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Online Safety

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KidSMART Website
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Be Smart be cool – Be smart online.
What’s your favourite thing to do online. Visit the KidSMART website and learn more about the internet and being a SMART surfer. Learn the SMART Rules with Kara Winston and the SMART Crew. If anything goes wrong online or upsets you make sure you tell someone about it.

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Help and Advice
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If you find something on the internet or someone has made you sad or scared you should tell your mum, dad or the person who looks after you at home or a teacher at school. If you would like to talk to someone else we have added some links to the Advice Help and Report Centre on the CEOPS website. You can contact people who are friendly and helpful by following the link for your age group.

Children are growing up in a world with a bigger range of online activities than ever before and it is sometimes very hard for both children and adults to know how to stay safe.

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Parents/Online Safety Information

Most parents will want to reduce the risks to their children, and remembering to set parental controls can reduce the risks to children, and reduce the risk to parents when children accidentally spend online money!  The internet matters website explains this quite well. Online safety is not just about protecting children from some of the dangers of the internet – it is also about helping them manage their use of technology and most of the parental controls allow adults to set a maximum time for the use of a device or app.

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Internet Matters is a site paid for by many British companies. It has a lot of good advice on adding parental controls as well as on most aspects of online safety. Parental controls will only help keep children safe. The best safety feature that a child has is their parent or carer. Take the time to talk to your child about the apps and games they are using and don’t be afraid to say no sometimes!

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The range of online apps changes on a regular basis and the NSPCC have a site called Net Aware.  This provides unbiased up-to-date information on current apps and sites along with advice to parents about dealing with issues.

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The NSPCC have teamed up with O2 to provide advice to parents and have a free helpline on 0808 800 5002. They will also give support in any O2 shop – you do not have to be an O2 customer.

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ThinkUKnow is the website aimed at children and their parents from the National Crime Agency. It has lots of useful suggestions and advice on how to report issues. It also has lots of games and activities including Jessie and Friends for the younger children and Band Runner for the older ones.

For the youngest children being tricked into sharing pictures can be an issue. LGfL have produced a lovely free video which has some great advice and a very catchy song!

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Many children will at times suffer from online bullying. It is really important that they have someone they can talk to and know that it is not acceptable.  Most apps and sites will have systems in place that allow bullying to be reported. Your child’s school may be able to help.

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Children can call Childline on 0800 1111  for advice on anything that is worrying them.

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Finally since 2015 is has been a criminal offence for an adult to send a message with sexual content to a child (This is Section 67 of the Serious  Crime Act 2015). If you are concerned that this might have happened please contact The Police without further using the device. This will help ensure that evidence can be preserved. The Police can be contacted by phone or from the ThinkUKnow website.

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Top Tips​

  • Always ask a grown-up before you use the internet. They can help you find the best thing to do.

  • Don’t tell strangers where you live, your phone number or where you go to school. Only your friends and family need to know that.

  • Don’t send pictures to people you don’t know. You don’t want strangers looking at photos of you, your friends or your family.

  • Tell a grown-up if you feel scared or unhappy about anything.

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