Online Safety is an integral part of the children's education at St Stephen's. As they start the school, all children read, discuss and sign an acceptable use policy which ensures all children understand the importance of using the internet responsibly.
Through our Online Safety curriculum, we aim to provide children with the knowledge and skills they need to work, communicate and collaborate safely and effectively online. Our curriculum is broken up into 8 strands which run progressively through all year groups: internet safety, privacy and security, relationships and communication, cyberbullying, digital footprints, self image and identity, information literacy and finally creative credit & copyright.
As social networking sites (e.g. Facebook) become more and more popular we have included this in our curriculum for upper school. As a school we feel it is important to educate children about the potential risks associated with these sites and the importance of checking privacy settings.
Our Year Six pupils and parents/carers take part in a a survey each year which then enables us to update the Online Safety lessons each so that they remain relevant as new apps/platforms are released and other issues arise.