Online Safety
Online Safety and Digital Citizenship
A key part of implementing our computing curriculum was to ensure that safety of our pupils is paramount. We take online safety very seriously and we aim to give children the necessary skills to keep themselves safe online. Children have a right to enjoy childhood online, to access safe online spaces and to benefit from all the opportunities that a connected world can bring them, appropriate to their age and stage.
Children build online resilience through the use of the ‘Project Evolve – Education for a Connected World’ framework. The framework aims to support and broaden the provision of online safety education, so that it is empowering, builds resilience and effects positive culture change. The objectives promote the development of safe and appropriate long-term behaviours, and support educators in shaping the culture within their setting and beyond.
Within each year group topics include:
- Self Image and Identity - This strand explores the differences between online and offline identity beginning with self-awareness, shaping online identities and media influence in propagating stereotypes. It identifies effective routes for reporting and support and explores the impact of online technologies on self-image and behaviour.
- Online Relationships - This strand explores how technology shapes communication styles and identifies strategies for positive relationships in online communities. It offers opportunities to discuss relationships, respecting, giving and denying consent and behaviours that may lead to harm and how positive online interaction can empower and amplify voice.
- Online Reputation - This strand explores the concept of reputation and how others may use online information to make judgements. It offers opportunities to develop strategies to manage personal digital content effectively and capitalise on technology’s capacity to create effective positive profiles.
- Online Bullying - This strand explores bullying and other online aggression and how technology impacts those issues. It offers strategies for effective reporting and intervention and considers how bullying and other aggressive behaviour relates to legislation.
- Managing Online information - This strand explores how online information is found, viewed and interpreted. It offers strategies for effective searching, critical evaluation of data, the recognition of risks and the management of online threats and challenges. It explores how online threats can pose risks to our physical safety as well as online safety. It also covers learning relevant to ethical publishing.
- Health Well-being and Lifestyle - This strand explores the impact that technology has on health, well-being and lifestyle e.g. mood, sleep, body health and relationships. It also includes understanding negative behaviours and issues amplified and sustained by online technologies and the strategies for dealing with them.
- Privacy and Security - This strand explores how personal online information can be used, stored, processed and shared. It offers both behavioural and technical strategies to limit impact on privacy and protect data and systems against compromise.
- Copyright and Ownership - This strand explores the concept of ownership of online content. It explores strategies for protecting personal content and crediting the rights of others as well as addressing potential consequences of illegal access, download and distribution.
In Foundation and Key Stage 1 we use Smartie the Penguin to help reinforce how to stay safe online for our younger children.
Smartie the Penguin
Below are the 'Smartie The Penguin' stories we use in class to help teach online safety.
Please enjoy reading them with your child and using them as a starter for a discussion about how to stay safe while they are online
On Tuesday 7th February 2023 it was Safer Internet Day. The theme for this years’ Safer Internet Day was ‘Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online’ and as well as activities in class, we had a homework task to get involved in.
To help us to remember how important Internet Safety is, we designed “Smartie the Penguin” posters, displaying his important message. Take a look at some of the designs. A big thank you to everyone who designed a poster. They were all fantastic.