E-Safety
At School
At Marden Lodge our children will regularly use the internet as part of their learning. Within school we have regular e-safety activities to remind our children of the importance of keeping themselves safe on the internet and this is further referred to within our computing curriculum. All children at Marden Lodge agree to follow the SMART Rules
The internet is a great tool for learning, communicating and collaborating and as a school we use security filters to support our children’s safe use of the internet. We would recommend that parents have similar restrictions at home.
At Home
A number of children may have access have different social media accounts, including Instagram and Facebook. Most social media accounts have age restrictions of 13 year + (this is true of Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook), in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). In our experience, children are not socially mature enough to use these types of social media and therefore we would advise parents to adhere to the age restrictions. If your child does use social media, or other communications online, we would recommend talking with your child about e-safety and would encourage you to monitor their online activity.
Help children stay safe online:
1. Have the conversation early and often
2. Explore online together
3. Know who your child is talking to online
4. Set rules and agree boundaries - make links to the SMART Rules that we use at school.
5. Make sure that content is age-appropriate
6. Use parental controls to filter, restrict, monitor or report content
7. Check they know how to use privacy settings and reporting tools
E-safety and Fortnite
As you may be aware, the age rating of the game Fortnite is PEGI 12, due to ‘frequent scenes of mild violence. It is not suitable for persons under 12 years of age’. There are a number of other potential issues you should be aware of:
- As Fortnite is an online game you will play against players of different ages from across the world. You cannot turn the in game chats off or choose who you play against.
- Fortnite does feature violence when players are in combat with each other.
- Although Battle Royale is free to play, other aspects of the game are not. There are packs which give you different access to the full game and extensions, bonuses and weapons.
As recommended by the UK Safer Internet Centre the advice says:
- Have an open and honest conversation with your child
- Play the game with them
- Know how to make a report
- See what other people think of Fortnite
All of which can be found here: https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/blog/parents-guide-fortnite-battle-royale and a Parents Guide to Fortnite.
Please click on the links below to access these websites for further information:
Actress Keeley Hawes launches the Child Web Guide with Childnet International.
This website also allows you to report inappropriate conversations or events that have happened online – simply click this button to report.
Are you worried about online sexual abuse or the way someone has been communicating with you or child online? Make a report to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection command police.
A project of the Internet Education Foundation, offers an ‘online safety guide’ as well as a ‘tools for parents’ section.
They work in partnership with professionals, children and families around the world to make the internet a great and safe place for children. They produce resources and policies to support your child’s digital development.
An up-to-date glossary of the technological terminology used online and offline.
A Parent’s Guide to Being Share Aware – helping you to keep your child safe online.
Lots of online safety advice and recommendations from a local charity.
Internet Matters videos with strategies for supporting children’s E-Safety:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySbDYUmPasU Supporting Under 5s
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz4EyUMUTro Supporting 6-10s
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iKPd6lZYuA Supporting 11-13s
