Keeping your child safe online
At Abbeywood Community School, we recognise that being online is an important part of life for our students, not just as part of education, but for social interaction, leisure and creative expression.
All our students are given regular e-safety training through our dedicated PSHEE lessons, as part of their computing curriculum, year group tutor programme, core days at Post 16 and assemblies. In these sessions we cover:
- Online reputations
- Cyberbullying
- Access to inappropriate materials (such as pornography and violence)
- Sexting and sharing images
- Sharing personal information
- The risk of exploitation
We regularly analyse our data, looking at current trends and arranging appropriate awareness for our students.
When applying to be a student at ACS, parents or carers agree that their child will work under the school’s Acceptable Use Policy. When students (and staff) are working on school devices and the network our filtering and monitoring systems are in place to support safety online. However, vigilance of adults and education of students is still essential to ensure all students are safe when online at school or outside of school.
Parents and e-safety
As parents, we often assume our children know more than us about IT, because many of them spend so much time using it. Although we cover online safety extensively at school, conversations at home are by far the most effective method of protecting our children. Knowing they can turn to someone at home if they make a mistake or if they are unsure about anything can help prevent situations escalating into a more major problem.
There are lots of helpful resources online to support parents with having conversations about online safety.
Click here to enter the Olympus Trust's Online Safety Hub
It is really important that we get students to think about how much of their lives are spent online and the impact this can have on their sleep, mental health and self-confidence.
We all need to help our children understand the balance of what is health and what is not screen time. However, getting them off devices can be a difficult battle. If you would like further information on how to set parental controls or more information on how to maintain your child’s healthy use please see the Online Safety Hub, which can also support you with setting parent controls.
Other useful websites
The CEOP Education programme is a part of the National Crime Agency's response to tackling child sexual abuse. They offer support for parents https://thinkuknow.co.uk/parents and students 11-18s | CEOP Education (thinkuknow.co.uk) including reporting an incident.
