e-Safety

Pupils should be taught to :
'Use technology safely and respectfully, keeping personal information private; identify where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies.'

Use technology safely and respectfully
E-safety messages can start from an early age, encouraging both positive and safe use of technology and positive behaviour online.  At KS1 it is important pupils understand that the internet offers many positive opportunities to explore, learn and play and that there are rules they can follow to help stay safe online. Just as there are for staying safe offline. Respect is a key concept to embed from the start and can be explored in KS1 through the idea of being a good friend and how to treat others with respect, and how these concepts extend to behaviour online too.

Keeping personal information private
The concept of personal information and sharing it with others is also important to establish and explore with young children. This can start with identifying what personal information is, moving on to what personal information should or shouldn't be shared with other people. This can be framed by the idea of 'things you wouldn't tell a stranger about yourself'. A good step to encourage younger children to tell and adult if they are asked to enter any personal information on a site/service, or if another user is asking them for details about themselves.

Identify where to go for help and support
While younger children will often ask an adult for help relating to something offline, it is important to encourage them to do the same for anything offline.  This may be for something that makes them feel worried, uncomfortable or upset, but equally they should be encouraged to ask for help if they are ever unsure about anything to with the use of technology or the internet.

Concerns about content
Using online sites, services and apps offers children new and exciting ways to communicate with family and friends, as well as potentially communicate with people they have never met.  At KS1 it is important to establish with children that they may come on to contact with strangers online, that they should not disclose personal information to strangers. The internet offers a wealth of information and a broad range of content for a variety of audiences. Whilst there is plenty of content online aimed at younger children, there is also content aimed at older/adult audiences, extremist content, content that promotes hurtful or harmful behaviour and illegal content. It is also to important to question the reliability of information online.  Although internet connections in schools are well filtered, it is important to help younger children understand that they may come across upsetting or worrying things online when using the internet outside of school. The key message at this age is to always ask for help if they are unsure or worried about anything online.