Online Safety

7th February 2020

Top Tips for Parents

Set up filters on your home internet.

 

At St Wilfrid’s, we have a filtering system which blocks the children from accessing any inappropriate content. It is very advisable to set up these filters on any devices that your children access the Internet at home. Large internet providers are all free and simple to set up. Contact your provider and they will take you through how to set up these filters. Follow the link to find out more about how to set up parental controls in your home:

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers/parental-controls-offered-your-home-internet-provider 

Make an agreement as a family

Have a conversation and come to a decision as a family around how technology is used in your home. 

  • Set time boundaries around how much technology your children use. You may decide these vary according to the age of the children.
  • Decide what is acceptable to use, for example what games or websites.
  • Agree that technology is only used in communal areas of your house, rather than in bedrooms or anywhere the children are alone.
  • Together, decide what information should be shared online? Talk to your children about all of the key ways to keep safe online, such as keeping any personal information private, never arranging to meet someone they have met online and to think before accepting friend requests or following links.
  • Make sure they know what to do if they come across something unpleasant online - to tell a trusted adult!

Have regular conversations

It’s important to regularly talk to your children about the technology they use and what they use it for. This will allow the children to talk freely about what they would become aware if they are accessing anything negative online. 

Here are some ideas about how you could start your conversations with your children:

•           What games do you like to play?

•           What websites do you enjoy? Why?

•           What can they do on it?

•           Why is it really fun?

•           Do your friends enjoy the same ones as you?

•           How do you talk to people online?

•           What friends have you got on this game or website?

Get to know the devices your children use 

Safer internet have created a great guide giving information to parents about the most popular devices children like to use. It also includes information about the safety features you can use and how to support your child to use each device safely. 

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-centre/parents-and-carers/parents-guide-technology

Make sure your child knows what to do

Have regular conversations with your children about what to do if they come across something upsetting or if they are worried. Including, being able to block specific people or content, reporting and always telling a trusted adult. 

Videos to support online safety at home:

Online Safety for Under 5’s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySbDYUmPasU

Online Safety for 6-10 year olds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz4EyUMUTro

Online Safety for 11-13 year olds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iKPd6lZYuA

Further Support

 If a child tells you they have come across something worrying on the internet, CEOP is the main service for keeping children safe online. It has lots of guidance and support for parents. 

  • Childline is a service which supports children. Children can call, free of charge and speak directly to the support staff about any issues. 
  • ChildNet has lots of useful information about online safety for parents
  • BBC has an area within their website, to support children online: https://www.bbc.com/ownit