Internet Safety - St Augustine’s CE Academy

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The internet is essential in 21st century life for education, business and social interaction. As children move up through the school their access to various forms of technology increases, and it stands to reason that their exploration and curiosity increases too. The positives of the digital world overwhelmingly outweigh the negatives but children, schools and parents all need to be aware of various online risks.

Parents help is still needed to prevent children accessing inappropriate material at home by way of filters and parental controls. On this page there is an extensive list of links and resources for Parents and Carers, Teachers and Young People to help with online safety at home.

Online Safety Policy

St Augustine’s Academy follows the SMART Rules:

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Extensive information can be found through the National College’s ‘Wake Up Wednesday’ guides, with a few examples shown below.

Wake Up Wednesday

Cyber Security Tips

What Parents Need To Know About Twitch

Twitch is a livestreaming service which tends to focus on gaming. Users can publicly broadcast their gameplay and commentary online for other users to watch. It’s a community-driven platform where viewers can support their favourite streamers’ channels through PayPal donations, “Bits” and more. Each streamer or group creates their own community for fans to interact with each other. Twitch has more than 15 million daily active users and includes non-gaming topics such as music, cooking and art. Anyone can create a channel to livestream or watch videos.

In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as inappropriate content, private chat rooms and strangers.

This Weeks Focus: What Parents Need To Know About Wink

Wink is a messaging app which allows children to connect and communicate with other users. In a similar style to Tinder, Wink uses the swipe method for browsing profiles and accepting or declining them. Once two users have accepted each other by swiping on each other’s profile, they can then communicate and play games online together. The fact that Wink allows children to share photos, personal information and their location with other users has caused significant concern.

In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as grooming, cyberbullying and inappropriate content.

This is part of our Social Media, Online Relationships and Online Bullying categories.

This Weeks Focus: Inspiring Children to Build a Better Digital World

Even before lockdowns inflamed the situation, one in every five 10- to 15-year-olds was experiencing bullying online: abusive messages, having rumours spread about them or being excluded from group chats, for example. Through smartphones and tablets, we’re used to being able to communicate from anywhere, at any time – but digital devices became commonplace so quickly that it caused a problem: as a society, we haven’t properly adjusted to how different they’ve made life. Our top tips can help you to build positive relationships online and avoid some of the potential issues.

In the guide, you’ll find a number of tips such as how to stop internet addiction, being aware of the dark side, and pressing ‘pause’.

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This Weeks Focus: What Parents Need to Know About YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing social media platform that allows billions of people around the world to watch, share and upload their own videos with a vast range of content – including sport, entertainment, education and lots more. It’s a superb space for people to consume content that they’re interested in. As a result, this astronomically popular platform has had a huge social impact: influencing online culture on a global scale and creating new celebrities.

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This Weeks Focus: What Parents Need to Know About FIFA

You don’t need to be a football fan to have heard of the FIFA series of games (named after the Federation Internationale de Football Association: the worldwide governing body for the sport). Part of the franchise’s massive appeal is that official licensing gives users the opportunity to play games as their favourite teams, controlling their favourite footballers. They either compete online against other players or work through a solo-player career mode. With updated editions launched annually, FIFA is playable on a range of consoles, with mobile versions available for smartphones and tablets.

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This Weeks Focus: What Parents Need to Know About Twitch

Twitch is a gaming-focussed live-streaming service, owned by Amazon, where you can watch others play games live and listen to commentary as they play. It has 15 million daily active users and more than three million people live broadcast video game streams and other content on Twitch, with channels dedicated to just about every popular video game imaginable – both modern and retro. There are also shows that feature gaming competitions, professional tournaments, game-related chat and news. Plus, numerous non-gaming channels covering everything from cookery and music to art and travel. But Twitch is not just about watching other people’s shows – anyone can broadcast their own gaming action.

This Weeks Focus: WhattsApp

NSPCC Pants Webinar

Advice for Parents

NSPCC Keeping Children Safe Online

E- Safety Leaflets

Is My Child Safe Online? Your Questions Answered.

Internet Safety Posters by Class 3

Useful Information

Useful Videos

Risks Children Face Online

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Reporting to CEOP

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Using Parental Controls

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Worried your child has shared too much

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Worried your child will see something inappropriate online.

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Top Tips for talking about staying safe online

Talk to your child about what they’re up to online. Be a part of their online life; involve the whole family and show an interest. Find out what sites they visit and what they love about them, if they know you understand they are more likely to come to you if they have any problems.
Watch Thinkuknow films and cartoons with your child. The Thinkuknow site has films, games and advice for children from five all the way to 16.
Encourage your child to go online and explore! There is a wealth of age-appropriate sites online for your children. Encourage them to use sites which are fun, educational and that will help them to develop online skills.
Keep up-to-date with your child’s development online. Children grow up fast and they will be growing in confidence and learning new skills daily. It’s important that as your child learns more, so do you.
Set boundaries in the online world just as you would in the real world. Think about what they might see, what they share, who they talk to and how long they spend online. It is important to discuss boundaries at a young age to develop the tools and skills children need to enjoy their time online.
Discuss with your older children what they should or shouldn’t be showing their younger siblings on the internet, mobile devices, games consoles and other devices.
Keep all equipment that connects to the internet in a family space. For children of this age, it is important to keep internet use in family areas so you can see the sites your child is using and be there for them if they stumble across something they don’t want to see.
Know what connects to the internet and how. Nowadays even the TV connects to the internet. Make sure you’re aware of which devices that your child uses connect to the internet, such as their phone or games console. Also, find out how they are accessing the internet – is it your connection, or a neighbour’s wifi? This will affect whether the safety setting you set are being applied.
Use parental controls on devices that link to the internet, such as the TV, laptops, computers, games consoles and mobile phones. Parental controls are not just about locking and blocking, they are a tool to help you set appropriate boundaries as your child grows and develops. They are not the answer to your child’s online safety, but they are a good start and they are not as difficult to install as you might think. Service providers are working hard to make them simple, effective and user friendly

Find your service provider and learn how to set your controls

Starting a conversation about online safety

It can be difficult to know how to start talking to your child about what they’re doing online or who they might be speaking to. But talking regularly, like you would about their day at school, will help your child feel relaxed and mean that when they do have any worries, they’re more likely to come and speak to you. It can help to:

- reassure them that you’re interested in their life, offline and online. Recognise that they’ll be using the internet to research homework as well talking to their friends.
- ask your child to show you what they enjoy doing online or apps they’re using so you can understand them.
- be positive but also open about anything you’re worried about. You could say “I think this site’s really good” or “I’m a little worried about things I’ve seen here.”
- ask them if they’re worried about anything, and let them know they can come to you.
- ask them about their friends online and how they know they are who they say they are.
- listen for the reasons why your child wants to use apps or site you don’t think are suitable, so you can talk about these together.
- ask your child what they think’s okay for children of different ages so they feel involved in the decision making.

Thinkuknow is a very informative website with lots of information for parents. Please click on the image below to access the website.

Please click Here for the NSPCC information on keeping safe online.

For more information on internet safety please click here

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