Children and young people spend a lot of time on-line, it can be a great way for them to socialise, explore and have fun. However, when using the on-line world, children do also face risks such as cyberbullying or seeing content that’s inappropriate. At Da Vinci, we teach children to use the internet and technology safely throughout curriculum teaching and assemblies. We also have a variety of external speakers come into school to talk about keeping themselves safe on-line.

Understanding what children do on-line and the risks they face will help keep your child safe on-line. Children and young people go on-line to connect with friends and make new ones, to browse the internet for information, chat with others and play games. They may:

• search for information or content on search engines like Google and Bing
• share images and watch videos through websites or mobile apps like Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube
• use social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter
• write or reply to messages on forums and message boards
• play games alone or with others through websites, apps or game consoles
• chat with other people through on-line games, BBM (Blackberry Messenger), game consoles, webcams, social networks and tools like WhatsApp

By understanding and talking about the dangers we help to make our students aware of the dangers and keep themselves safe, as well as supporting parents and carers to put in place safety measures. All pupils are given advice and information shared on who they can go to if there is a problem with anything they do on-line. Posters are displayed in all classrooms and the main corridor safeguarding notice board to support pupils with keeping themselves safe. Further advice and guidance can be seen on the CEOP website or Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Board website.

Please help us to share the message with pupils:

• to keep passwords safe and not share them
• make sure privacy settings on social media such as Facebook are set to private not public and check this regularly
• do not share personal information on-line
• do not accept friend requests from strangers and NEVER arrange to meet someone you have met on line without discussing this first with your parents
• tell an adult if anything they see on-line makes them feel uncomfortable, scared or threatened
• do not write anything on social media or by text that is unpleasant. We take peer on peer bullying very seriously and this often occurs by on-line means
• never send or share images of a sexual nature or images that may humiliate or harm others
• remember to report any worrying behaviour to an adult, one of the school’s Safeguarding Leads or using the CEOP button on our website.