eSafety

Information and communications technology is ever present in the world today, we are in a digital age and technology is what children know. Children have access to computers and the internet in school and at home and technology plays a big role in both their learning and their lives. E Safety is therefore of paramount importance and presents health and safety issues that must be considered.

The key issues of eSafety are:

• Content: children should be protected from sexual, racist and violent content.
• Commercial: children should be made aware of internet scams, phishing and pharming.
• Contact: protection from strangers using interactive technology with instant messaging.
• Culture: the use of cyber bullying through phones, blogs and social networks.

It is important that schools, teachers, parents and carers take responsibility and work together in safeguarding children from potential risks.

You can learn about and test yourself on internet safety at this BBC website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/help/web/staysafe

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center (CEOP) have created an animated internet safety video to help young people understand how to keep safe online, how to treat each other well and to understand what personal information is.