Be Internet Wise

The online world is ever changing, making it a challenge to keep up to speed with what children are doing.  Below are some useful websites that provide a whole host of ways to keep your child safe online. 

Child safety on Fortnite

Fortnite is an online video game in a post-apocalyptic world. To play, the age recommendation is 12 and above due to ‘mild violence’, although you don’t have to provide your age when creating an account, so younger children can still log on easily.

We advise that you:

• Use the parental controls on the gaming device
• Visit the website ‘ask about games’ for links to detailed instructions on the device your child uses – the site covers Playstation 3,  Playstation 4,  Xbox 360, Xbox One, Apple and Android phones, and Nintendo Switch.

https://aag.ukie-website-prod.etchplay.com/parental-controls

Make sure your child knows how to report inappropriate behaviour. You or your child can report players who make them uncomfortable using the in-game feedback tool (located in the main menu).

e-Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at St Michael's Catholic Primary School. We have extensive security measures in place in school, which are monitored both internally and externally, to help safeguard pupils from potential dangers or unsuitable material.

Any e-Safety incidents are recorded and managed in accordance with our e-Safety policy. e-Safety is taught to all pupils explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online.

We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the e-Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online.

It’s essential to be realistic - banning the internet or technology will not work and it often makes a child less likely to report a problem. Education around safe use is essential.

Search engines

Please note that no search engine is ever 100% safe but below provides some links to some “safer” search engines:

• Research searching
• nICE
• CBBC
• Kids Yahoo
• Google also offers a safer search option for children searching on the Internet.

Image searching

• Pics4Learning
• picsearch

Gaming

When children are accessing games via Xbox LIVE, privacy settings can be set up.

CEOP

CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) delivers a multi-agency service dedicated to tackling the abuse and exploitation of children in the real and ‘e’ world. Often it is referred to as an online 999. By clicking on the button, young people and parents can get advice on a range of issues such as viruses, hacking and dealing with bullying online.

Vodafone have produced a Digital Parenting Magazine which informs parents about the various technologies children are accessing today. There is information on Facebook settings, Xbox360 settings, Blackberry controls and much more 'How to Guides'. Well worth a read!

Think-U-Know

The “Thinkuknow” website is brought to you by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection

(CEOP) centre.

Kidsmart

Kidsmart gives you lots of advice on how to stay safe online.

Parent Info

This is a free service for schools. Here you'll find a collection of articles, tips, expert advice and resources designed to help parents keep up with what their children are doing online. 

Parent Info is a collaboration between The Parent Zone which has been providing information and support to parents for a decade, and CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) command of the National Crime Agency.

The SaferInternet site also provides advice on setting up parental controls on your home computer. 

https://saferinternet.org.uk/

The Click Clever, Click Safe site has lots of useful information about Cyberbullying.

http://www.wisekids.org.uk/ukccis/UKCCIS%20Strategy%20Report-WEB.PDF

NSPCC

Keeping children safe online is a great concern for parents. The NSPCC’s Share Aware provides straightforward, no-nonsense advice for parents of 8 to 12-year-old children. #ShareAware was mentioned more than 10,000 times on Twitter, during the first month of its campaign in January 2015. The NSPCC will continue to challenge and work with internet companies and the Government to make the internet a safer place for children.