E-Safety at MPL and beyond…..

1. E-Safety at MPL and beyond…..

2. What are the risks our children face? Understanding the potential risks and encouraging safe and responsible use of the internet are crucial steps towards developing a risk management approach to keeping children and young people safe online. • Cyber-bullying: by email, in chat rooms, playing online games or via mobile phones • Grooming and abuse by online predators: in chat rooms, online gaming or via email • Identity theft: via email, from a virus on your computer or mobile device • Exposure to inappropriate content including self-harm, racist hate and adult pornography: having adequate parental locks will stop most but not all

3. What can parents do? Installsoftware like Malware Bytes to clear spyware Be carefulwhich sites you visit. Usea family email address for creating children’s online accounts Neverreply to Spam! Talk to your child about what to do if they do come across somethingunpleasant and teach them to be critical Usechild-friendly search engines like yahoo kids or AOL kids or set a search filter (links on the school website)  Use browser tools - Favorites, Bookmarking & History Install filtering but don’t rely on it

4. What about Mobile phones? • Know how your child’s phone works (e.g. Bluetooth, Internet access)  Agree the type of content that you would be unhappy for them to download, knowingly receive or send on to others • Save any abusive messages/inappropriate images for evidence purposes • Decide together what are acceptable bills • Encourage balanced use – consider switching off at mealtimes, asking to call back, etc.

5. CyberbullyingAdvice for children, their parents and carers A

6. Websites to visit with your child to reinforce what we are all teaching them – add them to a favourites folder especially for them on your computer.

7. Things you can do ……. • Make sure your child asks you before they go online • Limit approved websites and time spent online • Set high security settings for browsers, membership and social networking sites (In the case of Facebook they are not legally allowed an account until they are 13) • Install and maintain internet security software and parental controls • Monitor your child’s computer/mobile phone use and sit with them when they are online wherever possible • Talk about protecting private information (name, phone number etc) and never sharing passwords with friends • Make sure you know the children’s usernames and passwords to all accounts they have, and that those accounts are set up by you (with a family email account) so you will set privacy settings and know how they work Have a look at the school website, E-Safety page (link from the home page) and the learning platform for links to everything we mention

8. Google family online safety centre Get Safe online There are links to these on the school website and learning platform

9. The Entertainment and software ratings board has a really useful website with instructions on how to set up parental controls on games consoles There are links to these on the school website and learning platform

10. Recommendations…… • Frequently check your computers internet history to see the sites your children have visited and monitor their email and instant messaging accounts to see who they communicate with. Let your child know you are doing this to ensure that trust is not broken. • Set rules about online communication, illegal downloading and cyber-bullying • They should know never to click a link in an email or IM, this is a common way people get viruses or reveal private and valuable information to criminals • Discuss risks and concerns about posting and sharing private information, videos and photographs • Keep computers in a common area in the house • Encourage your child to tell you if they feel uncomfortable with anything they see , hear or read online • Remember……. • Your child may access the internet at a friends house • Encourage your child to use the internet responsibly • Link to the MPL website – E-Safety page