Online Safety

Online Dangers:  Keeping Up

Keeping up with the latest apps and crazes with social media and messaging applications can be very difficult. WGA is collaborating with both the Ineque Safety Group (who provide the Safer Schools app) and National Online Safety to ensure that parents and carers from our community have access to the latest information. The Safer Schools App can be downloaded from Google Play and the Apple Store for use on mobile devices. If you do not have the parent code to access the app, please contact digihelp@woodgreenacademy.co.uk

Ineque Safety Group have a catalogue of short soundbite podcasts (usually about 60 second long) that provide easy to follow updates regarding all issues to do with online safety. National Online Safety issue regular poster style information notices relating to current and ongoing online topics from social media to gaming trends that parents and carers need to be aware of.  Both of these resources can be accessed from this page.

Communicating Safely

Whether through a social network site such as Facebook, or the latest messaging application (Whatsapp, Snapchat etc.) it is incredibly easy to share with other people online. Unfortunately, there is always a minority who will want to use the information shared online to exploit or bully others in some way.

What can you do?

Nothing is more important than knowing what your child is doing online and how they use chat, instant messaging, blogs, forums & social networking sites. Professionals in this sector advise trying to set up some rules which you are all agreed on. Also, make sure that your child is happy with how to protect themselves when online and what they should do if they feel at risk.

Don’t panic if you’re not quite sure on how to approach a conversation about online safety. There is lots of help and support for parents, carers and children, from trusted providers. CEOP’s Think-U_Know website is full of useful tips and advice, including how to start a conversation with your child, as well as resources that you can read and watch with your child to support any online safety discussion at home. Follow the relevant links at https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ for more information.

We also recommend the NSPCCs resources for supporting parents and carers with online safety which can be found on this link.

I want to block these sites!

If you are convinced that there is no alternative, you can install filtering software but be careful, there are often ways around these and your child may feel they have to hide what they are doing from you.

GetNetWise has a list of programs and information on how you can protect your children AND your computer. Top Ten Reviews has a side by side comparison of filtering software.

Proxy Avoidance Sites

A huge problem for all filtering companies and one that has not been overcome is proxy avoidance sites.
These sites which can be set up very easily allow someone to bypass any filtering that is in place. The website ‘gets’ the banned site and displays it without actually sending you to the site itself. Unfortunately there are dozens of these sites appearing every week and all the filtering providers can only ban them when they are found; there isn’t a way to simply block them all up front.

There’s something nasty on…

If you have come across bullying or other inappropriate content on a site then you should report it to the site itself. Most popular social networking sites and messaging applications have ways a user can report. If it’s a bit more serious than that, you can report it to CEOP or the police if someone is in immediate danger. You can find out more about CEOP below.

Managing the information placed in a social network is essential: avoid unnecessary information being placed online. Choosing appropriate security settings is also very important. Make sure that only ‘real friends’ from the ‘real world’ can interact or see information from the users account.

What to do next

CEOP stands for Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. This site is a member of the Virtual Global Taskforce and affiliated with the Serious Organised Crime Agency. It is an excellent resource for young people and adults with lots of information on how to stay safe, in control and reporting abuse.

We highly recommend you visit this site by following the link below and spend some time reading through the Think U Know and Parents areas.

The Anti-bullying Network provides information for teachers, parents and young people on how to deal with online bullying. There is a comprehensive list of telephone numbers and contact details for various sites. Although this site is primarily for Scotland it is well worth a visit for anyone worldwide!

Please remember to talk to your child about your concerns and support them in staying safe and how to use the Internet wisely!

Social Media: Keeping Up

Keeping up with the latest apps and crazes with social media and messaging applications can be very difficult. However, help is at hand. O2 and the NSPCC have teamed up to create a website and app for parents and teachers to help us understand the latest and most popular social applications that young people use, complete with information about the privacy and safety levels of each one.

NSPCC Net-Aware

Managing Social Media Application Settings

Managing and updating the settings in social media applications is not always easy, especially when these applications change and develop. Below are links to useful articles that will help you and your child manage privacy and security settings in some popular social networking and messaging applications.