At Oaklands, we endeavour to prepare children for real life. As part of their journey through childhood, they will use the computer, ipads, phones or tablets in many ways, both on their own and with others. We know that using the computer and social media can be a valuable resource for children and families. For children with communication difficulties, it can present particular opportunities to have a means to communicate, for example, with the use of talking Apps, or access to the wider community. The increase in online activities as children grow up also presents children and young people with varied risks. We want our children to use technology responsibly and feel safe online; to build awareness of the right online habits from the start.  

Our anti-bullying policy also includes references to social media, as online safety is something we take extremely seriously at Oaklands. 

We believe that we have an important role to play in teaching children how to engage with the online world by using technology safely at school and at home; that it is our shared responsibility to ensure our children are able to use technology for communicating, learning, to be creative, and safe, both now and in the future.

All staff are aware of the dangers that being online can present to children. 

The breadth of issues classified within online safety is considerable, but can be categorised into four areas of risk:

• content: being exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful material; for example pornography, fake news, racist or radical and extremist views;

• contact: being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users; for example commercial advertising as well as adults posing as children or young adults; and

• conduct: personal online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm; for example making, sending and receiving explicit images, or online bullying.

• commerce - risks such as online gambling, inappropriate advertising, phishing and or financial scams. 

Filtering & Monitoring at Oaklands

All schools have a responsibility to ensure appropriate filters and appropriate monitoring systems are in place and regularly review their effectiveness. Schools should be doing all that they reasonably can to limit children’s exposure to risks from the school’s IT system. At Oaklands, we are also careful that “over blocking” does not lead to unreasonable restrictions as to what children can be taught with regards to online teaching and safeguarding. Our IT system blocks harmful and inappropriate content without impacting on teaching and learning. All staff are vigilant about ensuring that pupils are effectively monitored when using any form of IT at Oaklands. Our filtering and monitoring procedures also ensure that children are safe from terrorist and extremist material when accessing the internet in school.

School Leaders review our filtering and monitoring systems at least annually, and update policies and procedures accordingly.

If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact school to discuss online safety. For further advice and guidance, also see our Safeguarding section of the website here.

If you have particular concerns about child exploitation online, there is a police reporting site known as CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection UK). It is easy to use, providing support from Child Protection advisors. For further information go to https://www.ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/

Safeguarding & Online safety concerns about any child can be reported to Leicester's safeguarding board on 0116 4541004. This is a 24 hour number.

Cyber Security at Oaklands

Schools are guardians of many kinds of data, personal financial and some special category data. Accessing this data can be lucrative for criminals. Sometimes criminals might attack a school's system with ransomware which prevents the school using the data until a ransom fee is paid.

At Oaklands, all staff have ongoing training about how to protect the data that we hold at our school. For further information, please see our Data Protection Policy and/or ask for a copy of our Online Safety (including Cyber Security) Policy

Meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges (Dfe, 2024) 

Support for Parents/Carers

The attachments are useful guides created by www.internetmatters.org, with information about what children may be doing on their devices, and online safety tips for parents.

See also Harmful Online Challenges and Online Hoaxes

Parentsafe.lgfl.net has all kinds of materials from a range of organisations to support parents/carers with online safety issues.