Parents and Carers: Information to help you fulfil your Key Online Safeguarding Role 

At New Horizons Seaside Primary, we understand that all the work we do at school in teaching our pupils to be safe online and to use IT responsibly will only be truly effective if you, our Parents and Carers, closely monitor your child’s online activity at home and in particular, your child’s use of their mobile phone.

This is why we sent out our Parental / Carer Agreement to you all (see below) and urged you, our Parents and Carers, to take the time to read the statements in the agreement and sign to say you have understood these by selecting the ‘Yes’ option and submitting the form. To date, 460 of you have done so, which is a great start, but we still hope to see all our Parents / Carers agree that they have read and understood how to keep their children safe online.

An outline follows of what we do at Seaside to teach our children to be safe online - but it really is worth repeating the key message again - everything we teach the children in school will only work in practice if you, our Parents and Carers, fully play your part in ensuring your child's Online Safety at home.

Online Safeguarding means keeping children safe when they use electronic equipment and more specifically, when they enter the online world. Online Safeguarding includes internet technologies and electronic communication using mobile phones, games consoles and wireless technology. By educating our children at New Horizons Seaside Primary in how to be safe online, we aim to highlight the need for children to think practically about the benefits, risks and responsibilities of using information technology and morally about the way in which they communicate with others online. 

We have a consistent approach to teaching our children how to be safe online throughout their time at New Horizons Seaside Primary. Standalone sessions are delivered as part of our Computing Curriculum, as well as integrated, wherever appropriate, in Computing units. Online Safeguarding is also taught through our Personal Development sessions, Geography and History research lessons and focused assemblies throughout the year. Please look at our long term Computing and Online Safeguarding plans in the Curriculum section under our Statutory Information tab.

We operate an open-door policy for reporting issues relating to Online Safeguarding and very much welcome parents and carers to come into school to speak with the dedicated Online Safeguarding Officer Mr Murley, or a member of the Senior Leadership Team about any perceived problems. Please also see our Acceptable Use and Online Safeguarding Policy below.

For additional support and ideas please see the links below: