We have put together a list of suggested websites, apps and online resources that may be of use to schools and families during this difficult time.
List of most recent posts
We have had some concerns raised about inappropriate contact on the Tiktok social media platform. The app has been used as a vehicle to exploit young people to share images in exchange for a monetary reward. Please do share this leaflet from the National Online Safety Centre with parents.
Childnet have just launched a new resource aimed at 9-12 year olds. The toolkit is called “Just a Joke?” and explores problematic online sexual behaviour.
Here is a link to the full toolkit. https://www.childnet.com/resources/just-a-joke
The objectives of the toolkit are:
- To support educators in delivering high quality PSHE/PSE and relationships education lessons.
- To give children a safe space to discuss, explore and challenge peer to peer online sexual harassment e.g. bullying or harmful behaviour online based on gender or sexual orientation stereotypes, body-shaming, nudity and sexually explicit content.
- To discuss with children how they can be good friends online.
- To raise awareness of this issue to prevent it from becoming normalised.
- To give children the confidence to report unacceptable online behaviour.
It approaches problematic online sexual behaviour, with a focus on online sexual harassment e.g. bullying or harmful behaviour online based on gender or sexual orientation stereotypes, body-shaming, nudity and sexually explicit content.
In resources that are used or seen by children, the term ‘cyberbullying’ and refer to the specific type – cyberbullying that uses gender stereotypes, body shaming or nude images is used. This is because we know the words ‘sexual’ and ‘harassment’ may not be understood, used or appropriate for 9-12 year olds.
The toolkit contains a range of resources to help educators explore problematic online sexual behaviour, including:
- Three lesson plans
- Quick activities
- An interactive quiz
- Teaching Guide
This toolkit for 9-12 year olds follows on from the creation of the ‘Step Up, Speak Up!’ toolkit for 13-17 year olds. Feedback on these resources showed the need and desire for a toolkit to address this topic with a younger age group; this is where the beginnings of online sexual harassment were being noticed, and a need to challenge it early was identified.
Find more information about the project and its beginnings here.
Congratulations to everyone taking part in our Safer Internet Quiz. We had loads of fun doing it, and from your comments and smiles, you did too! We were really impressed with your super powers of deduction – you managed to spot the fake news stories and the fake photos. As you can see from this photo, we faked our backgrounds as well, but it does look cool!
So, get on with it I hear you cry! Who won! Well it was really close. Three teams all tied on 26 points, Fellgate Y4, Mortimer Monkeys and Spectacular Six from SS Peter & Paul Primary. We had to go to the tie breaker. The tie break question was: according to PC Mag, how many millions of people use fortnight every month? The answer 131 million. The closest of the three teams to that figure was ……. Mortimer Monkeys!!!!! So huge congratulations to them and their teachers.
Thank you all for taking part, we look forward to running another quiz very soon. Have a great half term.
After our first day of quizzing, these are the scores on the doors. Well done Simonside Sparklers and Blyton Blues – you know your e safety stuff!
Today’s the day!
Children around the area will be taking part in an online quiz organised by ICT in Schools, South Tyneside. They will be pitting their wits against other schools in South Tyneside to see who knows more about keeping safe online. This year the theme for the day is about reliability, can we trust everything we see in the online world?. Their skills will be tested to see if they can spot fake news stories and photographs.
If you would like to know more about Safer Internet Day, go to their website <a href=”https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2021″>https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2021</a> And for more information about keeping your family safe online, check out these <a href=”https://ictinschools.org/e-safety/e-safety-for-parents-and-carers/”>videos made by the ICT in Schools team.</a>
Here is some advice from leading e safety experts on how to support your family.
GDE Error: Error retrieving file - if necessary turn off error checking (403:Forbidden)
GDE Error: Error retrieving file - if necessary turn off error checking (403:Forbidden)
GDE Error: Error retrieving file - if necessary turn off error checking (403:Forbidden)
Well, it’s not a very friendly app at all. This app is 15+ and is aimed at tweens. But, many younger children are using it. It has virtually no moderation, and allows for anonymous posting. Please make your parents aware as it seems to be used in the region.
Common Sense Media say, Parents need to know that Frog – What’s Up Friend is a free social media app aimed at young teens. There are some protections in place, but much of it relies on user awareness and precaution. Users are required to submit a video that includes their face to be “verified,” but verification isn’t required to view videos, friend other users, or send messages. User-generated content — that is supposed to be moderated — includes the use of words like “sh*t”, “f*ck,” and beastiality, and there seems to be no moderation whatsoever of privately sent videos between “friends.” The terms of service require kids to be at least 13 years old to participate, but there are no restrictions in place to ensure this is enforced. In fact, user reviews report concerns about predatory behavior from older users. Since ages are visible in profiles, it’s easy to target the youngest users. There’s a toggle to make a user only visible to friends, but it’s not readily available during account creation. There’s also no tour or overview so kids may not know how the app works until they have posted content. Kids can also connect to and use features of Snapchat within the app. It’s also possible to purchase in-app currency without asking for parental permission. Read the developer’s privacy policy for details on how your (or your kids’) information is collected, used, and shared and any choices you may have in the matter, and note that privacy policies and terms of service frequently change.
Safer Internet Day is on 9th February 2021 and will be celebrated in the UK with the theme: An internet we trust: exploring reliability in the online world
Safer Internet Day 2021 celebrates the amazing range of information and opportunities online, and its potential to inform, connect and inspire us, whilst also looking at how young people can separate fact from fiction.
The campaign focuses on how we can decide what to trust online, supporting young people to question, challenge and change the online world for the better. It will explore how influence, persuasion and manipulation can impact young people’s decisions, opinions and what they share online.
The day will also look at the emotional impact navigating a misleading online world can have on young people and why it is important to create a supportive, critical and questioning culture online that encourages debate and discussion. We want to give young people the skills to support one another, and the strategies to spot and speak out against harmful and misleading content online.
https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2021
Internet Matters have also made a challenging quiz for families, school groups or individuals. Check it out here : Find the Fake Quiz!
You might want to put it on your school website or send home as a remote learning activity!
Strengthening privacy and safety for youth on TikTok
At TikTok, we know that creativity and expression are personal. And so is privacy. That’s why we empower our community with a range of controls to manage their online presence. As young people start their digital journey, we believe it’s important to provide them with age-appropriate privacy settings and controls. Today we’re announcing changes for users under age 18 aimed at driving higher default standards for user privacy and safety.
Enhanced default privacy settings
Starting today, we’re changing the default TikTok privacy setting for all registered accounts under the age of 16 to private. With a private TikTok account, only someone who the user approves as a follower can view their videos. We want our younger users to be able to make informed choices about what and with whom they choose to share, which includes whether they want to open their account to public views. By engaging them early in their privacy journey, we can enable them to make more deliberate decisions about their online privacy.
For the full story and details on the privacy settings click the link below:
https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-gb/strengthening-privacy-and-safety-for-youth-on-tiktok
