Back to school online safety guides

While specifics and wording might change, general guidance explains that:

• All children deserve a safe environment in which they can learn, this includes offline and online.
• All school staff have a role to play in safeguarding children. If any staff member has a concern about a child they should act on it immediately.
• All schools should have a designated staff member in charge of safeguarding (called Designated Safeguard Lead in England, Designated Child Protection Lead in Scotland, Designated Safeguarding Person in Wales or Designated Safeguarding Officer in Northern Ireland). They are appointed from the senior leadership team and who will take lead responsibility of safeguarding and child protection (including online safety).
• This staff member will often be the best point of contact for parents who have concerns about their child’s online safety at school.

All schools must have regard to the statutory guidance- Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE). Amongst other things KCSIE says:

• An effective approach to online safety empowers a school to protect and educate the whole school community in their use of technology and establishes mechanisms to identify, intervene in and escalate any incident where appropriate.
• A whole school approach to online safety will include a clear policy on the use of mobile technology in the school. What that policy looks like is a matter for individual schools. If parents are unsure they should speak to the school.
• All schools should have an effective child protection policy. It should be easily accessible for parents as it should be published on the schools website or available by other means if necessary.
• All school staff should undergo safeguarding and child protection training (including online safety) at induction. The training should be regularly updated.
  • School should ensure appropriate filters and monitoring systems are in place to protect children from accessing harmful and inappropriate online material whilst on the schools IT systems.
  • UK Safer Internet Centre provides guidance as to what “appropriate” might look like.

Schools should teach children about safeguarding, including online safety.  This should be considered as part of providing a broad and balanced curriculum and many schools will utilise PSHE. The PSHE association provide guidance for schools on developing their PSHE curriculum.

Online safety is also covered at all key stages in the national curriculum for computing. It is compulsory in maintained schools and can be used as a benchmark by academies and free schools. Pupils are taught how to keep personal information private, how to use technology safely and respectfully, and where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies.

Finally, Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) is required teaching in schools. The curriculum covers relationships and behaviour in both online and offline spaces.

Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence outlines how staff can take care of pupils’ health and wellbeing across the curriculum. It states that:

• “Learning through health and wellbeing promotes confidence, independent thinking and positive attitudes and dispositions. Because of this, it is the responsibility of every teacher to contribute to learning and development in this area.”
• Children and young people should feel safe and happy as they learn. They should feel hear and respected across the curriculum, whether they’re in the classroom, on the playground or in the wider school community.

It covers relationships, physical wellbeing, social wellbeing and helping children take control of their mental health and wellbeing.

In the Technologies curriculum, teachers must also cover Digital Literacy, which includes:

• using digital products appropriately
• managing information responsibly
• cyber resilience and internet safety.

Wales provides online safety guidance to schools via their Keeping Learners Safe guidance. It states that:

• Improving children’s digital resilience is vital in education.
• Hwb from the Welsh Government is a suite of bilingual resources to help support children, parents, teachers and others in Education. It includes resources to teach online safety, cyber resilience and data protection.
• Schools can use 360 degree safe Cymru to assess their online safety policies and practises.
• There’s special guidance for livestreaming or online lessons.
• There are web filtering standards that schools should follow to keep kids safe.

The document also includes additional guidance for schools on nude/semi-nude image sharing and harmful online challenges or hoaxes. Additionally, the document signposts further resources and guidance for school governors.

Wales’ national curriculum also covers online safety through PSE and RSE outcomes, especially those related to relationships and wellbeing.

The Northern Ireland Education Authority signposts resources to support with online safety in schools or at home. It encourages the use of digital technology across subject areas to improve children’s understanding of tech for different purposes. The guidance also outlines the importance of giving children the opportunity to “understand how to keep safe and display acceptable online behaviour.”

Additionally, the CCEA of Northern Ireland provides guidance on eSafety, including enhancing digital literacy across curriculum areas. They include particular guidance on how to do this with ICT.