a gamer is 32 years old, so content is developed for this market. Games should be treated the same as videos and often we do not allow children from watching adult content but then allow them to access this content in games. This requires us to stop and think.
Ensure children know about the appropriateness of what is posted online, comments are as valid as verbal speech and images remain online indefinitely.
Speak to children about the sharing of selfies, as often images can be hard to retrieve.
Tip 6 – TALK TO YOU CHILDREN ABOUT THE DIGITAL WORLD – to gain support on this visit internetmatters.org which is a great site for information on how to set up parental controls. The https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ website is also good to find out more information on safety online. The https://esafetyoffice.co.uk/ is a great site for individual pages of information and guidance on a range of themes. Click CEOP button is displayed on many sites https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/ it is a place to go if you want support as this links to the national crime agency in London.
Finally it is important to discuss things now with children as they grow so they know they can come to you if they need support.