This is a message from the school’s e-safety advisor

The current Covid situation may have forced many families to stay together for more time than usual, and it is natural that many of you might feel online activity time limits for your children could be relaxed or extended to help pass the time.  Whilst this is a parental decision, we would advise that you still ensure a balance of online and real-world activity.  It is important to ensure consistent supervision, to ensure that children remain safe during their time online, whether gaming, searching, watching videos/sound/images, or communicating with others.  Naturally there will be some suitable activities for children of all ages but equally, there are many risks associated with unlimited and/or unrestricted access.  Please monitor their online activity and check that all options, on each accessible device within the home, are age appropriate.  For example, WhatsApp is age 16+, Twitter, Instagram and many other social media apps are age 13+ .  Gaming has a PEGI age rating system just like the DVD classification system and it is easy to find out what is and what is not appropriate by visiting https://pegi.info/page/pegi-age-ratings.

If you need further help locking a device down, do check out the following.

General advice: www.internetmatters.org

Apple: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201304

PC: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/family-safety

Android: https://families.google.com/familylink/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=families_google&utm_term=android_parental_controls&&gclid=CjwKCAjwlbr8BRA0EiwAnt4MTsKFxUOt-WoZtMLWokCbM7TmaU2guPJPcdMivdH5u5n4zhHw10asmRoCgegQAvD_BwE

Android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zerodesktop.appdetox.dinnertimeplus

More and more we are finding that children in the school have access to social media sites with many having accounts on Facebook.  It is inadvisable for children under the  age of 13 to have a Facebook account.  Please read the Fact sheet below.

Please click on the links below for more information on how to keep your child safe Online.