Online Safety
At Fairlop we continue to support our children in ensuring they are safe when using their devices and online both in school and at home. Online safety is at the core of our computing curriculum and we also teach it through our RSE lessons.
Primary School Help when using the YouTube / YouTube Kids
Here is an online safety video about keeping yourself safe when using You Tube. It's been created by Alan Mackenzie (www.esafety-advisor.com) to help primary students use You Tube safely.
The key points Alan recommends are:
- Recommended videos (these are videos you search for or that may be sent to you by a friend). At the top of your screen, select your profile and look for Restricted Mode at the bottom of this list and make sure it is turned ON.
- Look through your Channel subscriptions (left hand side of screen) and check and unsubscribe to anything that no longer interests you.
Also, if there are any videos you no longer want, select the three small dots icon and choose either a) I'm not interested - don't continue to recommend this channel and/or b) report or flag inappropriate content and tell your parents you are doing this.
- Also on the left hand side of the screen are the Search and History links - you can also look through these and clear the Search and History every few weeks to keep your channel updated.
How do I keep my child safe online - Prevent Digital Safety
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Parent Information from Parentsafe (LGFL), CEOP & Parent Zone
Here (Click the parent info logo below) you will find a collection of articles, tips, expert advice and resources designed to help parents keep up with what their children are doing online.
NSPCC Share Aware
The NSPCC has launched a public education campaign, called Share Aware, to help parents keep their children safe online.
The campaign is aimed at parents and carers of children aged 8-12 - the age at which they start doing more online, become more independent and use a greater range of devices. The campaign aims to encourage parents and carers to understand online safety and to have conversations with their children about keeping safe.
Click the link below to go to:
NSPCC Share Aware
Click the link below to go to:
NSPCC fighting for Childhood
Some tips on how to protect your children, whilst allowing them to enjoy the many educational and social benefits offered on the web:
- Settings/Search Engines - whether using Google, Bing, Yahoo or any other popular search engines, adjust the settings. Once in the home page of the search engine (i.e. Google) select 'Settings' at the bottom right and 'Search Settings'. A new page will open, click on the box next to 'Filter explicit results'. Although this is not entirely foolproof, it should ensure that your children do not see images and content that are inappropriate.
- Children's account/personal devices - many computers/devices offer a parental control option in the Settings menu. This will enable you to set up a children's user account on your computer/device. A child's account is highly restricted, will only have the programs you choose and can also feature a time limit as to how long a child can use the computer or device for.
- Social Media accounts - if possible, discuss and ask your teenager to share access to their Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media sites. Ask them to let you know the pass code for their smartphones. Compromise where possible and discuss how much time they may spend on their devices and whether they should be used in their bedrooms overnight.
- Facebook settings: Change your security settings by selecting the Privacy Checkup option from the small padlock icon on the blue toolbar at the top of the Facebook home page. Follow the series of steps that enable you to select the level of privacy you want - from 'Only Me' to 'Public'. When finished, select Next Step. Check the Apps Allowed from your Facebook account. Every site will appear here and you can access the drop-down menu to see who has made posts made on your behalf. You should change the access of ALL apps to 'Only Me' or 'Friends' or revoke apps you don't want any longer having access to your account. Select Next Step to continue. Check your Personal Data - you are sharing this with the world, so check whether this shows your email address, phone number etc. - most of this information should be kept private. Select Finish. On the toolbar at the top and click on the padlock - scroll down to "Who can contact me?". Here you can control who can befriend you on Facebook. Decide whether to share information with 'Friends of Friends' or just 'Friends'. This menu gives the option to block certain people from befriending you. Stay on the padlock to select 'See more setting', select "Who can look me up?" and "Do you want other search engines to link to your timeline?" If you do not want your Facebook page to be seen by search engines such as Google and Bing, then select 'No' here.
- Twitter settings: Log into your Twitter account, and select your profile icon in the toolbar. Select 'Settings', from the column on the left, select 'Security and Privacy'. The first set of options relates to photo tagging (where people can name you if they post a photo on Twitter). If you do not want to be named, then click on "Do not allow anyone to tag me in photos". To protect your tweets so that they are only seen by the people who follow you, select "Settings", "Security and Privacy", "Tweet Privacy" and finally "Protect my tweets". This is called a protected account, but it will not stop any of your approved followers from cutting and pasting your tweets, or taking screen grabs. Remember the golden rule - if you want to keep something private, do NOT put it on the internet. If you want your location to remain private, uncheck the box marked 'Add a location to my tweets'. Finally, uncheck the two boxes marked 'email address' and 'phone number'. This will enhance your privacy, but make it harder for people to find you.