Reaching high for the best for your child
School Blog
Online Safety
Online tips for a new school year
By Online safety team, in Online Safety - Thursday, 5 September 2024
What Can We Learn From The OFCOM Media Report 2024?
By Mrs Marlow, in Online Safety - Wednesday, 8 May 2024
What Can We Learn From The OFCOM Media Report 2024?
By Mrs Marlow, in Online Safety - Wednesday, 8 May 2024
Safer Internet Day - Tuesday 6th February
By Mrs Marlow, in Online Safety - Tuesday, 6 February 2024
As part of Safer Internet Day, the children in year 3 become digital detectives, exploring the exciting world of Artificial Intelligence and learning how to stay safe online.
We started by watching Safer Internet Day 2024 Live Lesson, focusing on the fascinating world
of AI Technology and how to stay safe online. The lesson kicked off by introducing AI, explaining what it is, and where we might already be using it in our day to day lives. It also addessed some commonly thought myths about AI and children tested their knowledge by sorting the AI facts from the AI fiction.
We investigated a type of AI called machine learning – to see how AI works. This is a specific type of Artificial Intelligence where an AI system learns to carry out a task by using large amounts of training data.
We also explored the risks of AI technology online, including deepfake photos and fake news. Finally we summarised everything we had learnt in the lesson before creating a poster with our top tip for staying safe online in an AI world.
Ask your child for their top tip!
TALKING ASD & ADHD FREE workshops - TECH USE- PARENT & CARER SUPPORT
By Mrs Marlow, in Online Safety - Tuesday, 6 February 2024
Are you concerned about the amount of time your child spends online?
Are you having frequent arguments about getting off devices?
Do you worry that your child with ASD or ADHD is more vulnerable than neurotypical children?
IF ANY OF THIS APPLIES TO YOU, FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR A FREE ONLINE WORKSHOP!
Safer Internet Day - Tuesday 6th February
By Mrs Marlow, in Online Safety - Tuesday, 6 February 2024
Inspiring change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online.
Today was Safer Internet Day and we joined schools all over the country to champion youth voice and engage in conversations about how we can all work together to make the internet a great and safe place.
Mr Staples kicked it off on Monday with a whole school assembly which was then followed today by a variety of learning activities across the school to support their Digital Literacy skills, including learning about AI and how to continue to be Safe Digital Citizens. Read our year blogs!
Ask your child about what they did in class and share their learning. This is a great opportunity to focus on online safety with your child, whatever their age. We have created a list of resources, including the link to the Cbeebies Live lesson that was shared in classes today. These will help you to talk about these issues and ideas with your child, no matter how much time you have and, in an age,-appropriate way.
Be Internet Legends - A Program to Teach Children Internet Safety (beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com) This includes the game Interland which teaches the children how to make the right choices through playing a game.
Screen free activities
By Mrs Marlow, in Online Safety - Tuesday, 19 December 2023
Of course the best way to stay safe online at Christmas, is also to stay offline! Time away from our screens not just keeps us away from negative feelings, (which can come from playing games, looking at social media and group chats )but it also gives us a chance to build relationships, get more active, concentrate better and have a positive impact on our mental health and sleep patterns.
So step away from the phone, laptop, gaming centre and TV and look at our list of activities that you and your family can enjoy together. The list below offers many ideas to get you started but we're sure you can find plenty more that suit your family's interests. Don't forget to share these with the Internet Safety team. Let's work together to inspire our children to balance their freetime and feel better for it!
- Have a dance party
- Build an indoor fort
- Read a book
- Make slime
- Make cookies
- Have a picnic
- Do a Science experiment
- Have a Nerf battle
- Make an art show
- Colour some rocks and leave them out for people to find
- Make and fly a kite
- Go for a walk
- Reorganise your bedroom
- Play a ball game
- Draw with chalk
- Make a puppet show with sock puppets
- Write a letter
- Keep a diary
- Play a card game
- Make your own board game, then play it
- Look at old photos with friends and family
- Do a puzzle
Top tips for staying safe online at Christmas
By Mrs Marlow, in Online Safety - Tuesday, 19 December 2023
Christmas is such a wonderful time of year, excitable children and time to relax with family and friends. And of course, there are new toys to play with.
With a huge increase in sales of devices (around 13 million people receive smartphones for Christmas each year) it is important to ensure that you and your children are safe when playing with new kit. To help, we’ve set out a few top tips to help keep your household safe online over the holidays.
The Tech:
Learn your way around
Most devices have controls to ensure that kids can’t access content you don’t want them to. Make sure your “in-app” purchases are disabled to avoid a nightmare surprise in the new year.
Tablets
Tablets are really popular with younger children, and the market has several which are geared towards child friendly content. When it comes to using them, start slowly; only download games and apps you have checked out carefully (sites such as www.net-aware.org.uk, or www.commonsensemedia.org provide useful advice!) and steer them towards age targeted content such as www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbeebies/features/iplayer-kids or YouTube Kids.
Mobile devices
If you have older children, and are thinking about getting them a new phone for Christmas, this can pose its own challenges:
The old online safety message about having your home computer in a communal place becomes defunct, because phones are literally mobile computers and have the power of most traditional desktop PCs.
Set boundaries
Our advice is to set some ground rules, and ensure they understand them. For example:
Screen Time
Agree a time limit or number of games beforehand, to avoid repeated disagreements around how long they can spend online.
Sleep comes first
It is advisable that the phone stays out of the bedroom to avoid those night time interruptions.
Ask for access
If you’re genuinely concerned about them, ask them to allow you access to the phone.
Monitoring vs having a conversation
It is possible to install software onto devices that monitors online activity, alerts you to inappropriate behaviour, and can block access to certain content. This type of software is becoming increasingly popular, but while this might sound tempting, it does pose a number of issues around your child’s right to privacy & could have an impact upon your relationship with them. SWGfL published this blog earlier this year, which covers the subject in some detail and raises some interesting points.
SWGfL also covered this in its Parenting in a Digital Age series earlier this year, in this blog.
Consider setting parental controls on your Wi-Fi – you can block access to inappropriate or adult content, and set time limits which may help rein in those excessive Minecraft sessions. The UK Safer Internet Centre has advice on this here.
Gaming
Finally a word about games. This year there are so many exciting games and consoles around, there is a good chance you might have one in your house. Whether a DS, Nintendo Switch or PS4, there is something for everyone, and every age.
Consider whether your child is mature enough to join an online community, and whether the games they are playing are appropriate. For more advice on this visit www.pegi.info or www.askaboutgames.com. Our blog from earlier this year, ‘The real cost of online gaming’ also gives an insight into the type of things to be aware of when it comes to gaming.
Finally, make sure you enjoy your tech together, it’s the perfect time of year!
Whatsapp - What every parent needs to know
By Mrs Marlow, in Online Safety - Monday, 25 September 2023
New Year
By Jo Marlow, in Online Safety - Monday, 11 September 2023
Welcome back to a new school year!
As summer comes to an end and the dark nights draw in, it’s a good time to think about our children’s internet safety.
Throughout the year, we will be working alongside you to ensure that our children are safe and happy online. We will regularly blog hfl safety online newsletters, as well as useful guides to help you to keep on top of your child’s internet safety and help them to make positive choices online.
As in past years, there will also be a national safer internet day in February to raise awareness of ‘a safer and better internet for all, and especially for children and young people’.
To find out more about Safer Internet Day, follow the link of the website below and SAVE THE DATE now!