At Mevagissey School, we recognise that e-safety is a focus for the whole school community, and that staying safe and behaving appropriately online is an area that extends well beyond the school day. Digital technologies and the internet are an integral part of daily life, especially for younger people, but it is important they are used in a responsible and secure manner. It is therefore important that parents and carers have access to the information and a knowledge of the issues related to e-safety. This will help them make decisions around internet access and use that will ultimately help our children understand how to stay safe, whether surfing webpages, computer gaming, online shopping, online chatting or using any of the many digital technologies through which we access the internet.
At Mevagissey School the children have access to the internet through iPads and surface pro laptops. The school has a responsibility to ensure the way we access the internet at school is monitored and filtered, which we do through the South West Grid for Learning. We understand that e-safety is a school wide responsibility, but also take part in nation-wide e-safety initiatives such as the annual ‘Safer Internet Day’.
Combined with the school focus on e-safety through class lessons, school assemblies and competitions, a cohesive home/school approach will help embed e-safety awareness into future generations. As always, if you have any questions about e-safety in school or at home, please do not hesitate to get in touch. There are several websites available that offer advice for parents and carers looking to ensure their children’s safety online.
The links below provide more information on a range of topics.
- www.saferinternet.org.uk - E-safety tips, advice and resources to help children and young people stay safe on the internet.
- https://www.commonsensemedia.org/- A great resource which provides, amongst other subjects, information about games, websites and apps.
- https://parentzone.org.uk/parent-info- A useful website which aims to help parents deal with the many difficulties that are thrown up by the pace of technological change.
- www.childnet.com- An organisation working directly with children, parents and teachers to ensure that the issues of online child protection and the safe and positive use of the internet are addressed.
- www.thinkuknow.co.uk - The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre has set up its own website which has been designed and written specifically for children, young people, teachers, parents and carers.
- www.kidsmart.org.uk/ - Kidsmart is an award winning internet safety website for parents and those working with children. It has been developed by the children's internet charity Childnet International and has excellent information on many of the technologies used by children, with guidance on how to ‘stay safe’ online.