Online Safety Advice for Parents and Students
Information for Parents and Students about online safety, with home learning activities can be accessed from ThinkUKnow by clicking Online Safety Home Learning Activities
Parent and Carer Helpsheet: keeping your child safe online while they are off school
Our Tips, advice, guides and resources to help keep your child safe online can be downloaded here.
Cyber Security Advice can be found here
Safeguarding from harmful influences online advice can be found here
Parents: Supporting Young People Online (Childnet)
Leaflets available in a range of other languages here
https://www.childnet.com/resources/supporting-young-people-online
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Better Internet for Kids has sites for all European countries: https://www.betterinternetforkids.eu/sic
Online Safety Factsheets on the following can be found be clicking on the relevant name:
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TikTok
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YouTube
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YouTube Kids
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Instagram
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Fortnite
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WhatsApp
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Snapchat
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Cyber-flashing
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Loot boxes and skins betting
Online Safety Advice for Parents and Students
The internet is an amazing resource if used properly. If not, it can be a minefield. As a parent, it is very difficult to stay on top of social media, apps, online gaming, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snap Chat and the latest online crazes. More importantly, do you know what your child is doing on line? Do you know who they are talking to? Do you know what they are posting? Do you know how to take control and so ensure your child’s online safety? The following tips will help you to keep your child safe online.
If you are concerned with your child’s online safety please contact Mr É Casey, Assistant Headteacher/Designated Safeguarding Lead, or your child’s Head of Year for support.
Alternatively, if you are worried about anything, you can email to get in touch with the Safeguarding Team on Safeguarding@ecaterham.net
Childnet’s mission is to work in partnership with others around the world to help make the internet a great and safe place for children. They work directly with children and young people from the ages of 3 to 18 on a weekly basis, as well as parents, carers, teachers and professionals, finding out about their real experiences online, and the positive things they are doing as well as sharing safety advice.
Online Safety Tips for Parents:
1.If you are a parent of a Year 7 or Year 8 child under the age of 13 it is illegal for them to have a Facebook profile or be on Instagram as the minimum age is 13.The profiles must be deleted.
2.Make sure your child uses their online privacy settings at all times to keep their personal information private.
3.Make sure your child regularly changes their password and does not share this with friends.
4.Make sure your child knows not to share personal information like their name, address, mobile number, email address online.
5.Inform your child that they should not post anything online that they wouldn’t want you to see. The Golden Rule is that if they wouldn’t want their parents to see it, don’t post it.
6.Monitor their selfies. Ask them to show you what they are posting.
7.Make your child aware that whatever they post online may come back to haunt them at a later date, whether it’s college or university leaders checking them out before offering a place or employers checking them out before a job interview. Once it is posted, there is no going back.
8.Make sure your child only talks to real life friends or family on social media sites and in chatrooms.
9.If your child talks to a stranger online or games with them online, please make them aware that they could be talking to or playing with anyone pretending to be something else, such as pretending to be a member of the opposite sex, pretending to be younger or older than they say they are, pretending to have a different job to the one they have.
10.Ensure your child knows not to make arrangements to meet up with complete strangers online.
11.Make sure that your child is not sharing their geo-location when they are online. Ensure they have geo-location disabled to keep their whereabouts private.
12.Make sure your child knows that any messages and photos shared on Snap Chat no longer disappear but can now be saved. The sender is then informed that the recipient is saving what they have posted.
13.Monitor that your child uses secure and legal sites to download music and games.
14.Monitor that your child only uses online games, apps, films and social networks that are appropriate for their age. Age ratings come with all online games, apps, films and social networks.
15.Is your child an internet gaming addict? Do they play for hours at a time? Do they talk about online gaming non-stop? Do they get defensive or angry when asked to stop? Are their sleep and meal times disrupted because of online gaming? Do they have red eyes, headaches, sore fingers, back or neck? Discuss with your child how long they play for. Set rules on how long they play for. Ban tech in their rooms after lights out or remove all tech from their rooms so they can’t play all night long when you think they are asleep. Arrange offline activities such as sports or clubs to get your child out of the house and away from the online games.
16.The best way to find out what your child is doing online is to talk to them about it and to ask them to tell you and show you what they do, what sites they access, what things they post online.
17.Ask your child how many followers do they have? Their followers should be only family and friends. Explain that some followers may not be who they say they are.
18.Ask your child if they are taking part in online streaming. Online streaming is the process of delivering continuous multimedia forms, such as music and films. Paedophiles can use this to contact your child and abuse them by asking them to do a variety of things.
19.Ask your child if they are being cyberbullied. Make sure they know how to block abusive comments and report content that worries them. This can be done on the CEOP website Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre (CEOP): www.thinkuknow.co.uk
20.Parents can gain a greater control of online safety at home by ensuring that parental controls are set on home broadband and any internet devices, including your child’s mobile phone. Parents can find out how to do this at your broadband provider’s website. Additionally, Google provide information and advice on how to set up online safety at home on : https://www.google.co.uk/safetycenter/
21.Talk to your child about the benefits and risks of social networking before they join any sites. Let them know that anything they upload, email or message could stay around forever.
22.Make your child aware that using public Wifi might not filter inappropriate content, so they should look for friendly Wifi symbols when they are out and about.
23.Inform your child that they should check attachments and pop ups for viruses before they click or download anything.
24.Have a family agreement about where your child accesses the internet. If they are accessing it in their bedroom, do you really know what they are doing? Would it be better to place devices in the living room only so you can monitor your child’s online activity? Can your child use their mobile phone in your living room only?
25.Have a family agreement about how much time your child spends on the internet and stick to it or reduce it, especially if they are not completing all their school work.
26.Have a family agreement about the sites they can visit. Ask them to show you.
27. Have a family agreement about the type of information they can share online. Ask them to show you information before they post it. Ask them to show you recently posted information.
28.Make sure they know that they can come to you if they are upset by something they have seen online.
29.Talk to your child by explaining that if they are talked into bullying someone on line or send inappropriate images it may get reported to us at school and even to the police.
30.As we would say to our children in life, treat others as you would like to be treated, it is the same principle online. Talk to your child about not sharing anything online that can hurt others. Tell thin to THINK BEFORE THEY POST.
31.Parents can download free online safety resources at: Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre (CEOP): www.thinkuknow.co.uk
32.Internet Matters: www.internetmatters.org
33.Childnet: www.childnet.com
34.Parentzone: www.parentzone.org.uk
35. NSPCC: www.nspcc.org.uk
36.Talk Talk: https://help2.talktalk.co.uk/top-tips-staying-safe-online
37.Sky: https://www.sky.com/help/articles/safety-and-security-on-your-sky-products
38.Virgin Media: https://my.virginmedia.com/customer-news/articles/online- safety.html
39.BT: bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/50602
40.Vodafone: https://www.vodafone.com/content/sustainabilityreport/2014/index/operating_
responsibly/child_safety_online.html
InternetMatters.org are a not-for-profit 
organisation with the aim of empowering parents and carers to keep children safe in the digital world.
Learn more about what they do by clicking on the image to the right.
