Online Safety

At Holy Trinity Catholic Academy we believe that E-safety is an integral part of children’s education in today’s digital world and is embedded in their learning at school. We also want to help our parents and children improve their own understanding of e-safety issues so they can learn to use the internet and all digital media in a safe and secure way.

To help with this we will be uploading a monthly E-safety newsletter with lots of useful information for parents/carers. Please click on the links below.  Please scroll down the page for further information too.

At Home

As a parent you will know how important the internet is to children – they use it to learn, play, socialise and express themselves.  It is a highly creative place of amazing opportunities.  But the technology children use every day can seem a bit daunting and you might worry about the risks your child can face online – such as bullying, contact from strangers or the possibility of them seeing illegal or inappropriate content. You can download a simple checklist below that may help you start to protect your children online and decrease the risks they face.

You can engage with your children regarding their use of the internet while at home. Here are some conversation starter ideas from https://www.childnet.com/

  • Ask your children to tell you about the sites they like to visit and what they enjoy doing online.
  • Ask them about how they stay safe online. What tips do they have for you, and where did they learn them? What is OK and not OK to share?
  • Ask them if they know where to go for help, where to find the safety advice, privacy settings and how to report or block on the services they use.
  • Encourage them to help. Perhaps they can show you how to do something better online or they might have a friend who would benefit from their help and support.
  • Think about how you use the internet as a family. What could you do to get more out of the internet together and further enjoy your lives online

Parent/Carer Resources

To try and help parents with the fast moving and changing world of internet and social media we have included various websites and documents which are fantastic resources, They contain information on different websites, apps and types of social media and how to help keep children safe.

Useful Websites

At School

As part of your child’s curriculum and the development of ICT and Computing skills, we provide access to the internet only in teacher supervised lessons. We strongly believe that the use of the internet is hugely worthwhile and an essential tool for children as they grow up in the modern world. However, because there are always concerns about children having access to undesirable materials, we have taken positive steps to deal with this risk in school.

Our school internet access provider operates a filtering system that restricts access to inappropriate materials.

At the start of the school year, each class discusses how we can all stay safe online and the dangers we may face on the internet. Each year group studies a detailed unit on E-safety throughout the autumn term. We then revisit this important theme throughout the year.

We share our Acceptable Use Agreement with the children so that we know they have read and understood our school’s rules on staying safe and this is on display in all of our classrooms and our ICT suite.

For further information you can download our school E-safety policy below.

E Safety Policy

If you have any further questions or require additional information or support, please do not hesitate to contact a member of staff in school where we will be happy to help or visit one of the websites linked above.