Be Safe Online!
Be safe online!
We received this advice from the Borough’s new police safeguarding officer Dean Davies:
As teachers, parents/ carers and other adults responsible for children’s safety, we want our children and those we look after to be healthy and happy and to develop well both physically and mentally. Above all, it’s also instinctive that we want kids to be safe.
Children learn through exploration and natural curiosity, and it is part of our job as adults to encourage that. However, as children grow up, develop and discover new experiences, we have to take more and different steps to ensure their safety.
Depending on the age that your children are now, they may not have yet discovered computers, smartphones or tablets, unless it’s just pressing the buttons! Alternatively, they may already be used to using certain trusted websites and apps or – if they’re older – using social networking sites.
By the time they are older still, they will probably already be ‘online veterans’ who know their way around the internet, apps, games, downloading and social networking with ease. Chances are, they know more about these things than you do. But they almost certainly don’t have the life-experience and wisdom to handle all of the situations they encounter.
This is why we need a measured approach to keeping our children safe when they’re online. To help develop this, there are useful documents below that can be used for your guidance and information.