Current Online Safety Advice
Introducing our 2025 Digital Leaders:
Welcome aboard Brock, Caleb, Harrison, Oliver, Jonathan, Leo T!
They are eager to get involved in all things digital over the next year. Watch this space for updates!
Supporting children when browsing or watchline content
Children love streaming videos and browsing the web—it’s a fun way to learn and relax. But it’s important to guide them to safe, age-appropriate content.
This guide will help you support children to agree to digital boundaries, make smart choices, and building healthy online habits.
#WakeUpWednesday - Safety on the Road
Staying safe on our roads isn’t just a skill — it’s a lifelong habit. It is crucial to learn key strategies for helping children navigate streets safely and confidently, from practising journeys together to teaching them how to choose the safest crossing points.
The National College have collaborated with THINK! to offer real-world advice on issues like the dangers of parked vehicles, reversing cars and mobile phone distractions — it’s an invaluable tool for parents and educators who want to help young people travel independently without compromising their safety.
#WakeUpWednesday - Advice on Making Friends Online
As technology becomes increasingly embedded in young people’s lives, it’s common for them to form friendships entirely online. These connections can provide companionship and community — but they also bring potential dangers that parents and educators need to be aware of.
From online grooming and privacy breaches to exposure to upsetting content, meeting people on the internet isn’t without risk. This guide explains the possible hazards of online friendships and gives parents and carers essential advice on helping children build safe, positive relationships online.
#WakeUpWednesday - Advice on Instagram
Instagram remains a go-to app for young people, with its endless stream of photos, videos, and ‘Stories’ keeping young users constantly connected. From influencer content to live broadcasts, the platform is packed with evolving features that can feel fun and engaging – but can also raise some serious concerns around screen time, online pressures and exposure to inappropriate content.
This week's guide offers parents and educators up-to-date knowledge on the risks and safety tips for this latest version of Instagram.
#WakeUpWednesday - Advice on bluesky
Bluesky is a microblogging social media platform that gained popularity after separating from Twitter in 2021. Since accounts must be public, this opens the door to potential trolling, cyberbullying and the spread of misinformation.
This guide offers parents and educators advice and guidance on the tools available to keep children safe while using the popular social media platform Bluesky.
#WakeUpWednesday - Advice on streamers
Livestreaming is now a major part of children’s entertainment, evolving from gamers sharing screens into a booming industry with diverse personalities. While watching streamers can be entertaining, it comes with no small number of risks for children, such as misinformation, negative influences, and inappropriate content. With over 2.5 million viewers on Twitch – the current most popular streaming platform – at any one time, this guide highlights the potential dangers associated with watching livestreams and the importance of staying informed.
This guide provides parents and educators everything they need to know about streamers and how to keep children protected.
#WakeUpWednesday - Updated advice on the online game, Roblox
Whilst they can be a great way for friends to socialise, online games like Roblox that allow multiplayer gameplay with strangers are always fraught with a variety of dangers that can expose children to inappropriate or harmful content. Roblox enables people to play anonymously, which can often be something that attracts people to misuse the game and potentially put young people at risk of harm.
In addition to interacting with random strangers across the world, other factors such as in-game purchases and potential scams can also pose a financial risk. It’s important that parents and educators remain aware of the risks associated with this popular title and how it can be used safely. This guide offers parents and educators expert advice on what can be done to ensure that young people have a safe and enjoyable experience with Roblox.
#WakeUpWednesday - Using Technology to Boost Reading
It’s World Book Day this week, a perfect time to celebrate the joy of reading and explore how technology can support literacy. The way we engage with text has changed dramatically over the years. Whether reading captions on social media, instructions in a video game or an e-book on a digital device, technology plays a major role in modern literacy.
To help struggling readers, many digital platforms offer tools that enhance readability by making text more accessible and engaging. This week's guide offers parents and educators ten top tips on how they can help young readers engage in text and foster a love for reading.
#WakeUpWednesday -Updated advice about Health and Fitness Apps.
Over time, more and more fitness apps have been finding their way into circulation. Usually free to download – at least initially – these apps claim to offer helpful advice and assistance in routine management to those looking to lead a healthier lifestyle.
