At Cupernham Junior School, we take the safety of our pupils very seriously and this includes their safety whilst accessing the internet. Therefore, we would like to share with you some information around the e-safety curriculum in school as well as signpost support that is available for you as parents. This letter also includes our responsible internet agreement. Please read it carefully and share it with your child. Please click on the following link to an online form for you to digitally sign to show you have read the agreement and agree. https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=kSHM53fVx06gVm35xkLNIEpW8kN-O5tGtaokwnwiCsdURFdESkdTNzNKQjZGTzBCREZBQlZSUUdYUi4u

What is E-safety?

Being online is an integral part of children and young people’s lives. Social media, online games, websites and apps can be accessed through mobile phones, computers, laptops and tablets – all of which form a part of children and young people’s online world.

E-Safety encompasses Internet technologies and electronic communications such as mobile phones as well as collaboration tools and personal publishing. It highlights the need to educate pupils about the benefits and risks of using technology and provides safeguards and awareness for users to enable them to control their online experience.

The Internet is an unmanaged, open communications channel. The World Wide Web, e-mail, blogs and social networking all transmit information using the Internet’s communication infrastructure internationally at low cost. Anyone can send messages, discuss ideas and publish material with little restriction. These features of the Internet make it an invaluable resource used by millions of people every day.

Much of the material on the Internet is published for an adult audience and some is unsuitable for pupils. In addition, there is information on weapons, crime and racism access to which would be more restricted elsewhere. Pupils must also learn that publishing personal information could compromise their safety/security and that of others.

Support for Parents and Carers

It can be hard to know how to talk to your child about online safety. Therefore, we would like to share with you a number of resources that can help support you at home.

 From setting up parental controls to advice on video apps and online games, the NSPCC have a wide range of resources to help you as parents and carers understand the risks and how to keep your child safe.

This information can be accessed through: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/.

Other useful websites for parental support:

• Think u know is a good place to start. This website offers information about keeping your child safe online as well as an option to report if you have any concerns around their safety.
• Another site that is useful for parent controls, and where you can also find online safety tips/advice, is the UK Safer Internet Centre.
• Childnet offers a toolkit to support parents and carers of children of any age to start discussions about their online life, to set boundaries around online behaviour and technology use, and to find out where to get more help and support.
• Commonsensemedia provide independent reviews, age ratings, & other information about all types of media for children and their parents.
• Internet Matters provide age-specific online safety checklists, guides on how to set parental controls on a range of devices, and a host of practical tips to help children get the most out of their digital world.
• Let’s Talk About It provides advice for parents and carers to keep children safe from online radicalisation.
• Stopitnow resource from The Lucy Faithfull Foundation can be used by parents and carers who are concerned about someone’s behaviour, including children who may be displaying concerning sexual behaviour (not just about online).
• Net-aware provides support for parents and carers from the NSPCC and O2, including a guide to social networks, apps and games.
• Parentzone provides help for parents and carers on how to keep their children safe online.

The summarised guidance from these websites is as follows:

1. Have ongoing conversations with your children about staying safe online.
2. Set up robust parental controls on any devices and ensure that you set the passwords and codes so that only you know them.  
3. Ensure that they are only allowed to access to age-appropriate content and online platforms. This means, for example, they should not be allowed to use WhatsApp (age limit 16+), Facebook (Age 13+), TikTok (Age 13+), Fortnite (12+) or Instagram (13+).

It is vital that we support each other in helping the children children make the right decisions when it comes to the use of the internet.

To ensure your child’s safety it is essential to know and understand WHO your child is talking to, WHAT they are doing online and WHERE they are going online.  Please be assured that this advice come from a place of caring deeply about your child’s welfare and from seeing the very real harm that children can experience when they are exposed to inappropriate content by not being safe online.

      In school we use the be SMART on the internet guidance from childnet, to support the children's understanding of being safe on the internet.

Additional Information and Links