Back to school online safety
Tips to help children settle back to school
As children head back to school, it’s important to give them the tools they need to make positive choices online. See our advice and guidance below for how you can help your child make the most of their school year.
Close video
What’s on this page?
- 5 top tips for back to school
- Back to school age guides
- What to expect from schools
- Supporting resources
5 top tips for online safety at school
Headteacher Mr Burton offers 5 tips to help parents make online safety collaborative as children head back to school.
Get familiar with online learning apps and platforms
Be familiar with the platforms schools use for online learning and how kids submit their work online, whether that’s homework or classwork.
There have been instances of some children telling their parents that they have to submit their homework via Fortnite but I can guarantee this will never be the case!
Discuss potential risks online
Have an open and honest conversation with your child about the normal risks of the online world. Over the school break, children’s ideas of what’s acceptable to send or say online versus face-to-face might have become slightly skewed.
Learn about the school’s online policy
Familiarise yourself with the school’s online safety and learning policies. Schools should have them on their websites for parents and carers to access. This will include information around the websites and apps they might use to support children’s learning across subjects.
Additionally, you can learn about their online safety curriculum.
Check-in on the back to school routine
Familiarise yourself with what your child’s school day looks like online and off. Do they have a time limit for submitting work? Are teachers sending examples through with a task for students to complete? Every school will be slightly different, so it’s best to know what it looks like for your child.
Work with the school to support children and young people
Work together with the school to best support your child. Only by working together can we keep children safe online, which is ultimately the most important thing.
Back to school guides by age
Whether your child is just starting primary, transitioning to secondary or settling into their GCSE year, there are online risks and challenges. Choose a guide below to help them start the school year safely.
Using digital at primary school
Support your primary-aged child as they head back to school. At primary school, children start using more technology, so it’s important to build good habits as they experience many digital firsts.
Online safety during transitional years
If your child is moving from primary to secondary school, it’s important to understand what new challenges they might face online – from managing passwords to communicating in new ways.
Media literacy and safety at secondary
As children age, parents are less likely to engage them in online safety. Unfortunately, this leaves them at greater risk for harm during an important moment in their digital life.
What can I expect from my child’s school?
From safeguarding to online safety policies, here’s what you can expect from your child’s school when it comes to their digital safety.
Safeguarding in schools
All schools across the UK have a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of their pupils. You can explore the official guidance that schools follow below:
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.
Online safety requirements for schools
Each country in the UK has their own curriculum guidance on online safety. Generally, the outcomes will be similar across nations. However, language and depth of the guidance will change.
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.
Other curriculum areas
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.