Online Safety

Click here for our Online safety policy

Keeping our pupils safe is our highest priority. In assemblies we often talk about children needing to feel safe, healthy and happy in order to learn well. We provide a secure environment in which the children flourish and do everything we can to ensure that this expectation is a reality in our school.

Parents also have a very important role to play in keeping pupils safe.  We would like to remind you of the current advice issued in conjunction with Herts For Learning regarding the safe & responsible use of images and request that parents and carers do not distribute or put images of any members of the school community online.  Click here for a copy of this guidance.

Online safety is embedded in all areas of our curriculum and we protect and educate pupils and staff in their use of technology.

We all use the internet and it has many benefits. However, we need to ensure that the children are not exposed to material that is inappropriate. In school we use ‘Herts for Learning’ which filters any unsuitable websites. If by any chance the children do come across anything which they find upsetting, they know that they can tell an adult. They can do this in the knowledge that they themselves will not be in any trouble.

Many children today feel a pressure among their peers to be accessing social media sites. However, primary age children are not old enough to use most of these. Below is a list of the age limits for many of the sites.

  • Tik Tok – 13 years
  • Instagram – 13 years
  • Snapchat – 13 years
  • Facebook – 13 years
  • WhatsApp – 16 years
  • KIK – 17 years
  • YIK Yak – 18 years
  • ooVoo – 13 years

We are also becoming increasingly aware of the children playing Xbox and Playstation games that have an age rating well beyond their years. If you are unsure of the content of many of the games, there is a fantastic website where parents review the games and explicitly describe their content.

See link: www.imdb.com

As a school it is our duty to protect the young people in our care.

If necessary, we will have to talk with parents if we are aware of any pupils using these sites or playing games that are inappropriate.

Useful Websites

CEOP – Child Exploitation and Online Protection command

Click to report online abuse or concerns.

National Crime Agency CEOPs website with wide range of resources and guides for parents and young people.

Information and Guidance

There is a wealth of information available to parents, to support you. We hope you find the links below useful.

Guidance and advice can also be found via the following links:

Below are links to information showing you how to turn on parental controls for YouTube and Safe Search for Google.

Search Engines

These are more child friendly, although most children will still use Google. For younger children particularly, we would recommend supporting them whilst they ‘search’, this will also help them refine their searching skills.

CBBC Search: www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/search

Kidsclick: www.kidsclick.org