E-Safety
With E-safety week starting my thoughts turn to how technology continues to change the world, not just since my time as a child/teenager/young adult, but during my time as an E-Safety Officer in this school.
Technology is ever more prevalent in society and has many wonderful advantages to enhance the education of our children.
It does however come with its risks and concerns and these were discussed in the most recent E-Safety parents briefing held last Thursday. For those unable to make this, the presentation can be found online under the E-SAFETY tab in FROG.
The focus of this years' E-safety week is Conversation and the key message to parents and carers is to talk to your children about the apps they are using. A recent in school survey showed that our children in Key Stage 2 specifically, are using a large number of applications that enable them to communicate with each other and potentially the outside world. The number of apps increases regularly and there were certainly some mentioned that I have never heard of.
As a parent this concerns me and my instant reaction might be to ban the use of such applications and technologies, however, if we make it 'wrong' and they use such devices but find a way to be part of these online conversations anyway, who do our children go to if they get worried and need advice?
As parents we need more than ever to understand this technical world, whatever our own opinions of social media sites. We need to embrace their culture and not deny or ban access to it but to teach our children how to navigate it safely; giving them full knowledge of what to do if something happens that concerns them.
Take swimming for example. We wouldn't take our children to a body of water (pool, lake, sea) and put up signs and barriers so that they can never fall in. No, we teach our children to swim. First we may dip their toes, go for a paddle, next we swim with them or provide swimming aids for support until finally they are swimming lengths in a stroke of their choosing. E-safety is the same. Like it or not, this technology is the culture of their age and we must help them navigate the waters with support until we can be sure they are safe to go it alone.
So during the next week, please talk to your children about their online activities, allow them to teach you something about 'their online world' and ensure that they know where to go if they ever need help. Please ensure that they are using internet accessible devices in family spaces so that you can easily monitor what they are doing and who they are speaking with.
For more advice on E-safety and conversation starters, please see the E-safety presentation and links to E-safety information on FROG. Additionally if you are interested in how much screen time is suitable for your child, please read the article linked here
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