Safer Internet Day 2022

 

 On Tuesday 8th February we will be joining schools and youth organisations across the UK in celebrating Safer Internet Day 2022. Safer Internet Day is a global campaign to promote the safe and responsible use of technology, which calls on young people, parents, carers, teachers, social workers, law enforcement, companies, policymakers and more, to join together in helping to create a better internet.

 

Using the internet safely and positively is a key message that we promote at St. Mary’s and celebrating Safer Internet Day is a great opportunity for us to re-emphasise the online safety messages we deliver throughout the year. Some of the activities we’ll be participating include the delivery of the global online Safer Internet Day activities. These focus on respect and relationships online and has a particular reference to online gaming which we know is a popular pastime for many of our students. 

 

In the heat of battle in a game or through frustration, people can forget how to treat others and that there is a person beyond that screen. A player may think it is okay to be offensive or abusive to an opponent to put them off because it is ‘just a game’. This may be seen as ‘banter’ by some but as a school we would see this as a direct contradiction of our school ethos – ‘We are kind, polite and respectful to everyone and everything within the St. Mary’s Community’. Abuse described as ‘banter’ in never acceptable and we would expect all St Mary’s Mates to behave in a way that is in accordance with our school values and Mission Statement at all times.

 

Whilst it is a good thing that usernames and avatars allow players to protect their personal information, this anonymity can lead to some people behaving as if there are no consequences to their actions.  

As a school we would be delighted if you could join us in celebrating the day by continuing the conversation at home. To help you with this, you may be interested in downloading the free Safer Internet Day Resources for Parents and Carers which is available at: saferinternet.org.uk/sid-parents.

 

Some other resources which you may find helpful in supporting your child online are:

• Tips, advice and guides for parents and carers from the UK Safer Internet Centre (saferinternet.org.uk/parents)
• Advice for parents and carers from Childnet (childnet.com/parents-and-carers)
• Reviews and information about games, apps, TV shows and websites from Common Sense Media (commonsense.org)
• Help on using parental controls and privacy settings from Internet Matters (internetmatters.org./controls)
• Information and reporting of online grooming or sexual abuse from CEOP (ceop.police.uk)

Online safety is an important issue which as a school family we’re committed to teaching our children about. 

If you have any concerns or questions about keeping your child safe online, please do use the links found on our website or get in touch with your child’s class teacher or anyone within our school safeguarding team:

 

Mrs Raynor (Designated Safeguarding Leader), Mrs Brown (Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leader)

Mrs Sabatino (Pastoral Lead & Early Help Lead), Mr Chadwick (Computing Lead)