Keeping Children Safe Online
Meridian Trust’s E-Safety Policy can be found here.
Being online is an integral part of children and young people’s lives. Social media, online games, websites and apps can be accessed through mobile phones, computers, laptops and tablets – all of which form a part of children and young people’s online world, enabling them to undertake research for school projects, talk to their friends and access information from around the world. Increasing provision of the Internet in and out of schools brings with it the need to ensure that learners are safe. Internet development is constantly evolving into ever more innovative areas with many websites enabling amazing creativity and interaction between peers.
Unfortunately though, there are times when Internet use can have a negative effect on children.
This section of our website is to ensure that parents are aware of the possible dangers and feel able to support their children to use the internet responsibly. Parents and carers play an essential role in the education of their children and in the monitoring / regulation of the children’s on-line behaviours and they may underestimate how often children and young people come across potentially harmful and inappropriate material on the internet and may be unsure about how to respond.
Technical Support
Many online platforms offer parental controls, allowing you to support your child’s online safety.
internetmatters.org provides a variety of guides on how to set up parental controls across all devices, social media, search engines, games consoles and more.
Further information on e-safety can also be obtained from the following websites:
Thinkuknow is an education programme from the National Crime Agency’s CEOP Command, providing education about sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. | |
Childnet is a UK-based charity who empower children, young people, and those who support them in their online lives, and its mission is to work with others to make the internet a great and safe place for children and young people. | |
SWGfL are a not for profit charity ensuring everyone can benefit from technology free from harm. They also host three support helplines that offer free advice, support and guidance to victims of online harm | |
Appointed by the European Commission as the Safer Internet Centre for the UK in January 2011 and is one of the 31 Safer Internet Centres of the Insafe network. The centre has three main functions: | |
Provides resources on practical advice on how to protect yourself, your computers and mobiles device and your business against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other problems encountered online. It contains guidance on many other related subjects too – including performing backups and how to avoid theft or loss of your computer, smartphone or tablet. Every conceivable topic is included on the site – including safe online shopping, gaming and dating … so you really can stay safe with everything you do online. |
To keep the internet safe, it is also important to report harmful content. Below are places to report:
Child Exploitation and Online Protection command. If you are worried about online sexual abuse or the way someone has been communicating online, make a report to one of CEOP’s Child Protection Advisors. | |
For over 25 years, they have been helping child victims of sexual abuse by hunting down and removing any online record of the abuse. Go to the Internet Watch Foundation to report Report online child sexual abuse images & videos. | |
Helping everyone to report harmful content online including online abuse, violent content, impersonation and much more. | |