While these platforms can be useful, they do present several safety concerns. These issues become more significant when we consider that children and young people can use these apps to stay active – whether out of concern for their own health or for reasons of body image. This guide breaks down the risks of health and fitness apps and offers expert advice on how to address these concerns to safeguard younger users.
#WakeUpWednesday -Updated advice about TikTok
With a platform as popular as TikTok, it can be intimidating trying to figure out how best to safeguard children and young people using the app. Please read through the updated advice on TikTok, detailing the main online safety concerns and suggesting strategies to reduce these risks for the app’s younger users.
#WakeUpWednesday - Mental Health and Wellbeing apps.
According to findings from the NHS, 1 in 5 children in England suffer from a probable mental health issue, with 420,000 treated for such problems every month. With such high numbers of young people in need of mental health support, it’s perhaps unsurprising that plenty of them have turned to using apps intended to help them through these kinds of challenges. This week’s guide provides expert advice on how to do exactly that, while also breaking down the specific safety concerns of mental health and wellbeing apps.
#WakeUpWednesday - Updated advice on SnapChat
As one of the most popular messaging apps available, Snapchat sees an enormous amount of usage across the globe – with a significant number of those utilising the platform being under 18. For that reason, it’s important to understand the potential risks to younger users when spending time on this app.
Of course, it can be difficult to identify every hazard associated with the platform, let alone what can be done to mitigate these concerns. This guide lays out the key online safety risks of Snapchat, as well as how to safeguard young people while they use the app.
Previous #WakeupWednesday advice
| Name | |
|---|---|
| Check in with your friends.pdf | Download |
| Fortnite advice.pdf | Download |
| Horror games.pdf | Download |
| Kindness online.pdf | Download |
| Live Streaming.pdf | Download |
| looking-after-your-wellbeing-online.pdf | Download |
| manage-device-stress-and-anxiety.pdf | Download |
| Netflix safety.pdf | Download |
| Omegle.pdf | Download |
| open-discussions-about-digital-lives.pdf | Download |
Safer Internet Day 2023
The children will be taking part in activities starting Tuesday 7th February. The theme for this year is 'Want to Talk About it?'
This year we are hoping to answer the following questions:
- What issues really matter to children and young people?
- What changes do they want to see?
- How can we all work together to advocate for them moving forward
Advice and more information about how parents and carers can get involved can be found by clicking the link below:
https://saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/safer-internet-day-2023/parents-and-carers
Bacup Holy Trinity have recently been awarded a certified status in online safety from nationalonlinesafety.com
As a school we are committed in ensuring the children are kept safe and educated about the responsibilities and challenges when accessing online services.
| Name | |
|---|---|
| bacup-holy-trinity-stacksteads-c-of-e-primary-school-certified-school-certificate-2022.pdf | Download |
Parents and Carers
As part of our commitment, we have enrolled the school in the National Online Safety Program. This allows us to deliver personalised guidance on any online safety matter. Please read the letter below and register with us on the online safety hub.
The link for joining the school's hub is:
https://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/bacup-holy-trinity-stacksteads-c-of-e-primary-school
To download the app, please either scan the QR code on the leaflet below or click on the following links:
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/national-online-safety/id1530342372
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.nationaleducationgroup.nos
| Name | |
|---|---|
| National Online Safety - Parents & Carers Communication Holy Trinity.pdf | Download |
What we are doing to stay safe online...
Summer 1
Year 1
We have shown some interest in TikTok outside of school so we are discussing what is suitable for our age and looking at sharing kindness online.
Year 1/2
Like year 1, we are sharing kindness online and looking at top tips for staying safe.
Year 2
Following on from year 1/2, we are looking at more online safety tips
Year 3
Our Computing topic is all about using search engines. Our online safety will look into how to search safely.
Year 4
We are looking at how we can be kind online.
Year 5
Our computing unit is all about websites. We are looking at some of the social media platforms we access and how to stay safe using them.
Year 6
We are creating a digital yearbook. We are investigating copyright and how to use images we find online.