It's important to remember that the legal age to have an account on most social media - Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Snapchat - is 13 years old.

E Safety

E-safety is an integral part of children’s education in today’s digital world and is embedded in their learning at school. We also want to help our parents and children improve their own understanding of e-safety issues so they can learn to use the internet and all digital media in a safe and secure way.

 At Home

As a parent, you'll know how important the internet is to children - they use it to learn, play, socialise and express themselves.  It's a highly creative place of amazing opportunities.  But the technology children use every day can seem a bit daunting and you might worry about the risks your child can face online - such as bullying, contact from strangers or the possibility of them seeing illegal or inappropriate content. 

You can engage with your children regarding their use of the internet while at home.  Here are some conversation starter ideas from www.childnet.com

• Ask your children to tell you about the sites they like to visit and what they enjoy doing online.
• Ask them about how they stay safe online. What tips do they have for you, and where did they learn them? What is okay and not okay to share?
• Ask them if they know where to go for help, where to find the safety advice, privacy settings and how to report or block on the services they use.
• Encourage them to help. Perhaps they can show you how to do something better online or they might have a friend who would benefit from their help and support.
• Think about how you use the internet as a family. What could you do to get more out of the internet together and further enjoy your lives online

At School

As part of your child’s curriculum and the development of computer skills, we provide access to the internet only in teacher supervised lessons. We strongly believe that the use of the web and email is hugely worthwhile and an essential tool for children as they grow up in the modern world. But because there are always concerns about children having access to undesirable materials, we have taken positive steps to deal with this risk in school. Our school internet access provider operates a filtering system that restricts access to inappropriate materials. 

At the start of the school year, each class discusses how we can all stay safe online and the dangers we may face on the internet.  We then ask every child in KS2 to sign an Acceptable Use Agreement so that we know they have read and understood our school's rules on staying safe.  

Remote Learning

As every child starts at Aston Rowant Primary School, we provide them with a Microsoft 365 Teams account.  This means that they are able to access a range of resources from Microsoft including Word, Excel and Powerpoint to help with their learning throughout their time here.  In addition, we use this platform for home (and remote if necessary) learning.

To activate this, follow these simple steps

1. Google Microsoft 365 login
2. Login with their user name 
3. And their password 
4. Once in they will see a list of icons.Go to the Teams icon 
5. They will then see class Teams page

Using Teams allows pupils access to Microsoft Outlook (emails). To increase our children's safety while they are online, we have blocked students from sending and receiving emails. Therefore students cannot use this account to receive confirmation codes to sign up for other websites. However, as a parent, you should be aware that students have the ability to email other school email addresses. This however is not allowed and children need to be aware that new email address we have set up for your child is solely intended for them to use only to remotely access their new class Team account.

The school has access to all students' accounts and can block students' access to Microsoft and Teams if they do not act appropriately.  With that in mind, please could you talk to you child about the importance of not using their new email address for any other use apart from logging onto Teams. In addition, it is vital that they do not share their username or password with others. This way we can ensure that we are doing our utmost to keep our children safe online. Please note, as a school we will not be able to tell if your child has used their email to access anything other than Teams, so it will be parents' responsibility to ensure that this does not happen.

For more information you can download our E safety policy  and if you have any questions, please let the School Office know.

Internet Safety Resources

There is a great new online safety tool designed for parents launched by the Department for Education called Parent Info.  It's has advice on everything from keeping children safe from online trolls to WhatsApp - a guide for parents.

Childnet is a great website resource for parents and children on online safety.  

Think U Know has a great section for parents and covers topics such as gaming and talking to strangers.  You can also search by topic or age range to find information that is relevant for your family. 

Internet Matters is another great site to use - it has advice on cyberbullying, how to talk to  your children about internet safety and quick guides to different types of social media such as Instagram and Snapchat. 

You can download the DofE advice for parents on cyberbullying or access the DofE online parents support website called Parent Info

Here are a range of Internet safety sites that you may find useful too...

NSPCC NetAware

Safer Internet

Childnet

Internet Matters

CEOP Police