Online Safety Week

This week, we celebrated Safer Internet Day with lots of fun and engaging activities for all pupils to get involved in, based on the theme ‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online’.

We started the week with our Digital Leaders leading an assembly for the First and Second Years. They discussed some key aspects of online safety, including staying safe when online gaming, the reasons for age restrictions, and how to create a strong password. Their slides can be found here.

On Tuesday, it was House Branch time where students worked in small groups to create posters and poems highlighting the importance of online safety.

On Wednesday, Dariush and Charlie from SPS led an assembly for Third Years where they discussed tips for staying safe online, how long our digital footprints last, and the problems surrounding mobile phone addiction. Their slides can be found here.

In the meantime, First and Second Years completed an online quiz written by the Digital Leaders and then worked in pairs to solve ‘The Mystery of the Stolen Passwords’. A big thank you to all our Digital Leaders for the work they did to help us prepare for this week.

Safer Internet Day is a great opportunity to focus on online safety with your child, whatever their age. The UK Safer Internet Centre has created a range of pages to help you talk about these issues and ideas with your child, no matter how much time you have, and in an age-appropriate way. As always, please refer to the Online Safety School Portal page found here for current trends, topics and help guides for parents. 

Additionally, after half term, all students will take part in e-safety workshops led by Childnet on Friday 28 February. Childnet will also run a session for parents and carers at 5pm on the same day.

Online Safety was also the theme for Computing lessons this week. Below are the key questions we discussed with each year group, which may be a great conversation to have at home.

Lower First: How can we be good digital citizens? and What information is OK to have in your digital footprint?

Upper First: How does what I post online affect my identity? and How can a strong password help to protect my privacy?

Lower Second: How does our online activity affect the digital footprints of ourselves and others? and How can we be upstanders when we see cyberbullying?

Upper Second: What does media balance mean for me? and How do you keep online friendships safe?

Lower Third: Is all information that we are presented with online trustworthy?

Upper Third: What is the impact of scamming? How can we spot a scam?