Online Safety
Latest News
Coerced online child sexual abuse - Help for parents (UK Safer Internet Centre)
The UKSIC report that more than a quarter of girls who took part in their survey have had some kind of experience of receiving a request for nude or semi-nude photos or videos.
Children can be groomed, coerced or encouraged into sexual activities online. Any child with unsupervised access to the internet is potentially at risk.
To help parents understand this difficult topic and talk to their children, the UKSIC has produced a checklist and resources about online sexual abuse. Click here for further information.
So what is ‘Online Safety’?
In simple terms, online safety refers to the act of staying safe online. It is also commonly known as internet safety, e-safety and cyber safety. It encompasses all technological devices which have access to the internet from PCs and laptops to smartphones and tablets.
Being safe online means individuals are protecting themselves and others from online harms and risks which may jeopardise their personal information, lead to unsafe communications or even effect their mental health and wellbeing.
Below, we have listed some organisations which offer further advice to help you and your child keep safe online.
O2.co.uk
O2 have created a range of resources for parents and carers to support their child staying safe online. These include guides on how to prevent your child accessing information that is not age appropriate. www.o2.co.uk/help/
Thinkuknow.co.uk
Excellent online safety advice for parents, carers and children - thinkuknow.co.uk
Internetmatters.org
Tech advice and resources to support families at home to make sure children and parents stay safe - internetmatters.org
Saferinternet.org
Offers advice to children and parents about how to keep safe online - saferinternet.org
Teen tips
Advice and live chats which can be accessed for advice on internet matters and keeping children safe online. The site also has useful resources - www.teentips.co.uk
CEOP
If there is concern that a young person or child has had inappropriate contact or has been approached by a stranger online, it's essential to report this to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) or the police.
CEOP have produced some resources about keeping safe online for school children and their families. This can be found at www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/support-tools/home-activity-worksheets
The police have produced new information sheet for parents regarding online radicalisation - www.ltai.info/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Parent-Guardian-Online-Radicalisation-Information-and-Support-V.2.pdf
Reporting online material promoting terrorism or extremism can be done via www.gov.uk/report-terrorism - This is an online tool for reporting illegal or harmful information, pictures or videos found on the internet.
Keeping children safe online - for parents and carers
Originally published in April, the Government have published a new update titled, " support for parents and carers to keep children safe online". Which give parents a lot of information and links to resources to help keep their children safe online. Click on the link below to go to the publication:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-keeping-children-safe-online/coronavirus-covid-19-support-for-parents-and-carers-to-keep-children-safe-online
Information about popular apps
- Instagram released a new update which includes some features which allow the user to:
Manage multiple unwanted interactions
Highlight positive comments
Have greater control over tags and mentions
Please click here on the link to find out more.
- The Houseparty app has been around for some years now but its popularity had dwindled massively. However, given the lockdown it's back again and more popular than it ever was across all age groups. Internet Matters have put together a great article giving parents more information about Houseparty - www.internetmatters.org/blog/2019/12/24/what-is-the-houseparty-app-what-parents-need-to-know
Microsoft Gaming Safety Measures
Microsoft have announced their new family settings app which is being released soon on Apple and Android devices, meaning that parents don't have to navigate through the Xbox settings, they can control from their phone. Please click on the link below for more information - www.waynedenner.com/blog/new-xbox-parental-control-app/#Safeguarding
Alan McKenzie Online Safety Videos
Alan McKenzie is and online safety expert working for the Association of Adult and Child Online Safety Specialists. He has produced this video to help parents to 'question' and begin to 'understand' what their children might be doing online. Please Click here to watch.
Further information links provided by Alan McKenzie
5-Rights Foundation - In-Game Purchases
76% of children and young people between the ages 10-16 say that online games try to make you spend as much money as possible. But do you know your loot boxes from dark nudges? The 5Rights Foundation have put together some wonderful information and I'm sharing it with you as the information can be a great way of opening up conversations with children and young people about their concerns, whether they feel pressured to spend money - www.riskyby.design/in-game-purchases
8 tips for online safety during lockdown
NSPCC (NetAware) has put together an article for parents to support them further with online safety during lockdown
www.net-aware.org.uk/news/8-tips-for-keeping-your-kids-safe-online-during-lockdown