Today we hosted a workshop for parents run by the NSPCC on “On Line Safety”. It was wonderful to see such a great turn out of parents who are concerned about keeping their children safe on line.
The main message was that parents should have regular conversations with their children about their on-line activity and that it is never too young to start having these chats. It is also important to emphasise to the pupils that what they do on line can have a very long footprint.
Information was shared about O2 stores which have gurus in store, and irrespective of whether you have an O2 account, they will give you technical advice for any device on how to keep your children safe. It is advisable to phone ahead and book an appointment. The website, net-aware.org.uk is a good site for checking whether apps are suitable for children of different ages. It provides a brief description of the content of apps. Parents were asked to consider setting time limits for their children for on-line activity, to be good role models for their children on line, to switch off Wi-Fi at bed times, to discuss what is appropriate to share on line, to find technical solutions to keep children safe and to check ratings on games.
All present agreed that the workshop had been very informative and worthwhile.
The online safety helpline run by the NSPCC and O2 is 08088005002.
