Our online safety measures enable us to provide an environment for all our children to thrive, grow and learn, whilst staying safe online. We put these measures in place through a strong computing curriculum, policies and security provisions which safeguard children against unsuitable content and contact, and ensure they maintain appropriate conduct.
We have a number of procedures in place to ensure children cannot access unsuitable websites when using school technology, including software which blocks all websites with adult, violent or age-inappropriate content. Social media sites are also blocked, unless they are school pages used within lessons and under supervision. Online safety is taught to all children during computing lessons and staff are required to undertake online safety training to update their knowledge.
There are many ways you can help minimise the risks associated with children being online and increase online safety in your home – the list below provides ideas for some of the ways you can do this.
There are many reasons why filtering and monitoring are required. In school the purpose is to ensure that children do not access unsuitable/inappropriate content. At Mawnan School we use Senso https://www.senso.cloud/ and we are fully compliant with the DfE Filtering and Monitoring Standards and the Cyber Security Standards. Our Online Safety Lead (Headteacher and DSL) is responsible for filtering and monitoring and cyber security.
Content filtering works by applying specific parameters to content retrieved via the internet, restricting access to certain materials on websites, Apps, emails or other suspicious items.
Monitoring combined with content filtering alerts for any activities that need to be acted upon, but the information is also used to determine which sites and keywords need to be filtered out. For example, if a new craze appears, the monitoring and filtering system will help us know what associated terms the children are searching for, and what websites they are accessing.
Age Appropriate
Only give your child access to devices, websites, apps, games and social media sites that are age appropriate. Access the PEGI guidance pegi.info/page on age ratings to inform your choices when buying games for your child, or deciding whether the games they are playing are appropriate, by following the age-ratings assigned to each game. Read each game’s advice for parents and play the game yourself to help you understand what it involves.
Common Sense Media Common offer a trusted library of independent age-based and educational ratings and reviews for movies, games, apps, TV shows, websites, books and music which can be found using the following link https://www.commonsensemedia.org/.
The ‘National Online Safety’ provide online safety courses families, free of charge, as part of our work.
The courses are up-to-date and relevant for all our children as we work to keep them safe online. As our children grow in understanding and experience of online material, it’s important that our understanding grows alongside theirs so that we each have the knowledge necessary to ensure their experience is positive, safe, and empowering. To create your account, please follow – National Online Safety for more helpful parent guides and videos.
Once registered, some of the videos we recommend are:
CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) delivers a multi-agency service dedicated to tackling the abuse and exploitation of children in the real and ‘e’ world. Often it is referred to as an online 999. By clicking on the button, young people and parents can get advice on a range of issues such as viruses, hacking and dealing with bullying online.
Vodafone have produced a Digital Parenting Magazine which informs parents about the various technologies children are accessing today. There is information on Facebook settings, Xbox 360 settings, Blackberry settings, jargon busting and many more 'How to Guides'. They are well worth a read and some are attached below for you to download.
Useful Websites:
For more information on ensuring your child’s safety online, you can visit the websites below: