Thank you to all of you who attended yesterday's E-Safety meetings, led by Dorset Police Safe Schools and Communities Team. We had some thought-provoking conversations throughout the presentation and some really good feedback after the events. Pop in and see me if you would like any more information or advice.

 

A number of things cropped up during the sessions and useful links to some of the resources and topics that were mentioned can be found below:

 

The NSPCC have recently release some great short animated videos about E-Safety; google 'share aware' or click here to watch 'Lucy and the boy'.

 

Some parents found it a bit scary that children needed to know so much. But think of it like this:

When teaching children to cross the road safely, we have to tell them what a car is and why it is a potential risk to their safety. E-Safety education follows similar principles, it's not about scaring children, just giving them age-appropriate facts about the potential risks and what they can do to reduce them, so that they can make safe choices about how the interact and share information online.

 

The biggest message was about communicating with your children. Open, honest talk about what they are engaging with online. How much do you know about your child's online life? How many of them are engaging with age 13+ platforms (Youtube; Facebook; Instagram; Snapchat)?

 

PEGI (Pan-European Game Information) age rating system was established to help European parents make informed decisions on buying computer games. Visit the PEGI website for more details.

 

www.commonsensemedia.org reviews a huge selection of games, apps, books, films, websites and more. It tells you age limits and most importantly, what the content or potential use and risks looks like from a parental point of view. Just check out Grand Theft Auto V...

 

Some parents were interested in software to support them managing the amount of time children spend on devices. One such subscription app is ScreenTime linked here to the GooglePlay store, but also available on iTunes. [We do not endorse this as a product, just list it as an example of this type of app; others are available].

 

Reminders to check the settings on your (and your children's) social media accounts.

 

Set up effective filtering (e.g. Sky's Broadband Shield and Virgin Media's Web Safe)

 

Please view the Safe Schools and Communities Team E-Safety newsletter here.

 

The E-Safety handout from the session can be found here.

 

Check out the age-appropriate resources at CEOP's Thinkuknow.