e-safety
Westrop E-Safety
Curriculum
At Westrop Primary School we follow the computing scheme of work provided by Purple Mash.
Embedded into this curriculum is The Education for a Connected World framework supporting one of the key aims of the government’s Internet Safety Strategy of supporting children to stay safe and make a positive contribution online, as well as enabling teachers and parents to develop effective strategies for understanding and handling online risks. The framework highlights what a child should know in terms of current online technology, its influence on behavior and development, and what skills they need to be able to navigate it safely.
We are living in a digital world where it is crucial that children learn to balance the extensive benefits technology can offer with a critical awareness of their own and others' online behavior through developing effective strategies for staying safe and making a positive contribution online.
The government framework includes eight different aspects of online education which will be incorporated across the wider curriculum. These are:
- Self-image and Identity
This strand explores the differences between online and offline identity beginning with self awareness, shaping online identities and how media impacts on gender and stereotypes. It identifies effective routes for reporting and support, and explores the impact of online technologies on self-image and behaviour.
- Online relationships
This strand explores how technology shapes communication styles and identifies strategies for positive relationships in online communities. It offers opportunities to discuss relationships and behaviours that may lead to harm and how positive online interaction can empower and amplify voice.
- Online reputation
This strand explores the concept of reputation and how others may use online information to make judgements. It offers opportunities to develop strategies to manage personal digital content effectively and capitalise on technology’s capacity to create effective positive profiles.
- Online bullying
This strand explores bullying and other online aggression and how technology impacts those issues. It offers strategies for effective reporting and intervention and considers how bullying and other aggressive behavior relates to legislation.
- Managing online information
This strand explores how online information is found, viewed and interpreted. It offers strategies for effective searching, critical evaluation and ethical publishing.
- Health, wellbeing and lifestyle
This strand explores the impact that technology has on health, well-being and lifestyle. It also includes understanding negative behaviors and issues amplified and sustained by online technologies and the strategies for dealing with them.
- Privacy and security
This strand explores how personal online information can be used, stored, processed and shared. It offers both behavioral and technical strategies to limit impact on privacy and protect data and systems against compromise.
- Copyright and ownership
This strand explores the concept of ownership of online content. It explores strategies for protecting personal content and crediting the rights of others as well as addressing potential consequences of illegal access, download and distribution.
E-Safety at Home
We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the e-safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online.
Please see the Healthy Screen Time document about healthy approaches to screen time.
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.
The “Thinkuknow” website is brought to you by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre.
Childnet gives you lots of advice on how to stay safe online.
Internet Matters is a new online portal designed for parents to access simple, easy and practical advice about online safety for their children, right through from pre-school to teens. It provides tips on protecting children from online grooming, cyberbullying, privacy and identity theft and inappropriate content. Internet Matters is a not-for-profit organisation set up by BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media.
ParentINFO is a collaboration between ParentZone and CEOP. There are useful guides and articles on helping your child stay safe online.
E-Safety at School
As part of your child’s curriculum and the development of computer skills, we provide access to the internet in teacher supervised lessons. We strongly believe that the use of the web and email is hugely worthwhile and an essential tool for children as they grow up in the modern world. To help keep children safe, our school internet access provider operates a filtering system that restricts access to inappropriate materials.
At the start of the school year, each class discusses how we can all stay safe online and the dangers we may face on the internet. We then ask every child, teacher and parent/guardian to sign an acceptable use agreement to acknowledge that they have understood our school policy on staying safe.