E-safety
St Mary's E-Safety Mascot
As a school we would like to say a huge well done to all of our E-cadets who entered our E-safety mascot design competition. There were some brilliant designs and you made it very hard for the staff at St Mary’s to choose. We would like to congratulate Nala-Mae on her winning entry for our E-safety mascot. This design will be used across the school on some posters to remind all the children to stay safe online. 
Welcome from the St Mary’s E-Cadets.
We are children from Year 2 to Year 6 who are passionate about the safety of our peers online. We are very enthusiastic and we can’t wait to see how we can keep everyone safer online. Our first project has been to create an E-safety mascot for the school. We have all designed a mascot and the staff are voting on which one they think would best represent the school. Once the winner has been chosen we will be designing some posters to go around the school to teach children ‘How to stay safe online.’
Front row: Felix, Nala-Mae, Sophie, Levi, Noah B
Second row: Flyn, Matilda I, Leo, Alfie C, Ben L, Oliver M
Third row: Tijanna-Lily, Ava B, Theo B, Daniel R, Freja, Ariennetta, Olivia R
Absent: Zachary
How we at St Mary's Celebrate Safer Internet Day
As a school we are aware that children are becoming more and more confident in using devices and accessing the internet more independently. To celebrate Safer Internet Day our E-Cadets conducted a questionnaire across the whole school to find out how the children of St Mary’s use the internet and how safe they are staying online. On Tuesday 8th March the whole school focused on online gaming, looking at what games we all play and how we can staff safe whilst playing these games.
A special mention must go to Class 6 who watched two of the videos about Safer Internet usage and had a really good discussion about some of their experiences online. They linked this to their PSHE learning last week about Being Kind Online. They referred back to the E-Cadet questionnaire about talking to people online who they have never met in person and they reiterated to each other the importance of talking to a trusted adult about what they are experiencing online. They also talked about having the confidence to say no or to tell someone when they do not feel comfortable about something. It was a mature and sensible conversation that they all engaged with. Well done Class 6!
‘Ditto’ e-safety online magazine
https://www.esafety-adviser.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/DITTO-Ed-23- January-2021_compressed.pdf
Safer Internet Day 2022
From gaming and chat, to streaming and video, young people are shaping the interactive entertainment spaces they are a part of. Safer Internet Day 2022 celebrates young people’s role in creating a safer internet, whether that is whilst gaming and creating content, or interacting with their friends and peers.
Safer Internet Day is celebrated globally in February each year to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for children and young people, and to inspire a national conversation about using technology responsibly, respectfully, critically, and creatively. Safer Internet Day 2022 is on 8th February and will be celebrated with the theme ‘All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online’. Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, Safer Internet Day is celebrated in over a hundred countries coordinated by the joint Insafe/INHOPE network, with the support of the European Commission, and national Safer Internet Centres across Europe.
There are lots of activities we will be looking at in school and if you follow the link below you can also have a look at these if you wish to.
Talking to your children about staying safe online.
It may feel daunting to talk about staying safe online – especially when your children are using the internet differently to you. We have advice and support to help:
Free online safety resources - https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/.
You will find advice on setting up parental controls, to advice on sexting, online games and video apps, we can help you to understand the risks and keep your child safe.
Start a conversation about online safety – We can lead you to advice and support about how to start talking to your child about online safety and how to make sure they know they can turn to you about anything that worries them.
Here are some useful links about Esafety:-
https://saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/safer-internet-day-2022
Digital Wellbeing - Childnet Guidance for Parents
Growing up in the Digital World can be both positive and negative for our children. Technology allows them to connect, share and learn in all sorts of ways. But, as recent research has shown, being online can put pressure on children or expose them to upsetting experiences.
As adults, it can be difficult to know how to support our children to become healthy, confident users of technology, so Childnet has produced guidance to support parents in this.
It is organised into different age groups from 3-18 year-olds and provides support for parents with children of all ages:
Making Time to Talk
