E-Safety
*IMPORTANT – SAVE THE DATE 2 JOHNS VISIT 2026*
We are very excited to have booked The 2 Johns to come in and work with Year One and Two children in September. They are former UK police detectives who run eSafety Training in schools, delivering expert guidance on online child safety through school sessions, parent workshops, and professional training. They will be coming into our school on the 28th September 2026 for two sessions. They will then deliver a 90 minute on line parents event on Thursday 1st October starting at 8pm. We would highly recommend that you try and access this – the session will be very informative! Please save the date! More information including a link will be provided nearer the time.
E-Safety and Online Safety is an important aspect of teaching and learning at Hatfield Peverel Infant and Nursery School. With technology updating so quickly and becoming so much cheaper, it is fantastic that we now have the world at our fingertips and can learn in new and engaging ways. However, we have to make sure we are using new technology safely and appropriately and that our children are aware of the dangers of chatting online or sharing personal information.
Online-Safety is taught to all children each year explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online. The children will be learning about being safe on the internet during assemblies and class teaching sessions.
We celebrate Safer Internet Day every year. This year, we are started conversations about how to spot, respond to, and report all types of scams online. Scams can take many forms and could target anyone, including young people. Whilst your child may not yet be ready to use the internet independently, use our top tips to start good online habits now that will help keep them safe in the future.
Enjoy going online together
Spending time online together with family is an important learning experience for the youngest internet users. Not only will you both enjoy the quality time together, but you can supervise their usage and guide them to make the safest choices.
Talk about their online experiences
Help give your child the language to explain what they’re experiencing online by starting conversations about the internet and technology as early as possible. Talking regularly about what they love doing online, as well as any worries they may have, will help establish this habit and mean they’re more likely to come to you for help as they get older.
Make use of settings, especially relating to online purchases
Parental controls and other safety settings can help protect your child from online harms, including scams. To avoid any nasty surprises on your bank statement, make sure in-app purchases or new downloads require a passcode, and don’t set card details to autofill on devices your child has access to.
Explain that not everything online is true
If your child is too young to understand what fraud is, you can still lay the groundwork to help them stay safe online as they grow. Start simple and talk about the difference between real and make believe. Help them recognise that not everything online is true and that some things they see or hear could be stories, jokes or tricks.
Make sure they know they can always come to you
The most important thing for your child to know is that you are always there to support them, online and offline. Encourage them to talk to you if anything they experience makes them feel worried or upset and show them, they can trust you to stay calm, listen and help make things better.
Decide what is right for your family
Creating a family agreement allows you to have conversations about setting boundaries. It’s important that you involve yourself in your child’s online world, so as a simple starting point you could ask them what their favourite websites or games are, and why they like them. The filtering options that you put in place may also change over time, as your children get older and more independent, and their technology use changes too.
Check your settings regularly
Children can become accomplished users of technology and may learn how to disable or bypass the parental controls in place. Therefore, it’s important to talk to your children from the outset about why the settings are there, and the importance of respecting them. Regularly checking the filtering on your family’s devices could also form part of your agreement.
Give children the skills they need
No parental controls or filtering options are guaranteed to be 100% effective. They are a very useful tool to improve the quality of online experiences, but they cannot offer a ‘complete’ solution. It is therefore essential to talk with your children about their online activities, so they know what to do if they encounter inappropriate content.
Establish some rules
If you have parental controls from your internet provider on your home WiFi, these will not cover the use of 3G, 4G or 5G at home. Similarly, if your child goes to a friend’s house where there are no controls in place, they may be able to access unrestricted content. For these reasons, it’s important to educate your child about the potential risks online and establish rules concerning the sites that are suitable or inappropriate to visit.
Websites for more information:
www.thinkuknow.co.uk – Visit the “Parent/Carer” Section and use the “Click CEOP” button to seek advice
www.childnet.com – has a treasure trove of resources you can use at home or in the classroom
www.getsafeonline.org – Free up- to date Security advice, age specific advice
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/ – Excellent advice about Internet Safety
https://saferinternet.org.uk/ is a partnership between The Internet Watch Foundation, which works to eradicate online child sex abuse content, and Childnet International (more on them later). They’re the brains behind Safer Internet Day, a day to promote responsible and positive use of digital technology.
https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/online-safety-resources has handy guides suitable for teachers and parents alike, on everything from setting up parental controls on children’s devices to starting conversations about inappropriate content.
https://www.internetmatters.org/ – This has great advice on a huge range of different games, apps and browsers, it also divides its advice into different age ranges – perfect if you’ve got children of different ages and need to set different boundaries.
https://parentzone.org.uk/ – This includes articles and advice on ‘parenting in the digital age’, as well as in-depth video courses to help parents feel more confident in discussing screen time with their children.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/topics/cp440njz78zt – BBC Own It is aimed at slightly older children, but it’s worth considering If your child own a mobile phone. Their website contains videos about digital life presented in accessible language, and the Own It app can help young phone users develop good digital habits.
https://saferinternet.org.uk/ – advice for parents and carers