Online Safety

What does online safety mean?

At Farnham Green we are committed to the use of new technologies and recognise the internet as a valuable tool for learners of all ages. The internet is increasingly providing the focal point of educational content within the UK. With ever expanding new technologies such as blogs, social networking spaces, online forums and mobile phones children are using technology in a way never seen before. The increased use of technology at school and home also exposes children to a number of risks and dangers. In its simplest form e-Safety is about ensuring children use new technologies computers, mobile phones and gaming devices in a way which will keep them safe without limiting their opportunities for creation and innovation.

Why the Internet and digital communications are important

The Internet is an essential element in 21st century life for education, business, and social interaction. The school has a duty to provide pupils with quality internet access as part of their learning experience. Internet use is a part of the statutory curriculum and a necessary tool for staff and pupils.

Internet use will enhance learning

The school Internet access will be designed expressly for pupil use and will include filtering appropriate to the age of pupils. Pupils will be taught what Internet use is acceptable and what is not and given clear objectives for Internet use. Pupils will be educated in the effective use of the internet in research, including the skills of knowledge location, retrieval and evaluation. Pupils will be shown how to publish and present information to a wider audience.

At Farnham Green we take the safety of our pupils very seriously including their safety while they access the internet. Whilst it is impossible to ensure that all pupils will not access such material, the school, in liaison with the London Grid for Learning, is taking all reasonable steps to minimise pupil access to unsuitable material. These include:

• Use of a filtered Internet Service to prevent access to internet sites with undesirable material

• The requirement that wherever possible, all internet access during school hours will be supervised by a member of staff or another responsible adult

Advice for home internet use

We want this approach to online safety to spread to the home online environment too and we are therefore sharing with you some tips and resources to help you guide your children and help you keep up to date in a digital world. Here are a few tips to help you keep your children safe on line:

Think U Know is always a good place to start you will see the report abuse button that your child will know about from school.

Another site that is helpful for parent controls is UK Safer Internet Centre.

This site advises you to take four steps:

1. Have ongoing conversations with your children about staying safe online
2. Use safety tools on social networks and other online services, eg Facebook privacy settings

3. Decide if you want to use parental controls on your home internet
4. Understand devices and the parental control tools they offer in our Parents' Guide to Technology

The DFE has a recently updated online safety advice.

Parental controls

Further information about online safety can be found by clicking here

Reporting

If you have any concerns please speak to us. By working together we can keep our children safe. You can report to any staff member however, there are three staff members whose role it is to safeguard our children: