Being safe online is essential for young people. At school, students are taught about online safety both through PSHCE lessons and through the IT curriculum. However, it is essential that parents actively engage with their children about their online activity to ensure that they stay safe. The following websites provide useful advice to both students and parents about online safety.
If a student has any concerns they should speak to their Mentor, Head of Achievement or one of our Designated Safeguarding Officers - Mrs Boys, Dr Capaldi, Miss Lee, Mrs Sawdon-Smith or Mrs Flynn.
If you would like to report a concern or have a question regarding online safety, please email dso@highdown.reading.sch.uk.
The internet is amazing. You can play, learn, create and connect - opening up a whole world of exciting possibilities, however, it is important to take control of the technology, be responsible and stay safe.
Highdown School is a member of National Online Safety. Parents/Carers of students at Highdown can register for free to www.nationalonlinesafety.com to access a wide range of guides, webinars and courses to keep up to date with online risks and potential harms, to keep their child safe in the online world.
Online advice, guidance and reporting sites:
NSPCC Online Safety Information
UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC)
Childnet: advice for parents to talk their child about online issues
Childnet's Parent and Carer Toolkit: advice for parents/carers for supporting children of different ages with a range of key online safety topics
Internet Watch Foundation (IWF): hotline for reporting images and videos of child sexual abuse online.
South West Grid for Learning (SWGfL): advice and resources to support use of Internet technologies safely
BBC Own It: articles and advice to help young people be the boss of their online lives
ThinkUKnow: provides information for young people and parents and a reporting tool for children to report sexual abuse and grooming
Report Harmful Content: gives advice on how to report online problems, including harmful content
Report Remove Tool: to report to remove a nude image or video shared online
YoungMinds: to get advice about wellbeing and mental health of young people
Internet Matters: support and advice across a range of online safety issues, including useful guides for setting parental controls
ParentZone: this is a resource provided by the Department for Education to help identify potential online issues and how to be safe online
Virgin Media's Children's Online Safety Test: a resource to help assess your own knowledge of online safety
Be S.M.A.R.T and prevent problems before they happen
Safe: Keep safe and be careful not to give out personal information to unknown and unsolicited requests.
Meeting: Don’t arrange to meet strangers you have met online by yourself, make sure you take someone with you.
Accepting: Don’t accept unsolicited online requests, emails, files – they can be a source of viruses and scams.
Reliable: Make sure the websites you use, and information you get, are reliable.
Tell your parent, carer or a trusted adult if someone or something makes you feel uncomfortable or worried, or if you or someone you know is being bullied online.
Remember to check your 4 Cs
Content: What you access, download, share and post online.
Contact: Who you contact, meet and chat with online.
Conduct: How you conduct and behave yourself online.
Commerce: How you protect yourself against online scams.
Report any concerns
If something or someone makes you feel uncomfortable or worried, or if you or someone you know is being bullied online, tell a parent, a tutor, a carer or a trusted adult or email dso@highdown.reading.sch.uk.
If you believe that you, your family or friends or other students are a victim of any online threats, scams or crimes, please report it immediately.
You can also use the 'Report Harmful Content' website which is an online service provided by UKSaferInternet.
Do you know who you’re speaking to online?
Staying safe online has never been more important than right now as we’re all spending more time on our phones, tablets, laptops and games consoles to stay in touch and keep our spirits up.
There is a risk with social media and games that have a chat option that someone that you don’t know could try to contact you, or add you as a friend or request to follow you. Remember, it’s ok to ignore their message or decline their request.
Thames Valley Police know that some criminals are using the lockdown to try and make contact with young people online, build up a friendship with them and then encourage them to do things that they don’t feel comfortable doing. Not everyone online is who they say they are, so don’t befriend people you don’t know.
Now is a good time to take a look at the privacy settings of the apps that you use. Check the default settings and make appropriate changes to keep yourself safe when you use them. Advice for over 60 of the most popular apps and games have been created by the NSPCC and O2.
If you are unsure about someone that you’re speaking to or if you see something online that makes you feel uncomfortable, unsafe or worried walk away from your phone or computer and tell an adult immediately. This could be a friend, your parent, one of your teachers, the police or Childline.
You can contact the police on 101 or by going online. Alternatively, you can contact Childline by calling 0800 1111 or chat online.
Do you see what they see online?
