E-safety Advice for Parents/Carers

Please contact our school office and ask to speak with a senior leader if you have any concerns (0208 946 6666)

All children at Bishop Gilpin are well versed in E-safety at an age-appropriate level. Here is advice for parents to help safeguard your children, provided by Google.

Keep computers in a central place. This makes it easier to keep an eye on your child’s activities.
Know where your child goes online. If you have young children you might use the internet with them. For older children you could talk about what kinds of sites they like to visit and what isn’t appropriate for your family. You can also check where your child has been by looking at the history in your browser menu. Another option is to use filtering tools like Google SafeSearch.
Teach internet safety. It’s impossible to monitor your child’s online activity all the time. As they get older, they need to know how to use the internet safely and responsibly when they’re on their own.
Use privacy settings and sharing controls. Many sites that feature user-generated content, including YouTube, Blogger and social networking sites, have sharing controls that put users in charge of who sees personal blogs, photos, videos and profiles. Using sharing controls is particularly important when you share personal information such as names, addresses and phone numbers, on public sites. (At Bishop Gilpin we always advise pupils not to share any personal data online.) Teach your child to respect the privacy of friends and family by not identifying people by name in public profiles and pictures.

Protect passwords. Remind your child not to give out their passwords. Teach your child how to create a memorable password and record it safely. Make sure they make a habit of unclicking ‘remember me’ settings on public computers such as those at school or in the library.
Beware of strangers. Teach your child not to arrange in-person meetings with people they ‘meet’ online, and not to share personal information with online strangers because people may not be who they claim to be.
Help prevent viruses. Use anti-virus software and update it regularly. Make sure your child avoids downloading from file-sharing websites and don’t accept files or open email attachments from unknown people.
Teach your children to communicate responsibly. Take the following as a good rule of thumb: if you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, don’t text it, instant message it, or post it as a comment on someone’s page.
View all content critically. Just because you see it online, there’s no guarantee it’s true. Children should learn how to distinguish reliable sources from unreliable ones, and how to verify information they find online. Make sure children understand that cutting and pasting content directly from a website may be plagiarism.

More information:
Bishop Gilpin E-safety Policy

Further information
If you want to find out more about staying safe online please try the links below:

Google resource on e-safety
NSPCC O2 e-safety advice
Report concerns Online: CEOP
Guidance on staying safe online which includes information on security and privacy settings
Thinkuknow provides advice from the National Crime Agency (NCA) on staying safe online
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
Internet matters provides 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
London Grid for Learning has support for parents and carers to keep their children safe online, including tips to keep primary aged children safe online
Net-aware has support for parents and carers from the NSPCC, including a guide to social networks, apps and games
Let’s Talk About It has advice for parents and carers to keep children safe from online radicalisation
UK Safer Internet Centre has tips, advice, guides and other resources to help keep children safe online, including parental controls offered by home internet providers and safety tools on social networks and other online services