St Mary's C of E Primary School & Nursery

ONLINE SAFETY AT ST MARY'S

ONLINE SAFETY TEAM

Senior Leader & Safeguarding Lead: Russ Payne

Computing Lead: Sam Biddle

PSHE Lead: TBC

Curriculum Governor: Ursula Scott

Safeguarding Governor: Alastair Vella-Sultana

‘Faith in Everyone to Shine Brightly’ 

Keeping Safe Online

Online Safety is a priority at St Mary's where we strive to keep children safe online at school and in their home lives. Our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy and our Online Safety Policy outline the procedures and processes followed. These documents can can be view from our policies page by clicking here.

In line with national trends, we are aware that there is a growing use of social media by children at St Mary’s. Increasingly, friendship problems in school are a direct result of, or exacerbated by, children’s online messaging. This should raise concerns for teachers and parents, as use of social media exposes children to many risks and problems, from unkind messages between friends, to cyber-bullying, to serious risks from unknown individuals.

These videos are from the Safer Internet Centre:

Click to open these HELPFUL WEBSITES:

Please note: the school cannot be responsible for any other website's content.

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TIKTOK (MUSICAL.LY)

TikTok is a video-sharing app. Users can upload and share short videos of themselves lip-syncing to songs or acting out comedy sketches, and add special effects. They can gain followers (‘fans’) and browse other people’s videos. You may have heard of the app by its previous name: Musical.ly. On the surface, nothing. TikTok has a reputation for being unusually free of trolling and danger, but you may have seen news reports or heard concerns about some users harassing children for inappropriate images and videos. You can help protect your children against such online videos with the advice in this fact sheet.

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YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Seemingly innocent videos, featuring children's favourites such as Peppa Pig and Elsa, show disturbing and violent scenes which are inappropriate and frightening for young children. You can help protect your children against such online videos with the advice in this fact sheet.

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Find out more about Safer Internet Day at the Safer Internet Centre.

There are some great games, videos and information at CBBC Stay Safe too...

 Click to open the 'THINK U KNOW' posters

Policing our children’s online behaviours is not easy – but that simply means we just have to be more aware and vigilant about it. The minimum age to open an account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Kik, and Snapchat is actually 13. YouTube requires account holders to be 18 (but a 13-year-old can sign up with a parent's permission). Despite these clearly stated and published age restrictions, large and growing numbers of children 11 and under are using social media networks, often with their parent's knowledge and consent.

Children and adults alike need to remember that everything they post online remains online forever in some shape or form (even of it has been ‘deleted’ by the user) and so there can be serious consequences for what we post, as stories in the news show time and time again.

Please take the time to talk to your children about social media and online safety generally. Three excellent websites that can help support you and your child are:

• Think U Know (filled with age-appropriate information and games to build safe online behaviours)

• Safety Net Kids (advice for children)

• NSPCC (information for parents)

Please note: the school cannot be responsible for any other website's content.