We are delighted to be able to welcome all of our wonderful pupils back on Monday 8th March. This may be a worrying time for our pupils, parents and staff but please be assured that we will be adhering to the DfE guidence and risk assessments in order to provide a safe education for all our pupils.

If you require more information on the reopening of our school please email the school office (info@peaktorfederation.co.uk) or Alexia Wyer (a.wyer@peaktorfederation.co.uk) and we will be happy to help.

Best wishes

Alexia Wyer

Executive Headteacher Peak Tor Federation

Online Safety during this period of home education.

All of our children will now be spending more time online then ever before. It is important that as educators, parents and children we are aware of online dangers and how to use the internet safely. Please see below for more information, links to advice, our online policy and acceptable home agreement.

The following guidance has been produced by Derbyshire County Council:

Online safety for primary aged children

Does your child know how to keep themselves safe online?

Talk to your child about the things they should know, depending on their age.

Under 5s

• know to ask an adult when wanting to use a computer and especially the internet
• be kind to friends and share
• be careful with technology and devices
• talk about how much time should be spent using computer, tablet or game devices

Age 5 to 7

• use a password and keep it private
• know what information they should keep private
• know to tell an adult when something unexpected or worrying takes place
• talk about why it is important to be kind and polite
• agree and follow basic online safety rules
• know that not everyone is who they say they are on the internet

Age 7 to 9

• choose a secure password and an appropriate screen name when online
• talk about the ways they can protect themselves online
• understand how to use reporting and safety buttons on websites or apps as well as reporting to an adult
• know that anything shared online can be seen by others
• make good choices about the websites and apps used, ensuring they are age appropriate
• talk about why spending too much time online is not a good idea

Age 9 to 11

• know that anything shared online can be seen and may upset others and understand the consequences of being unkind
• explain the consequences of sharing too much information online
• make good choices about the time spent online
• know how to protect themselves and their devices from harm on the Internet
• support friends to protect themselves and report concerns to a trusted adult
• talk about why downloading files and games from the Internet can be risky and lead to viruses and malware

Advice for parents:

1) Monitoring

The best way to ensure your children are using the internet correctly is to monitor their usage. This can be especially difficult if your child has internet connection and devices in their bedrooms. Best practice is to always have children that are using the internet in the same room as you. We do appreciate that this can be tricky, especially if you have children of different ages trying to work and are working from home yourselves. Younger children should always be supervised when using the internet. For older age children you may trust that them to use the internet when you are not there. In these instances you could consider:

2) Creating an online family agreement. An example template can be found here www.childnet.com/ufiles/Family-Agreement.pdf

 3) Set up or review your parental controls and internet filters

Parental controls are designed to help protect children from inappropriate content online. These controls can be used in a number of ways, e.g. to help ensure that your children access only age-appropriate content; to set usage times; and to monitor activity.  For more information on how to set parental controls visit www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers/hot-topics/parental-controls 

4) Educate yourself and your child about the dangers of the internet

You should educate yourself so that you are become comfortable enough with the internet to communicate the dangers and risks of being online with your children. Teach your children about potential dangers of the internet. Talk openly and honestly about what they are doing online, what your concerns are.

Some of the dangers include:

• cyberbullying from people your child knows or someone outside their friendship group
• befriending and messaging from people who aren't who they say they are and may pose a risk
• posting private information which could be used for fraud or to target your child for scams
• falling for scams which trick the user into revealing information or paying money
• fake news which can lead to confusion or additional worry
• accidentally downloading malware or viruses
• posting something which may cause upset or may affect children later in life

4) Complete a digital MOT

https://www.saferderbyshire.gov.uk/what-we-do/cyber-crime/reporting-cybercrime/digital-mot/digital-mot.aspx 

Advice for children:

 There are many online safety videos that you can watch to help you use the internet safely. You can find some excellent ones here: www.childnet.com/resources/video-lessons 

Fun online safety games:

Interland:  Interland is a wonderful, fun game that is part of Google's Be Internet Awesome Program, which has lots of great resources for parents and teachers to educate children about internet safety.

Access the game here: https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/en_us/interland/kind-kingdom 

Online Cyber Quiz:  http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/funStuff/quiz/academyQuiz.html 

The case of the Cyber Criminal:

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/games/off-site/ogol/_cyber-criminal.html

Band Runner

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/8_10/ 

Privacy Pirates

https://mediasmarts.ca/sites/default/files/games/privacy_pirates/flash/PrivacyPirates_English/main.html

Cyber Five

https://www.abcya.com/games/cyber_five_internet_safety

More online safety information for children and parents can be found here:

www.childnet.com  

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/ 

https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/6-10/

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/talking-child-online-safety/

If you would like any further information or to contact someone at school you can contact a.wyer@peaktorfederation.co.uk