Online Safety
At Epsom Downs Primary School & Children’s Centre, the online safety school community is paramount, but of course our children are the main concern. Staff have received online safety training which means that they are alert to the dangers children face online and to the warning signs of cyber bullying or grooming.
Online safety is integrated into the ICT curriculum at all levels so that awareness of online safety becomes second nature to our children, leaving them confident, competent, but most of all safe, internet users.
Ofsted places great importance on how schools address e-safety and it has consequently become part of their inspection criteria. Ofsted define online safety as the school’s ability:
- To protect and educate pupils and staff in their use of technology
- To have appropriate mechanisms to intervene and support any incident where appropriate
They categorise three areas of risk:
- Content: being exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful material
- Contact: being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users
- Conduct: personal online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm.
(Source: Ofsted – Inspecting e-safety in schools, September 2013)
Further information
There is a wealth of information about online safety for parents and for children. Here are some links you might find useful - it is important to keep up to date as online safety information and resources are updated frequently.
- Thinkyouknow (advice from the National Crime Agency to stay safe online)
- Internet matters (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- Parent info (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- LGfL (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- Online Safety (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- Online Gaming (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- Cyberbullying (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- Safer Internet (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online)
- Young Minds (support for parents and carers to keep their children safe whilst gaming)
A Parents' Guide to being Share Aware
