Today is Safer Internet Day 

Safer Internet Day 2020 will be celebrated globally today with the theme: Together for a better internet. 

At Oxford Gardens, we value the role the internet has to play in our children’s lives. Today we will be celebrating and exploring the wonderful opportunities it provides for us all. We must acknowledge that the internet plays a central role in our children’s lives and, therefore, it is something we must learn how to use safely. New research from the UK Safer Internet Centre reveals young people’s online experiences are an essential part of who they are offline, with 38% saying it’s easier to be themselves online than offline. This highlights the importance of Safer Internet Day and our role in educating children how to use their online identity safely. Within assembly and classes today, we will explore our ‘online identities’, what we share within it and how to use them safely so that children feel ‘free to be me’ online.

We would encourage you to explore some of these themes at home; there are several online resources that are designed for parents to gain information and access with their children. The Safer Internet Day website has a parents and carers section with conversation starters and online activities that you could share together. The website can be found using the QR code on the left, or the website address is:

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/safer-internet-day-2020/i-am-parent-or-carer

 

In addition to this, Parent Zone is a very thorough website that offers a lot of impartial advice about keeping children safe online. It includes what to look out for ‘in game chat’ and an overview of what to look out for and how to report difficulties for all the most popular games.

You can access all the resources from Parentzone at https://parentzone.org.uk/ or scan this QR code:

Your involvement at home can help reinforce the key messages of staying safe online and help your child become more confident with dealing with online issues. You could also visit the Be Internet Legends website to try some fun family activities to help your child learn how to make the internet a safer and kinder place for everyone at g.co/BeInternetLegends/Parents Be Internet Legends is a programme specifically designed to teach internet safety at home.

 

 

Here are some additional links that provide a wealth of information on Parental Controls and how to use them

Parental Controls (Internet Matters)
https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/

The Best Parental Control Software for 2019
https://uk.pcmag.com/parental-control-monitoring/67305/the-best-parental-control-software

Best parental control apps for Android and iPhone 2020
https://www.tomsguide.com/uk/us/best-parental-control-apps,review-2258.html

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the internet or online activities, please don’t hesitate to ask us.