E-safety Tips for Whole School Engagement

15 tips to encourage pupils, parents and staff to get involved in e-safety


E-safety SeminarThe recent E-safety Seminar held in collaboration with ChatFOSS, saw teachers from across the country coming together to discuss e-safety issues in their schools.

We heard from Henry Platten of eCadets about empowering children to embrace technology. Michael Brennan from Tootoot discussed his experience of bullying at school and how this lead to the development of their safeguarding reporting tool for schools. Tim Pinto led a discussion on the Ofsted requirements for e-safety and Alicia Coad of ChatFOSS rounded off the formal presentations with information on social media and working with parents.

To complete the day, all the delegates worked together to come up with 15 tips to help engage the whole school community with e-safety. Here are their suggestions:

Pupil Empowerment

  • Enlist Cyber-Buddies as peer mentors and a point of contact for pupils
  • Give students a voice on e-safety issues
  • Carry our data surveys in the classroom on current apps etc
  • Engaging Parents

  • Share survey findings with parents
  • Share e-safety videos with parents too
  • Regularly drip-feed e-safety news/web links to keep it current
  • Curriculum

  • Ensure all staff and governors are up-to-date with e-safety issues
  • Involve all staff with e-safety education, in particular PSHE
  • Have students deliver curriculum content in assemblies etc
  • Digital Literacy

  • Encourage pupils to choose a new name for e-safety/digital well-being
  • Work with pupils and staff to create a school policy
  • Establish 'Digital Leaders' to help share knowledge
  • Staff

  • Ensure all staff understand everyone is responsible for e-safety
  • Let staff know that it's ok to ask for help
  • Include videos in e-safety awareness training
  • If you would like to share your tips for engaging the whole school, please email news@e-safetysupport.com

    An extra tip received from Mary at a secondary school in London is to include e-safety tips on student planners.

    Written by Safeguarding Essentials on July 07, 2016 11:59

    Digital Parenting

    Before the Internet, parents felt that they had some control of who their children communicated with. Many houses had one phone and parents felt confident that they knew who their children were talking to.

    The web has changed this and parents find it difficult to keep track of the multiple accounts and Apps that their child is using. The development of technology means that children and young people can easily speak to strangers and access inappropriate content.

    This is why digital parenting is such an important skill today as children need to be given rules about how much ‘screen time’ they are allowed in a day, what type of Apps they are allowed to download and most importantly the risks of talking to people online.

    There is often an argument that children and young people are ‘digitally savvy’ and that they can run circles around their parents when it comes to technology. This may be true with many families, however they do lack the life experience and wisdom that makes them more vulnerable to potential grooming by others on the Internet.

    So what can parents do? In the first instance, it is important that they communicate with their children about what they are doing on the Internet. Children cannot be monitored 24/7and as they grow older into their teenage years, there has to be an element of trust and independence, so that if something did happen, then they would be able to tell their parents.

    Secondly, parents need to upscale their knowledge and look at sites which help them to filter and put parental controls on devices. On Christmas morning, after the presents have been opened, children will ask how you work certain toys and parents will look at the instruction booklet for help. As many devices don’t specifically come with advice on parental controls, this is where sites such as http://www.internetmatters.org/ comes in handy to look at setting controls on specific devices.

    Finally, we must try and teach our children the rules about being safe when using technology and the Internet. When they are very young, we highlight safe ways to cross the road and to be careful near deep water. In the digital age, this now must be extended to enjoying the Internet, but doing it in a safe way.



    Coming Soon: Our new parent online training course will be available soon. The new course will look at how children and young people use technology and the Internet, develop parent knowledge and understanding of the digital world and support them in becoming a better ‘digital parents’. Log into your E-safety Support dashboard to preview the existing staff and governor training courses and to check for product updates.

    Written by Tim Pinto on May 06, 2016 08:29

    iRights Initiative Launches to Empower Young People Online

    New iRights framework to bring together industry and Government to better empower and protect young people online


    iRights Logo
  • iRights include the ability to remove web content young people have created about themselves

  • A right to digital literacy and to know how data collected about them is used

  • Endorses technical support for children to set limits on their digital activities

  • Research finds young people are increasingly worried about their digital legacy and addiction
  • The iRights initiative aims to encourage all companies and organisations with a digital footprint to enshrine a universal standard of rights into their digital services and communications to help protect and inform young people online.

    iRights has today published a report which found that, although children and young people are often presented as ‘digital natives’, in reality they lack the skills and knowledge necessary to navigate the risks of the internet or to benefit from its many opportunities.

    Speaking ahead of the report’s publication, Baroness Shields, Minister for Internet Safety and Security said: “iRights gives a unique insight into how government can join with technology companies, civil society and business to make a better digital world for young people. We are using iRights in education, business and in our own services and digital communications.”

    Baroness Beeban Kidron, iRights Founder and Crossbench Peer, added: “iRights would transform children and young people’s experience of the digital world. They are spending an increasing amount of time online yet fail to properly understand the internet’s many risks and abundant opportunities. We are therefore delighted by the UK government’s endorsement of our efforts, which will help move iRights from the theoretical to the practical.”

    Today’s iRights report, titled Enabling Children and Young People to Access the Digital World Creatively, Knowledgeably and Fearlessly, followed a year of research by the civil society group and found that children and young people:

  • Feel that online games and social networks are compulsive and dominate their time to an unhealthy extent
  • Have deep concern that websites and apps which claim to delete their data have loopholes
  • Believe that helplines and informed support should be universally available to them online
  • The report has led to a series of other announcements today. The Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, has announced that she is launching a task force, Growing Up Digital, dedicated to improving the online lives of young people through the iRights framework.