Since government restrictions have been put in place, Thames Valley Police has seen a large increase in the number of reports of online sexual abuse involving children and are urging parents to take this opportunity to have honest conversations about online safety with their children and to review privacy settings on the apps and social networks that they are using.
Online sexual abuse is any type of sexual abuse that happens on the web, whether through social networks, online gaming or using mobile phones. In some cases this involves children being groomed or exploited by an adult.
Any child or young person that uses the internet or has a smartphone could be a victim of online sexual abuse and they can be at risk from people they know, as well as from strangers. Those they are speaking to online may not be who they say they are.
The signs of online sexual abuse can be hard to spot and in these unprecedented times it is possible that these changes in behaviour may be mistakenly attributed to the change of circumstance or routine in which we all find ourselves.
These signs include; hiding computer screens or taking phone calls away from others, being secretive about what they’re doing and who they’re talking to, sudden personality changes or mood swings, engaging less with family and their usual friends and referring to a ‘new friend’ but offering limited information about them.
To support parents and educators during COVID-19, the National Crime Agency’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection command are producing fortnightly activity packs to help discuss staying safe online with your children.
These resources contain two 15-minute activities for four different age groups to ensure that they are age-appropriate. You can find the packs for 4-7-year-olds, 8-10-year-olds, 11-13-year-olds and over 14s at www.thinkuknow.co.uk
Now is a good time to review the privacy settings of the apps that they are using with them and explaining the importance of putting these in place. Social media and games with chat functionality can be used safely, providing the right precautions are taken. Advice and guidance for over 60 of the most popular apps and games have been created by the NSPCC and O2 and can be found at www.net-aware.org.uk
Parental Broadband Controls
GoCompare have produced some helpful guidance for parents on Broadband controls at home.
Social Media Information
There are some more guides available below for download to support parents navigating their child's use of social media.
Snapchat
Snapchat lets you send pictures or short videos to friends – they disappear after being viewed, however, they can be screen-shot and saved. Users can also post stories which can be viewed by their contacts and last for 24 hours.
Top tips for Snapchat:
- Check that ‘who can contact me’ is set to ‘my friends’ and not ‘everyone’
- Check that only friends can view stories
- Turn off ‘see me in quick add’ so that friends of friends, who they may not know, can’t add them
- Turn on ghost mode in Snap Maps so that others can’t view their location
Show your child how to report content that they’re not comfortable with and how to block or report users.
Internet Matters have produced a video with step-by-step instructions on how to check these settings.
Instagram is a picture and video sharing app. Users can post pictures to their feed or add them to their story, which stays up for 24 hours.
Top tips for Instagram:
- Check that their profile is set to private
- You can filter comments to automatically block comments or messages containing certain words
- You can also block comments from specific users
- You can edit story settings so that only selected ‘close friends’ can view stories
Show your child how to report content that they’re not comfortable with and how to block or report users.
Internet Matters have produced a step by step guide on how to check these settings.
WhatsApp is a messaging app that allows users to send messages, photos, videos and their live location with individual and group chats.
Top tips for WhatsApp:
- Turn off the live location feature
- You can edit the profile picture and status settings so that these can only be seen by contacts, or by nobody
- Use the ‘blocked contacts’ feature to block specific people from being able to contact them
Show your child how to report content that they’re not comfortable with and how to block or report users.
Internet Matters have produced a video with step by step instructions on how to check these settings.
Kik
Kik is a messaging app that allows users to send messages, pictures and videos in individual and group chats. These group chats can be private or public, and users can also video call friends in the app.
Top tips for Kik:
- Encourage them to pick a username that’s hard to guess – that way people will have to ask for their username before they add them
- Discourage them from using the ‘meet new people’ feature which allows them to enter into anonymous, unmoderated chats with random users
- Discourage them from sharing their Kik code on other social media sites where they might have public profiles
Show your child how to report content that they’re not comfortable with and how to block or report users.
Kik have produced a guide for parents.
Omegle
Omegle is a virtual chatroom which connects users to other users at random. Once connected, users can chat via text, audio or video.
Talk to your child about the dangers of giving out personal information such as their age, their location or their full name to people that they don’t know.
Video chat has three different options – moderated, unmoderated and adult. Unmoderated and adult ask the user to confirm they are over 18, but this information is not checked.
Think U Know has produced this parent’s guide to Omegle.