Staying Safe Online
We promote thinking SMART when children are using computers at school and at home.
| S | Stay Safe: Don't give out personal information to people and places you do not know. |
| M | Don’t Meet Up: Meeting someone you have only been in touch with online can be dangerous. Always check with an adult you trust. |
| A | Accepting Files: Accepting emails, files, pictures or text from people you don't know can cause problems. |
| R | Reliable? Check information before you believe it. Is the person or website telling the truth? |
| T | Tell Someone: Tell an adult if someone or something makes you feel worried or uncomfortable. |
Follow these smart tips to keep yourself and your family safe online.
Spotlight on Google's : Be Internet Legends programme
"Help your child become a smarter, safer and happier explorer of the online world." In years 3-6 children explore how to stay safe online using Google's Be Internet Legends programme. Visit the Be Internet Legends Parent's Page — a helpful handbook full of tips and tricks for supporting your child’s digital education. Here, you'll find lots of simple ways to reinforce the important online safety lessons your child has been learning in school. You'll also be able to access The Legends Family Adventure a short, animated series of a journey to Interland and learn some very important lessons about internet safety along the way.
Visit the Be Internet Legends Parent's Page
Spotlight on Fake News!
The focus of this year's Safer Internet Day (2021) was "An Internet We can Trust" and one of the key messages we teach children in school is to consider the 'reliability' of the information they are reading online or receiving in a text message or email. In the NOS guide (below), you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as embarrassment, negative influences on people’s behaviour and negative emotions.
Fake news can be false information, photos or videos purposefully created to confuse or misinform. It can also be genuine information that has been manipulated to deceive. It’s important that children learn how to distinguish between real news and fake news, so that they don’t inadvertently share something which isn’t true or believe something which could be misleading.
How to Set up Parental Controls to Limit Age-Inappropriate Content
The parental controls on smartphones allow you to block or restrict certain apps, features, content, downloads or purchases that might not be suitable for young people. Setting limitations around age ratings, Siri and web searches enables you to filter out age-inappropriate content and vastly reduce the likelihood of your children being exposed to potentially upsetting material and information. In these guides (below), you'll find tips on a number of potential risks such as age-restricted content, explicit websites and inappropriate search results.