St. Gregory’s staff take many opportunities and varying stimuli throughout the year to teach and reaffirm rules for staying safe online. At St. Gregory’s, eSafety is not only taught in isolation -mainly during our designated Safer Internet week - but through both implicit learning experiences and topical/current affairs issues that surround our children’s daily lives. Our main aim is to ‘Empower, Enthuse and Engage’ children to use the internet safely. We tackle and discuss issues at an age-appropriate level, providing children with the necessary tools to protect themselves online and have a positive digital experience, not diverting from truth, in accordance with the Education Act (2002), recommendations by the DfE (2017), OfSTED (2015) and the Commissioner for Schools (2017). Teachers use their knowledge of cohorts and individual pupils’ to exceed the minimum requirements for safer internet education, stretching the necessity of safe internet usage beyond the school gates and into the home and wider community. eSafety leaders use knowledge of cohorts and individuals to support teachers in identifying those pupils most ‘at risk’, targeting specific children, and working with families, where appropriate. Support is available for those who require it, and training for all members of our school community is regular and up-to-date.
Opportunities taken by St. Gregory’s staff to implicitly teach eSafety:
Paying attention to and discussing current affairs
Children have and use their own individual usernames and passwords for all computer access
Assemblies, presentations and workshops
School policy created by both adults and children (namely the School and Digital Council)
Consistently model safe and acceptable use of electronic devices
Daily use of tablets, iPads & Computers
Within all Computing and, where appropriate, core and cross-curricular lessons