Thank you so much to all the parents and carers that came to the e-safety coffee morning, it was a great turnout. There were many interesting conversations about what we can do at school and at home to help foster a more supportive digital environment for children and young people to grow up in.
Here are the key points from the morning:
- A draft mobile phone policy was discussed. It was agreed that it would be a good idea to stop allowing students to bring mobile phones to school unless they had written permission and were allowed to walk to and from school on their own.
- Parents and carers thought it made sense to keep all mobile phones in the office and then hand them to the children just before they left the site. This would reduce the chances of incidents in the playground.
- It was suggested that the policy should include guidelines as to what safe and correct mobile phone usage looked like. Parents and carers wanted to also acknowledge the many benefits mobile phones and the internet can bring to safety and education.
- Parents and carers were keen to work alongside the school in educating the students about online safety. They would like to be invited to future e-safety assemblies and have more information on what e-safety lessons were being taught at school so they could reinforce the messages at home.
- A key talking point was how important it is to be informed about what children are doing online. This can be done by parents and carers concentrating efforts on keeping the lines of communication open, so children will come to them if a problem arises. Make sure children know it's OK to make mistakes and that they don't need to hide these.
If you want any more information please take a look at our Internet Safety page and if you would like specific help with a problem please don't hesitate to contact the office and ask to speak to Mr Orr.