Online Safety Assembly

Dear Parents/Carers,

The children in years 1-6 took part in an Online Safety assembly this week. They considered the safety aspects of ‘contact’ when using the internet. The children demonstrated an excellent knowledge of online safety and how it relates to themselves.

The children in Years 1, 2 and 3 listened to a story called Digiduck and his Famous Friend. This story is a part of the teaching resources from www.childnet.com and the story is available in the online safety section of our school website. In the assembly, we discussed the importance of never sharing personal information when on the internet and of being aware that you do not always know whom you may be speaking to when using online technologies. We reminded them of the importance of speaking to a trusted adult whenever they felt worried about something they have seen or done whilst using technology. The children have been asked to think about these rules and identify their own trusted adults. Please talk to your children about the importance of sharing their concerns with adults. Your child may wish to create a poster about their online safety learning. If they bring in a poster, it will be added to a gallery on our website.

The children in Years 4-6 listened to a story about a group of friends who befriended someone through Minecraft. The story explored the theme of manipulation, how an unknown person could encourage someone to send personal information and how they could disrupt friendships and isolate a person. The children were excellent at pointing out the danger signals from an online friend and understood that they should always speak to a trusted adult if they were worried about something they had seen or heard.

The story was followed by a discussion on the rights and responsibilities we all have when using the internet. The children have been asked to revisit the KS2 Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and they have been challenged to get creative about one the rules. They could design a poster, an animation, a song or they could write about the rule. All entries will be displayed on the school website. Please encourage your child to participate in this challenge.

The thinkuknow website has excellent resources to help parents to support their children. There are also resources for older children that you may be interested in. The website is www.thinkuknow.co.uk and there is a link on the school website.

Thank you for your continuing support,

Miss L Earl
Computing and Online Safety Lead