Developing children's digital safety and resilience is a priority for you as parents and us as a school. By doing this, we will allow children to benefit from the exciting opportunities the internet has to offer whilst also being aware of how to stay safe when using it, and what to do if something goes wrong.

If anything happens to you in your  or your child's online life and you want to get help straight away, you can call ChildLine or report your concern to CEOP (the branch of the police who protect young people online) by clicking on the link below. 

Useful Websites

CEOP Think You Know - http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

Parent Zone Parent Guides - https://parentzone.org.uk/advice/parent-guides 

BBC Own It - https://www.bbc.com/ownit 

CEOP - http://ceop.police.uk/

NSPCC - https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/ 

Safer Internet - http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-and-resources/parents-and-carers

Internet Matters - http://www.internetmatters.org/

Filtering and Monitoring

The internet is now used daily in education and has become fundamental. It acts as a key learning tool for children however, it can also be an area for concern due to the nature of potentially harmful content available online.

There are many reasons why filtering and monitoring are required. In school the purpose is to ensure that children do not access unsuitable/inappropriate content. 

Content filtering works by applying specific parameters to content retrieved via the internet, restricting access to certain materials on websites, Apps, emails or other suspicious items. It can be a hardware or software solution and can often be part of a firewall setting. 

Monitoring combined with content filtering alerts for any activities that need to be acted upon, but the information is also used to determine which sites and keywords need to be filtered out. For example, if a new craze appears, the monitoring and filtering system will help us know what associated terms the children are searching for, and what websites they are accessing.

To safeguard and promote the welfare of our children, we provide them with a safe environment in which they can learn and flourish, by ensuring that they are not exposed to any online risks associated with using the internet. We have comprehensive filtering and monitoring systems in place for all devices used in school, and regularly review their effectiveness.  Our school uses Fortinet as our filtering and Classroom Cloud as our monitoring solution and this is monitored by senior leaders and reports given to the Governing body.