Online Safety
The Ultimate Parent Guide for Protecting Your Child on the Internet
Children start using computers from a very early age and are increasingly using the Internet more and more whether it is at home, in school, on their mobile phones or on a games console. With this in mind, Internet Safety and knowing how to help protect children and young people online is essential.
For Parents - Nintendo Switch Parental Controls
All tech devices come with parental controls, but they're not always easy to find or understand and they can differ quite significantly from device to device.
The Nintendo Switch, which is a very popular device, has a range of parental controls such as browser access, restricting games based on age, chat settings and more and more.
Internet Matters have a great guide for parents which can be downloaded and sent out or added to your school website. Click HERE for more information.
For Parents - Talking About Online Harassment and Abuse
Sadly, many children and young people believe that online harassment and abuse are just a part of being online, in other words - normalised. This should never be the case, but it can be difficult to strike up a conversation. Internet Matters have a really good guide for parents which they can use for conversation starters.
You can download the guide HERE.
For Parents - Managing Screen Time
Internet Matters has a series of tips and guides to help with this including setting up parental controls, finding other activities to do, agreeing on boundaries and more. You can view the guidance HERE.
Report online abuse by clicking the button below:
CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) works to protect children from harm online and offline, directly through CEOP led operations in partnership with local and international agencies. Their website offers further support in how and when to make use of this report function. There is also a CEOP report button in the footer of this website.
Below are a few links to some very useful information regarding online safety for parents, carers and children:
Think U Know – containing internet safety advice for those aged from 5 to 16, along with parents and teachers, this site is produced by CEOP (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre).
Internet Safety Zone – Look in the ‘Under 13s’ section for useful safety advice and information.
Kidsmart – An award-winning internet safety programme for children.
Know IT All – lots of useful advice for keeping yourselves and your children safe on the Internet.
Kidscape – An organisation which helps to prevent bullying and child abuse.
Childline – ChildLine is the free helpline for children and young people in the UK.
BBC Stay Safe – Test your Internet safety knowledge with Hacker and help the Horrible Histories gang stay safe online.
Net Smartz Kids– Click on the image opposite to visit the Net Smartz Kids website for lots of e-safety activities.
Childnet International – website to “help make the Internet a great and safe place for children”.
