Our online safety lead is Miss Hamilton
At Manor Court Community Primary, we understand that technology and use of online resources is, and will continue to be, an essential part of our children’s lives. Consequently, it is vital that they are confident and capable users of the internet and world wide web. We aim to equip them with the knowledge, understanding and skills which will enable them to feel safe, secure and happy online and to have a positive and healthy relationship with technology.
Aims
To ensure pupils are kind and responsible users online
To ensure pupils understand how to be safe and secure online
To develop healthy relationships with technology and online apps, games and websites
Online safety (or e-safety) is taught in all year groups throughout the school with one discrete lesson each half term. These lessons are taken from the ActiveBYTES curriculum developed by eLIM which we subscribe to as a school. The lessons have a clear focus each term and the whole school will have the same focus. In the Autumn term, the focus is ‘I am kind and responsible’; in Spring, the focus is ‘I am safe and secure’; and in Summer, the focus is ‘I am healthy’. In addressing each of these focuses, we comprehensively cover the National Curriculum objective which is to: use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly; recognise acceptable/unacceptable behaviour; identify a range of ways to report concerns about content and contact.
The ActiveBYTES curriculum is progressive and develops children’s skills as they grow older and begin to access different apps, games, websites and activities. In Foundation Stage, the focus is on how to handle technology, knowing when to use it and teaching children to inform an adult, whereas by Key Stage 2, the lessons are more complex and reflect the greater responsibility and choices that children will have as they grow older.
There will also be opportunities across the curriculum for online safety to be taught in other lessons. The most obvious links will be in computing and PSHE but occasions will arise in most other subjects. In addition, teachers are in a position to model appropriate use of technology and the internet through their own teaching and use of interactive whiteboards which children see on a daily basis.
The aim is also that parental awareness is improved through teaching of online safety and that children are able to share what they’ve learned with adults at home. To achieve this, children will take work completed in school home to share and each year, all classes will participate in an online safety assembly to parents, sharing what they have learnt that year.
Teaching of online safety will be monitored through examples of work taken from each lesson. The ActiveBYTES scheme of lessons is progressive so children will develop their skills and understanding as they move up through the school with the ideas being constantly revisited whilst also becoming increasingly complex. We also use pupil surveys and learner interviews to assess the impact of our online safety provision and adjust it accordingly. Logs of online safety incidents are also kept which also helps us to monitor our provision.
Interventions in online safety will not be academic in the same way that they are for other subjects but link more closely to safeguarding concerns. Intervention (or reporting) may be necessary when a child discloses something around online safety which may be inappropriate or upsetting. Though this might happen at any time, it is possible that discussing online safety may encourage children to raise worries or concerns on the subject. Intervention and support will then be carried out by following the reporting procedure for safeguarding (and online safety) concerns.
It is important that all children are safe, healthy and responsible users of the internet given how crucial technology will be throughout their lives. According to our surveys, 98% of children at Manor Court Community Primary said that they use the internet. Online safety lessons are planned in a way which means that all children are able to access the messages and objectives. Differentiated activities are planned when appropriate and use of scaffolding and both adult and peer support ensures that all children are able to learn these essential skills. Oracy plays a key role in our online safety lessons and this also helps children to access the learning.
At Manor Court, we are big believers in talking about online safety. These organisations offer lots of tools, games, videos, articles and advice for families with the aim of keeping children safe online and helping to deal with problems that come up.
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
https://www.internetmatters.org/
https://www.youngminds.org.uk/parent/parents-helpline-and-webchat
https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/en_us/