National Online Safety

We are proud to be working in partnership with National Online Safety as this will enable students, staff and families to access the most up to date resources every day.

Families will receive regular updates on information and training, with accredited training courses available. Many to everyone who has trialled this resource and for your positive feedback.

Just before Christmas, the Children’s Commissioner launched a guide for parents and carers on online sexual harassment and how they can support children to stay safe online. The guide, which is entitled “The Things I Wish My Parents Had Known”, draws together advice from 16 to 21 year olds on how parents should manage tricky conversations around sexual harassment and access to inappropriate content, including pornography. The Commissioner’s office began a programme of work focusing on peer-on-peer abuse following the testimonies published on the Everyone’s Invited website. This was picked up in Ofsted’s June 2021 review of sexual harassment in schools and colleges.

A surprising but overriding message from young people is that parents should start these challenging conversations early. They suggest broaching topics before a child is given a phone or a social media account, which is often around the age of 9 or 10. Whilst I appreciate that this is no longer possible for our older students, I share the Children’s Commissioner’s hopes that this guide will serve as a useful starting point to raise awareness and understanding of online harassment, and that it will complement key messages in our relationships and sex education curriculum.

Whilst online sexual harassment is not commonplace in our school community, we work on the premise that education serves to minimize the potential errors borne out of ignorance. I hope that you will find this guidance to be helpful. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at school should you have any concerns or issues regarding this or any other safeguarding matter. It is of the utmost importance that we are able to work together with families to address this vitally important area of our young peoples’ lives.