Staying Safe Online
Here at Lunt's Heath, we strongly believe that the use of the web is hugely worthwhile and an essential tool for children as they grow up in the modern world. Information is at our fingertips 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, providing awe and wonder, promoting curiosity and offering an opportunity to learn some amazing things. If we are to prepare digital citizens of the future, we need to offer our chidren opportunities that maybe we didn't have when we were growing up.
However, we appreciate that the unregulated nature of the Internet raises unique concerns that must be addressed if the children are to use the Internet safely. We firmly believe that the positives of using the internet far outweigh the negatives as long as we continue to discuss the risks and teach our chidren what to do if something doesn't feel right.
Technology is constantly changing, and young people are continually learning. We understand how important the internet is in developing digital citizens for the future.
When used safely, the internet opens a world of amazing opportunities but we also realise the importance of keeping up to date on latest developments so you know about the risks and what you can do to minimise these risks.
We understand the difficulties in keeping up to date with current trends in the digital world and what technologies our children are currently using. On this page we will keep you up to date so that we can all work together to keep our children safe.
Click on the leaflet on the right to read some top tips for parents and carers in helping our children stay safe online.
https://www.net-aware.org.uk/ is a fantastic guide to the social networks and Apps that your children may currently be using. What we like the most about this site is that it details the risk and suitability of the App (example is shown below). There are also top tips from o2 gurus who will provide advice for keeping your child safe online.
Links for Children
There are lots of great things to do on the Internet from playing games, looking for something for school, listening to music, watching video clips or just looking for things that interest you. But you also need to know how to stay safe online and what to do if you come across something you don’t like. Click on the links to find out more.
Think U Know for 5 to 7 year olds – This website has been set up just for you, to help you go on the internet in a safe way and know who to talk to if you are worried.
Think U Know for 8 to 10 year olds – showing you what’s good on the Internet. Have a look at what’s not and shows you ways you can get yourself out of bad situations.
Kids Smart – gives advice on how to stay safe on the Internet, whatever you are doing including searching for information, playing games, listening to music and entering competitions.
CBBC Stay Safe: Advice on Internet Safety – includes interactive clips from Tracy Beaker, a Newsround Special and Hackers Guide to staying safe online.
Links for parents and carers
Using the internet can make learning fun, fast and easy. Whether researching a school project, chatting with friends or playing a game, you can help your child surf safely and feel confident about learning online. The following sites offer help to keeping you and your child safe online:
Think U Know – Parents and Carers – produced by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). Their site offers really good advice on keeping your child safe online.
UK Council for Child Internet Safety– offering advice on Cyberbullying, Social Networking, downloading files and online gaming as well as general advice on keeping your child safe online.
Internet Matters - Whatever their age, this site can help you to find out more about what your children might be doing online and give you some simple, practical and easy advice on the steps you can take as a parent to keep them as safe as possible.
NSPCC - This site has teamed up with O2 to help you keep children safe when they're using the internet, social networks, apps, games and more
UK Safer Internet Centre- This site is a partnership of three leading charities with a mission to make the internet a better place for children and young people.
How to set parental controls
Many parents are put off using controls and settings as they think they will be difficult to set up, or complicated to use. With the following step by steps guides, the process is made simple and straightforward. We have included the main guides that we feel you would benefit from based on what the current trends are amongst children. If you feel like you need advice on something not listed here, please contact us.
Click on the name to see the guide
To manage your child’s safety on the console, there is a bespoke free app that you can use, that links to the device and enables you to set restrictions on the console directly.
Xbox Live Privacy Settings allow you to control how your child interacts with other players online and how much content they’re exposed to. You can also add individual Xbox Live restrictions through your Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 One settings.
Parental Controls for Xbox One can be set for each of your children’s individual profiles, allowing you to prevent unauthorised purchases, ensuring your children only access age-appropriate content and restrict the ability to chat to strangers online.
The PS4 parental controls allow you to restrict games and apps that have mature content. You can disable the internet browser, customise content displayed in the Store and restrict how your child chats and interact on the PlayStation Network.
Although you must be 18 to use the PS Network, you can create a sub-account for your child that is linked to your account and have full control over the restrictions placed on this sub-account restricting how they interact on the platform.
Netflix Parental Controls allow you to restrict access to content of varying maturity levels. You can create individual profiles with different control levels suitable for Little Kids, Older Kids, Teens and adults. These need to be set on a computer to cover all devices.
SafeSearch can help you block inappropriate or explicit images from your Google Search results. Please note- The SafeSearch filter isn’t 100% accurate, but it helps you avoid most violent and adult content.
Restricted Mode is an opt-in setting that helps screen out explicit and adult content to protect your children when they use YouTube. It also screens out comments on all videos your child watches.
YouTube Kids App offers controls to restricted search, set time limits and set a password to ensure settings can only be changed by parents on the app.
Roblox features a central dashboard to limit the chat functions, add a parental pin and account restrictions (to only access curated content by Roblox). Roblox also has a useful feature called ‘Age Visibility’ to determine settings for kids are age appropriate.
Click on the leaflets below for further advice on popular APPs that your children may be using
Download the parent and carer checklist below. By following this, you can start to protect your children and decrease the risks that they face.