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Online Safety

The school takes its responsibility to ensure the safety of children as they explore and become familiar with ICT, the internet, mobile devices and mobile phones. The school E-Safety Policy is regularly updated and you can view it by clicking here.

The school has a secure filtering system in order to ensure children remain safe when using devices in school.

New digital technologies offer a wealth of opportunities for children and young people to learn, create and communicate. 

As parents and carers, our natural desire is to keep our children safe. In every aspect of development – from learning to cross the road, ride a bike or swim – parents must teach, guide and support their children: the online world is no different.

The best defence against any online risk is openness, awareness and education. Talk with your children about their online activities, share their experiences and learn from them. Help them to use technology positively and responsibly, and give them boundaries, guidance and support.

Learning online

The Internet is often the first stop for pupils who have a project to research or a question they want answered.

Advice for you: Use child-safe search engines. Visit www.schoolfamily.com. Focus on results from trusted resources, such as the websites of established organisations and well-known newspapers and magazines.  On Google you can choose to activate ‘safe search’.

Social networking

Social networking sites allow users to stay in touch through instant messaging and photo sharing. 

Advice for you:  Always pay close attention to app age restrictions. Children at primary school should never access sites for older children or adults.

Visiting virtual worlds / instant messaging

Children of all ages are drawn to virtual worlds where they can customize and control their own characters or 'avatars', play games and interact with other players.  Minecraft is a popular example of this.

Advice for you: Ask your child for a tour of their favourite virtual worlds. Carefully check the privacy settings and parental controls. Never allow your child to play a game an age restriction that is higher than their actual age.

"How to" guide: protecting your child's online profile and activity

Talk about how they use the internet

Encourage your children to tell you if something they encounter on the internet makes them feel anxious, uncomfortable, or threatened.   Think You Know have advice on how to do this.

Establish internet rules

As soon as your children use the Internet on their own, establish rules for internet use. These rules should define whether your children can use social networking sites and how they can use them.

Educate yourself, stay in the loop

Evaluate the sites that your child plans to use and make sure both you and your child understand the privacy policy and the code of conduct. Find out if the site monitors content that people post. Also, review your child's page periodically.

Teach your children to never meet anyone in person that they've communicated with online

Children are in real danger when they meet strangers in person whom they've communicated with online only

Encourage your children to communicate with people they already know

You can help protect your children by encouraging them to use these sites to communicate with friends, but not with people they've never met in person.

Be wary of identifiable information in your child's profile

Teach your child to use only a first name or nickname, but not a nickname that would attract inappropriate attention.   Be careful when your children reveal information that can identify them, such as a school mascot, a workplace, or the name of the town they live in.

Teach your children about cyberbullying

As soon as your children are old enough to use social web sites, talk to them about cyberbullying.  

Here are some websites which you may find helpful if you are talking to your child about internet safety or for you to find out more as a parent/carer.

Main Site (Greasby)

Our Lady of Pity RC Primary School,

Rigby Drive,

Greasby,

Wirral CH49 1RE

0151 677 6262
schooloffice@ourladyofpity.co.uk

Annexe Site (Hoylake)

Our Lady of Pity RC Primary School,

Birkenhead Road,

Hoylake,

Wirral CH47 5AF

0151 632 1908
schooloffice@ourladyofpity.co.uk