Online Safety

Stories about cyber bullying, online safety, or more specifically online danger, are hard to avoid.

The Internet and new communications technology, like all environments and media, can be used and abused. Thankfully the positive aspects far outweigh the negative - however you can take a few simple steps to help make your childs' online experience as safe as possible and protect them from cyber bullying

• Encourage them to tell you if they come across any sites that could cause offence or pose some kind of danger
• If you do catch them on a site that you think is unsuitable, don't assume that they made the choice to go there. It's not that hard for a determined webmaster to "disguise" a web-site to catch innocent visitors.
• If you feel unsure about the technology, why not try an IT or Internet evening course somewhere? Have a look at LearnDirect or the online BBC Webwise site.
• There are a number of useful guidelines available from our Downloads section.
• Look in the Help menu of your browser for Security - you can, to a certain extent, restrict what sites and downloads your children can access.

Rather than go into great detail here, there are a number of useful sites and resources that will give you more specific and detailed advice

• The DCSF have produced extensive guidelines on cyber bullying and Symantec have produced a very useful Family Online Safety Guide - both are available in our Downloads section.
• Try Childnet International and get your child follow the SMART rules.
• For advice on chat-room safety have a look at Chatdanger.
• thinkyouknow.co.uk has some straight talking advice on many aspects of online safety.
• The Internet Watch Foundation will accept reports of abusive web-sites, particularly child pornography. They also discuss the pros and cons of a number of content filtering packages.
• There is also the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) which contains advice and tips to help you, as well as letting you report online abuse.
• Try some of the organisations listed in our Useful Links.

You can also report incidents of abusive emails and inappropriate sites to your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Each ISP should have an Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP), outlining their responsibilities to customers, as well as terms and conditions for people holding accounts with them.

Kidscape has a page for children and young people outlining some of the points made above, together with a link for advice on reporting mobile phone or text\video messaging harassment.

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