    This task force will build on iRights and work undertaken by Schillings, an international multidisciplinary reputation and privacy consultancy, which published its own analysis of iRights today, iRights: The Legal Framework. The Schillings report shows that existing legislation strongly supports the five iRights principles and that the UK can set a worldwide precedent in terms of protecting children and young people online.

    iRightsMajor companies have already pledged their support for iRights and plan to launch their own initiatives to further its cause. They include Sky, Barclays, the BBFC, the Southbank Centre and Freeformers, which provides digital skills training to young people for free. Earlier this month, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon signed the framework and launched a Commission to establish how to make Scotland iRights-compatible.

    iRights now has nearly 200 signatories from across government, business, technology and children’s and civil society groups. The iRights coalition is currently hosted by leading children’s charity the National Children’s Bureau.

    Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, said:
    “If children of today and tomorrow are to grow up digitally, we need to be sure that the rights to protection and empowerment that they enjoy in their lives, are embedded in the new digital world they inhabit. As the legal guardian of children’s rights and best interests in England, this is of uppermost concern to me as Children’s Commissioner. I am grateful to iRights for the groundbreaking work they have undertaken in this fast developing area. I intend to build on this work to establish a new Growing Up Digital taskforce, which will launch in the autumn.”

    Jenny Afia, Partner, Schillings, said:
    “Our research has revealed that the law of England and Wales broadly supports the five iRights principles. The challenge is that the law isn’t being applied. Our sense is that there’s a big appetite amongst commercial entities to do the right thing by children and young people, but there is uncertainty as to what this entails in practical terms. To help companies overcome this challenge, Schillings will now embark on producing a set of guidelines that will enable companies to address this issue.”

    Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister for Scotland, said:
    “We believe that every child and young person has the right to grow up in a safe environment – that principle applies to the virtual world too. That is why we’re proud to support the iRights coalition and to ensure the Scottish Government is doing its bit to keep children and young people safe online.”

    Ashok Vaswani, CEO, Personal and Corporate Banking, Barclays, said:
    “If we are to do trusted business online then we have to have to make commitments to the communities that we serve. iRights sheds light on the way in which we should consider our interactions with children and young people. We are now working to make sure we manifest all the principles in our digital space.”

    Gi Fernando, Co-founder of Freeformers and long-time iRights partner, said:
    “To be a 21st century citizen, children and young people should have the right to critically understand the digital world and be confident in managing new social norms. iRights is an important step towards achieving that.”

    Anna Feuchtwang, Chief Executive of the National Children’s Bureau said:
    “The internet and digital technologies are fundamental parts of children and young people’s lives, shaping the world in which they live. But digital technologies are rarely designed with their needs in mind. iRights provides an empowering framework for realising the potential of the internet for children and young people so they can enjoy a safe and vibrant digital life.”

    The full iRights report and framework can be found at www.irights.uk.

    Written by Safeguarding Essentials on July 30, 2015 12:45


    Join Safeguarding Essentials

    • Protect your pupils
    • Support your teachers
    • Deliver outstanding practice

    Recent Stories
    Story Tags
    2fa addiction anti_bullying_alliance #antibullyingweek anti-radicalisation apps ask.fm assembly avatars awards awareness bett Breck_Foundation bug bullying BYOD calendar cber_bullying #CEADay20 censorship ceop chatfoss checklist child child_exploitation childline childnet child_protection childwise christmas ClassDojo classroom competition cookies Covid, CPD creepshot CSE curriculum cyberbullying cyber_bullying cyber_crime cybersmile_foundation cybersurvey data_protection DCMS Demos development devices DfE digital_citizenship digital_footprint digital_forensics digital_leaders digital_literacy digital_native digital_reputation digital_wellbeing ecadets eCadets education e-learning emoticon e-safe esafety e-safety e-safety, e-safety_support esports #esscomp #esstips ethics events exa exploitation extreemism extremism extremism, facebook fake_news fantastict fapchat FAPZ film filtering freemium #Freetobe friendly_wifi gaming GDPR #GetSafeOnline glossary GoBubble gogadgetfree google governor grooming #GSODay2016 guidance hacker hacking health, holiday icon information innovation inspection instagram instragram internet internet_matters internet_of_things internet_safety into_film ipad iphone ipod irights IWF KCSIE #KeepMeSafe knife_crime language leetspeak lesson like linkedin live_streaming lscb malware media mental_health mobile momo monitor monitoring naace national_safeguarding_month navigation neknominate netiquette network news NHCAW nomophobia nspcc NWG ofcom offline ofsted omegle online online_identity online_safety oracle parents password phishing phone Point2Protect policy pornography power_for_good pressure PREVENT primary privacy professional_development protection PSHE PSHE, #pupilvoiceweek radicalisation ratting rdi relationships reporting research risk robots rocketlearn RSE RSPH safeguarding safeguarding, safer_internet_day safety SCD2015 #SCD2016 school screen_time sdfsdf security self-harm selfie sexting sextortion ShareAware sid SID SID2016 SID2017 SID2018 SID2019 SID2020 smartphone snapchat snappening social_media social_media, social_networking staff staff_training #standuptobullying statutory_guidance Stop_CSE stop_cyberbullying_day stress students survey swgfl SWGfL tablet teach teachers technology terrorism texting TikTok tootoot training TrainingSchoolz TrainingToolz trends troll trolling twitter UKCCIS uk_safer_internet_centre UK_youth unplug2015 video virus VPN webinar website wellbeing we_protect what_is_e-safety wifi wi-fi windows wizard working_together yik_yak young_people youthworks youtube YPSI yubo
    Archive