Online Safety

The online world is posing ever-changing risks to children, and it is important that schools, parents and carers work together to take an active role in teaching children about online dangers. Learning how to act safely when using the internet is an incredibly important part of safeguarding our children.

We are therefore delighted to announce that Bedale Church of England Primary School have shown our commitment to protecting our pupils online by working with National Online Safety- providing resources for all parents and carers. 

The resources include Parents & Carers courses (presented by Myleene Klass), online video resources and weekly guides covering a huge range of topics:

To create your account, please follow https://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/bedale-church-of-england-primary-school and complete your details. When you’re set up, you’ll be able to set ‘Parent/Carer’ as your user type. 

You can access National Online Safety online via any device - including via their brand-new smartphone app. To download the app, please go to:

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/national-online-safety/id1530342372

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.nationaleducationgroup.nos

Alternatively, search for ‘National Online Safety’ in the App Store/Google Play Store.

If you have any concerns about safety online, please contact the school. Further advice and support can be found on this page. 

Kind Regards,

Bedale Church of England Primary School

Guidance for Parents

We encourage you to have regular conversations with your child about their internet use, the websites they visit and the applications they use. Resources from National Online Safety are regularly updated to include new technologies. A selection of relevant guides for "What Parents Need to Know About..." are provided at the bottom of the page, with the full range being available on the National Online Safety website. 

The following links provide further help, support and infomation for parents:

• Thinkuknow by the National Crime Agency - Child Exploitation and Online Protection command (NCA-CEOP) provides resources for parents and carers and children of all ages to help keep children safe online
• Childnet has developed guidance for parents and carers to begin a conversation about online safety, as well as guidance on keeping under-fives safe online
• Parent Info is a collaboration between Parent Zone and NCA-CEOP, providing support and guidance for parents and carers related to the digital world from leading experts and organisations
• National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has guidance for parents and carers to help keep children safe online
• UK Safer Internet Centre provides tips and advice for parents and carers to keep children safe online - you can also report any harmful content found online through the UK Safer Internet Centre

What harms might my child experience online?

You may have concerns about specific harms which children can experience online. There are more resources to help you understand and protect your child from different harms online, including:

• child sexual abuse – a definition
• exposure to radicalising content
• youth-produced sexual imagery (‘sexting’)
• cyberbullying
• exposure to age-inappropriate content, such as pornography
• exposure to harmful content, such as suicide content

Child sexual abuse

If you are concerned call 999 or report it to the NCA-CEOP.

If your child has been a victim of child sexual abuse – online or offline – and you believe they are in immediate danger, you should call 999 and ask for the police. The police will continue to respond to emergency calls.

If you are concerned that your child has been a victim of online sexual abuse or you are worried about the way someone has been communicating with your child online, you can report it to NCA-CEOP.

These resources provide information and support for parents and carers on what to do if you’re worried about child sexual abuse:

• you can contact the NSPCC helpline (0808 800 5000) for support and advice if you have concerns about your own or another child’s safety. The Together, we can tackle child abuse campaign also provides information on the signs of child abuse and neglect
• Thinkuknow by NCA-CEOP has developed activities to support your child’s safe use of the internet and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Parents Protect website also provides advice on how to help protect children from child sexual abuse
• if you see sexual images or videos of someone under 18 online, report it anonymously to the Internet Watch Foundation who can work to remove them from the web and help to identify victims and survivors
• you can contact Stop It Now! for information and advice if you have concerns about someone’s behaviour, including children who may be displaying concerning sexual behaviour
• you can contact The Marie Collins Foundation help@mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk for support, including advice and individual counselling, for your child if they have been subjected to online sexual abuse - support is also offered to parents and carers

Radicalising content

If you are concerned that any family member, friend or loved one is being radicalised, you can call the police or 101 to get advice or make a Prevent referral, so that they can get safeguarding support. Support is tailored to the individual’s needs and works in a similar way to safeguarding processes designed to protect people from gangs, drug abuse and physical and sexual exploitation. Receiving support through Prevent is voluntary, confidential and not any form of criminal sanction. If you need further help, you can also contact your local authority safeguarding team. https://www.safeguardingchildren.co.uk/ 

Educate Against Hate Parents’ Hub provides resources and government advice for parents and carers on keeping young people safe from extremism, including online.

Let’s Talk About It provides support for parents and carers to keep children safe from online radicalisation.

Any member of the public can report terrorist content they find online through the GOV.UK referral tool. 

‘Sexting’ (youth-produced sexual imagery)

If you are worried about your child sending nude images or videos (sometimes referred to as ‘youth-produced sexual imagery’or sexting), NSPCC provides advice to help you understand the risks and support your child.

If your child has shared nude images, Thinkuknow by NCA-CEOP provides advice on talking to your child and where to get help.

Cyberbullying

If you are concerned about cyberbullying, you can find government advice and information about how you can protect your child and tackle it if it happens. 

Age-inappropriate content and parental controls

If you have downloaded new apps or bought new technology, remember to read, review and adjust privacy and safety settings expecially if you or your child is signing up to a new online service.

Setting up parental controls is made easier by Internet Matters, which has provided step-by-step guides so that you can control what content your child can access online.

The NSPCC provides information for parents or carers about their child seeking inappropriate content online.

The UK Safer Internet Centre also has advice on how to manage filters to restrict age-inappropriate content from being accessed on devices at home.

The BBC have a website and app called Own It, which contains content for children to help them navigate their online lives. https://www.bbc.com/ownit 

Suicide content

If you are worried about your child’s mental health, the government has published guidance for parents and carers on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

If you are worried that someone you know is suicidal, including your child, Samaritans provides advice on how you can support others.

Reporting Harmful Content (RHC)

The RHC button is an asset of SWGfL, a charity working internationally to ensure all benefit from technology, free from harm.

The button has been developed to offer anyone living in the UK a simple and convenient mechanism for gaining access to reporting routes for commonly used social networking sites, gaming platforms, apps and streaming services alongside trusted online safety advice, help and support. It also provides access to an online mechanism for reporting online harm to the RHC service for those over the age of 13 where an initial report has been made to industry but no action has been taken. RHC will review content in line with a sites' community standards and act in a mediatory capacity where content goes against these.

Children under 13 years of age are encouraged to tell an adult that they trust about what has happened and to ask for their help in reporting this going through the RHC how we can help resource together.

RHC also have advice and links to reporting routes for other online harms people may come across or face, such as impersonation, privacy violations and intimate image abuse. 

The RHC button provides a gateway to the RHC reporting pages, an area of the RHC website offering: 

• links to reporting routes on commonly used sites for 8 types of online harm: 
  • Online Abuse
  • Bullying or Harassment
  • Threats
  • Impersonation
  • Unwanted Sexual Advances (Not Image Based)
  • Violent Content
  • Self-Harm or Suicide Content
  • Pornographic Content
• help, advice and support on what to do if experiencing or witnessing harm online
• signposting to industry partners reporting forms and the ability to report legal but harmful content directly to RHC for further investigation

Reporting to RHC

Reports can be made 24/7 through the online reporting forms and helpline practitioners will review and respond to reports within 72 hours between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday.

Reports can be made to RHC by anyone over the age of 13.