Filtering and Monitoring
Parents can be reassured that at St Peter's RC Primary School we employ the highest quality filtering and monitoring systems to mitigate the risks of our children's online safety. St Peter's RC Primary school’s main internet router (Fortigate) is provided and maintained by a school ISP. The ISP currently used is Network Connect. This device holds the configurations for our internet web filtering and handles the web traffic for our school. The web filtering is broken down into categories for example Drug Abuse, Gambling, Advertising and Games, which can be enabled/disabled depending on the school’s preference. By default categories that are disabled for a school environment would be categories such as Weapons, Explicit Violence, Alcohol.
Web traffic is monitored by Network Connect and weekly reporting is provided. Alerts are also received immediately by phone call directly to the Headteacher for all concerning activity.
St Peter's RC use Network Connect to run the ISP, we use the secure Connect package. Secure Connect is a cyber security management application hosted by Network Connect, which collects data from Fortigate Firewalls and protects users and networks connected to the internet. It provides school with the following:
Intelligent monitoring: gives real-time event logs with visibility into user activity that means we can identify malicious individuals and actions. It also provides School with content filtering technology which enables web traffic to be classified using customized categories.
Robust blocking: this provides us with the ability to block access to inappropriate, dangerous and malicious websites to maintain a safe and productive environment for children, staff and guests accessing the network.
Automated Alerts: Network connect immediately notifies account administrators as and when security breaches occur across the network. Alerts include severe breaches such as: accessing adult content or proxy avoidance sites, network intrusion attempts and suspected internal threats.
Detailed reporting: Reports are sent to school detailing usage across the network, which allows management to quickly analyze and document any inappropriate internet usage as well as identifying any network threats and inefficiencies.
All school devices used by pupils and staff are attached to the secure network this is done by the Edit team before devices are distributed for use.
Children will be asked to explore an increasingly wide range of websites and digital content and will be required to use search engines to develop their skills as a digital citizen - using these systems of filtering and monitoring we feel secure in exploring the online world, giving us opportunities to learn about online risks as we progress through school. Internet safety is a huge part of our school curriculum. We believe that this gives them the best preparation for digital citizenship of the future.
Please remember to apply appropriate settings to children's devices when they are using the internet at home or on mobile devices. Please refer to advice and guidance to ensure children's devices are appropriately managed.
Parent/ Carer presentation on Online Safety from Childnet International
https://prezi.com/view/Mse9le9VoB1PcJKSNTvC/
If you are worried about online sexual abuse or the way someone has been communication online?
https://www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre/
Please click the link below for parental control guides.
https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/gaming-consoles/
A child friendly version of google
The following information is taken from the ‘Think U Know’ website, which is an excellent resource to use with your child.
- Talk to your child about what they’re up to online. Be a part of their online life; involve the whole family and show an interest. Find out what sites they visit and what they love about them, if they know you understand they are more likely to come to you if they have any problems.
- Watch Thinkuknow films and cartoons with your child. The Thinkuknow site has films, games and advice for children from five all the way to 16.
- Encourage your child to go online and explore! There is a wealth of age-appropriate sites online for your children. Encourage them to use sites which are fun, educational and that will help them to develop online skills.
- Keep up-to-date with your child’s development online. Children grow up fast and they will be growing in confidence and learning new skills daily. It’s important that as your child learns more, so do you.
- Set boundaries in the online world just as you would in the real world. Think about what they might see, what they share, who they talk to and how long they spend online. It is important to discuss boundaries at a young age to develop the tools and skills children need to enjoy their time online.
- Keep all equipment that connects to the internet in a family space. For children of this age, it is important to keep internet use in family areas so you can see the sites your child is using and be there for them if they stumble across something they don’t want to see.
- Know what connects to the internet and how. Nowadays even the TV connects to the internet. Make sure you’re aware of which devices that your child uses connect to the internet, such as their phone or games console. Also, find out how they are accessing the internet – is it your connection, or a neighbour’s wifi? This will affect whether the safety setting you set are being applied.
- Use parental controls on devices that link to the internet, such as the TV, laptops, computers, games consoles and mobile phones. Parental controls are not just about locking and blocking, they are a tool to help you set appropriate boundaries as your child grows and develops. They are not the answer to your child’s online safety, but they are a good start and they are not as difficult to install as you might think. Service providers are working hard to make them simple, effective and user friendly.
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| Parents Safety Net- keeping children safe online during summer hoildays.pdf | Download |
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| What parents need to know about Social Media and Mental Health.pdf | Download |
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| Parent's guide to Call of duty.pdf | Download |
NSPCC ONLINE SAFETY WORKSHOP
Below you will find information discussed at the online safety workshop. If you have any worries about your child online, the NSPCC have a help line for adults.
Call on 0808 800 5000, email help@nspcc.org.uk or fill in the NSPCC online form.
Please also look at the website below for more advice.
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
Here are some of the slides taken from the workshop.
NETFLIX
There is a lot of inappropriate material available to children on Netflix. Please click the link below to access parental controls.
https://help.netflix.com/en/node/264?form=MY01SV&OCID=MY01SV
ONLINE SAFETY
The use of technology is widespread throughout daily life. At St Peter's, we aim to educate pupils in the benefits of using technology, but also to understand its weaknesses and potential danger. To help educate both parents and children in this regard, we have provided resources and guidance that we think are useful. You can find links to these documents and websites below. We try our very best at St Peter's to educate the children around this topic but they would also benefit from a discussion with you at home about what they need to do to ensure they are safe at all times online. Thank you for your support!
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Think U Know - Activities for Children
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