E Safety
At St Anne’s, we understand that the online world is a significant part of our pupils’ lives and that it can be a positive tool, e.g. to enhance their learning. We also know that there are risks posed to pupils online. We are writing to you as we believe it is important for us to work in partnership with parents to keep pupils safe online.
What are some of the risks children and young people face online?
The online world is constantly evolving which means the risks children can face also change. Here, we have provided information on some of the categories of potential harms that children can face online:
Content – this involves being exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful content, e.g. pornography, fake news, racism, misogyny, self-harm, suicide, anti-Semitism, radicalisation and extremism.
Contact – this involves being subjected to harmful online interaction with others online, e.g. peer pressure, commercial advertising, and adults posing as children or young adults with the intent to groom or exploit children.
Conduct – this is online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm, e.g. making, sending and receiving explicit images, sharing other explicit images, and cyberbullying.
Commerce – this includes risks such as online gambling, inappropriate advertising, phishing and financial scams.
What is the school doing to help protect pupils?
We adopt a whole-school approach to online safety, meaning that online safety is integrated through all aspects of school life to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect pupils from online harms. As part of our approach to online safety, we:
Ensure that all staff at the school receive high-quality training in online safety and know what to do when a concern is raised, or an incident occurs.
Teach pupils about the importance of online safety and how to keep themselves safe online through the curriculum, assemblies and other enrichment activities.
Implement policies and procedures.
The school’s approach to online safety is set out and implemented through a variety of policies and procedures, including the following:
Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy
Online Safety Policy
Technology acceptable use agreements
Copies of these policies are available by clicking this link.
Implement appropriate filtering and monitoring software.
We have a number of procedures in place to ensure pupils cannot access unsuitable content when online at school. There are also systems in place to monitor what pupils are accessing online when using school-owned devices.
What can parents do to help protect children online?
As parents, you play an essential role in protecting your children online. There are lots of ways you can help to minimise the risks and increase the awareness of online safety in your home. We have listed some of the ways you can do this below:
Talk to your children about why it is important to stay safe online. Explain that whilst the internet is a fun, exciting and knowledge-rich tool, it is also a place where people may wish to bring them into dangerous activities or expose them to harmful material. It is important to be clear that you are not saying your child may never use the internet again, or that everything on it is harmful – it is about teaching them to have a greater awareness and to be able to manage and report any risks.
Only give your children devices or access to devices that you feel comfortable with, and not as a result of peer-pressure deriving from their classmates and/or friends who are also using those devices.
Discuss rules for being online and draw them up together, including which sites, games, etc., are acceptable. If certain games are off-limits, try to explain why – for example, because of excessive violence. If your child uses online gaming, consider setting rules such as only talking to others in the same age range and having the conversation on speaker, rather than headphones, so you can monitor it.
Discuss what information should be private and what is ok to share; for example, addresses, names of schools, and names should never be given out to strangers online, as this could allow them to identify where your child goes to school or lives.
Keep an open dialogue with your child – letting them know they can always talk to you about anything that has made them feel uncomfortable online is key to keeping them safe.
Ensure all devices used by your child are kept in a communal space, or a space where they can be supervised whilst using their devices.
Set parental controls – do this as a dialogue with your child so they are aware of what they are not allowed to view; however, do not rely on parental controls on devices, as they are not always 100 percent effective and many children know how to bypass them.
To learn how to do this for the major providers of internet please click the text below.
http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-and-resources/parents-and-carers/parental-controls
Make sure your child knows how to report or ‘block’ unsuitable content, messages or people online – show them how to block on the websites or games they frequently use and explain that they can always tell you, a teacher or another adult if they experience anything which makes them feel uncomfortable.
Here are some other resources you can use to help you protect your children online:
NSPCC – ‘Talking to your child about online safety’ (https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/talking-child-online-safety/)
Childnet – ‘Have a conversation’ (https://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/have-a-conversation/)
Thinkuknow (https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/)
UK Safer Internet Centre (https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/parents-and-carers)
The internet is a fantastic place overflowing with knowledge, games and communities of people, and just like pupils across the country, the pupils here at St. Annes spend a great deal of time using the internet within school and at home. This is why it is important pupils learn how to be safe when browsing online and becoming members of online communities.
One way to make browsing the internet safer at home is to use a 'safe search' search engine.
Below are links to search engines designed for children to use on the internet.
In school, children learn about E-Safety through a scheme of lessons along with assemblies. We also encourage parents/carers to talk to their children about how to behave safety when online, to ensure pupils remain safe when browsing at home.
Our aim is to ensure that our children know to report any inappropriate content, contact or conduct they encounter online to CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) and clicking the 'report' button.
http://ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/
CEOP also has a great website of information on E-Safety for parents. Please click the link below to visit the page.
http://ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/
The website provides excellent clear guidance for children about E-Safety, so please click on the following link and have a read: there are separate sites for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
NSPCC NetAware is a parent’s guide to the social networks your children use. Stay up to date and keep your child safe in today’s digital world. If you go on the link below you can search a site, game or app to find out more e.g. Instagram
If you would like to speak to anyone at school about online safety, contact Mrs Sophie Volynchook on [email protected] or use the Class Dojo messaging service.
Safer Internet Day this year is on 10th February 2026.
A spotlight on some of our learning opportunities that develops children's knowledge and understanding of e-safety:
Safer Internet Day
Key Stage 1 had an assembly delivered by our Computing Ambassadors, who discussed with the children how we should be kind both face to face as well as online and how we can respectful to each other.
Key Stage 2 had an assembly with Miss Westhead who shared some important messages about what being respectful online means. These included
Listening to other people.
Understanding that someone might not want the same things as you.
Including people when they want to be included.
Being kind and supportive.
Thinking about how your words and actions make other people feel.
Not putting pressure on someone and accepting their boundaries.
Tik Tok Advice for Parents
We have heard lots of children discussing the popular APP TikTok, and it is clearly used by many children at home. Here is some advice guidelines for Parents.
Updates:
We would like to make you aware of the Doki Doki literature club - a visual novel game advised by makers as not suitable for children.
FORTNITE
Please be aware of the following information issued by the NSPCC regarding the latest online gaming exerience 'Fortnite' which is popular among many children. We advise all parents to read this information and use it to help you protect your children and keep them safe online.
Click on the image below to access the information from the NSPCC:
