Online Safety

From Durham Constabulary’s Cyber Protect Team: 25th March 2020

With schools now being officially shut because of the COVID-19 outbreak, it is likely that there will be an increase of internet use for families and children over the coming weeks. With that in mind, here are some great tips for parents on setting up the right controls and privacy settings to ensure their child stays safe online. You can find these in detail in our ‘Parents Guide to Cyber Safety’ advice booklet which is attached to this email.

The booklet looks at the following areas:

Smart Devices

They are a number of different ways to secure your child’s device within the phone settings. Some of these are turning off location settings, blocking inappropriate content and disabling app purchasing.

Broadband & Mobile Networks

Did you know you can restrict certain websites on devices connected to your home router? You can also use these settings to make the home Wi-Fi unavailable to a device after say 9pm for example!

Gaming

We look at questions to ask when buying a games console, such as if the console or games have chat facilities, is your child able to make purchases using their games console, or does your child’s gamertag reveal their identity?

Social Media

There are many features that you can put in place to ensure social media is safe for your child, like ensuring accounts are private not public, filtering out inappropriate comments and setting up two-factor authentication.

There are also a number of websites that give detailed advice on staying safe online, such as:

www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls

www.ncsc.gov.uk

www.net-aware.org.uk

www.getsafeonline.org

We are on social media! We post regular cyber safety updates on social media and you can find us @DurhamCyber on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also contact the Durham Constabulary Cyber Protect Team at cyber.protect@durham.pnn.police.uk. Please be aware that our inbox is not staffed 24/7. Ring 999 in an emergency or 101 to report an incident.

In recent years the internet has become an integral part of our children’s lives and it can be hard for parents to keep up with developments and to know the best way to keep their child safe online.

In school, we deliver a planned, progressive e-Safety curriculum with key messages appropriate to your child’s age. Visit our e-Safety advice for children page, to learn more about the key messages we teach and website resources we use.

Visit our School Policies page to download our e-Safety Policy.

Visit the sites below for lots of useful information about how to keep safe online.

UK Safer Internet Centre

The UK safer Internet Centre site is full of useful information about keeping yourself and your family safe online. They update their information frequently, keeping up to date with ever evolving apps and crazes. They have recently published information on using the Pokemon Go app and on keeping safe in the summer holidays. The site also includes useful information about using social media safely. Click the links below to visit the relevant pages.

Pokemon Go – Advice for parents
Staying Safe Online this Summer
Facebook Checklist
Instagram Checklist
Snapchat Checklist
Twitter Checklist

Get Safe Online

It seems that online crime is in the news almost every day and criminals are becoming ever more sophisticated. Criminals are very clever and anyone can become a victim. Get Safe online is a website for adults containing lots of information about how to avoid online crime when using the internet and how to keep yourself and your family safe. It also contains details of current scams and how to avoid them and is well worth visiting on a regular basis.

Internet Matters

Internet Matters is a not-for-profit organisation working with online safety experts to bring you all the information you need to keep your children safe online. The site includes advice on important e-safety issues; news and advice from industry experts; guidance on setting parental controls and filters on a wide range of devices; reviews of the latest technology and apps.

NSPCC Net aware

The NSPCC has recently launched their Net aware site. It is a well designed site that is easy to navigate and gives parents up to date information about social network sites their child may be using. You can also register to ensure you receive information as soon as it is published.

Vodafone Digital Parenting

Vodafone have developed an excellent website called Digital Parenting that contains lots of advice about keeping children safe on line. It includes instructions for setting up parental controls on a wide variety of devices (under the ‘How To’ tab) and a wealth of information about keeping safe online for all generations. It is well worth checking out!

Parent Info

Parent Info is collaboration between CEOP and Parent Zone and provides information to parents and carers about their children’s wellbeing and resilience, internet safety and a wide range of other topic matters like sex, relationship and body image.

Think U Know Website

The ThinkuKnow website is run by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and includes advice and information for parents, carers and children. CEOP’s Thinkuknow for parents and carers page includes separate sections for primary and secondary aged children, a video explaining internet safety for parents and plugins to make your browser safer.

KidSMART Website

The KidSMART parents’ page contains advice and activities to help keep your children safe online.

Parentzone

The Parentzone website contains a wealth of information about e-Safety that is frequently updated.

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying can be devastating for children as it can be difficult to escape from. Children should be encouraged to discuss their problems with an adult. One of the most common reasons they do not do this is that they fear their phone or computer/ tablet will be taken away from them, so it is important that you let your child know this will not happen and that they can talk to you about any problems they have. The Childline website contains helpful information about cyberbullying and ways to help stop it that you can discuss with your child. The government have recently produced a useful leaflet on cyberbullying that can be downloaded by clicking the link below.

Advice_for_Parents_on_Cyberbullying_