Internet Safety
INTERNET SAFETY
The Internet is a wonderful place for children to learn and have fun, but there are also
dangers, and it is important that children are safe while on-line.
As parents, there are safeguards you can put in place on your PC, and there are ways to
work with your child to ensure that they know how to keep themselves safe while online.
It's important that as adults we keep ourselves aware of today's technology and our
children's use of it, so we can help them to enjoy it safely.
I have put together the following links to websites which offer advice, information and
resources to help you find out more about how to keep your child safe on-line. Some
websites listed could be used with your child and some are aimed specifically at adults.
Please check my summary of each site before using them with children.
I hope you find these resources useful, Mrs Akyurek
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/help/web/staysafe
This brilliant site from the BBC has child-friendly cartoons, animations and video clips to get over the message of how to stay safe on the internet. It uses the catchy idea of being
S.M.A.R.T. on-line. Check out the website to see what each letter stands for.
http://www.bteducation.org/img/lib/bt_green_x_code.pdf
This link will download a leaflet which you can print out and discuss with your child. (It downloads into a programme called Adobe Acrobat as a “pdf file”, so you will need Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer – most computers have this programme installed anyway).
Some of the videos and issues covered in this website may be more appropriate for older children and we would advise parents to pre-view this site before deciding whether to use it with your child. This website is part of the service provided by CEOP (see below). It contains lots of information on internet safety and safe surfing for young people. All hot topics about online safety are covered – including mobiles, blogging and gaming sites. Children can also tell the site if they feel uncomfortable or worried about someone they're chatting to online.
This site is aimed at parents rather than children. CEOP is the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. It is a government centre which works across the UK and maximises international links to tackle child sex abuse wherever and whenever it happens. They provide internet safety advice for parents and carers and offer a virtual police station for reporting abuse on the internet.
This is a non-profit organisation working with others to “help make the Internet a great and safe place for children”. You can download or order resources from this website. Some of the resources and on-line materials are aimed at older children.
This site has hard-hitting examples of how children can be put at risk on-line and provides information about the potential dangers of interactive services like online chat, IM, online games, email and on mobiles. We recommend that you pre-view this site before deciding to use any of the resources with your child.
The “Internet Watch Foundation” provides a “hotline” in the UK for reporting illegal content on-line. If you encounter child abuse images on a website, you can report them to this site. This website also discusses the pros and cons of a number of content filtering packages, which you can use on your computer to block inappropriate material from your computer.
(This is not a website we recommend for use with your child)
