Children at Eastover use the Internet on a regular basis as part of their learning. In school, we have regular 'e-safety' activities to remind children of the importance of keeping themselves safe online. We are also working towards our 360 Degree Safe accreditation.

At home, many children are often given unsupervised access to the Internet. This, potentially, allows them to access all kinds of society (both good and bad) and bring them into their homes.

More and more parents are expressing concern about their children’s safety online. The links and resources below have lots of practical advice, but if you would like further help, please contact any member of the safeguarding team. We would be glad to offer a parent workshop if there was enough interest.

Useful tips, links & resources: 

• Explore e-safety sites - There are lots of links to useful e-safety sites for children. They are great fun to explore, so why not browse through them with your children?
• Internet Matters has help, resources and video clips to help you keep your children safe online. Link to Internet Matters homepage
• NSPCC has lots of useful information on talking to your child about online safety. This includes what to do if you are worried about your child’s safety online, for example, taking inappropriate pictures, sharing personal information and more. Link to NSPCC website article "talking to your child about online safety". 
• UK Safer Internet Centre has guides and resources for internet safety. Link to UK Safer Internet Centre "Advice about key social media platforms and apps"
• Childline has useful advice and information on online safety, including cyberbullying. Link to Childline Online Safety
• The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) has internet safety advice for those aged from 5 to 16 as well as parents and teachers. Link to CEOP advice for parents
• Childnet has help, advice and resources for parents and carers to offer their children support and guidance with a range of online safety guides. Link to Childnet parents guide 
• Family Lives provides targeted early intervention and crisis support to families. They also have advice on bullying, including cyberbullying. Link to Family Lives bullying advice
• Kidscape offers help, advice and training on bullying. Link to Kidscape parents & carers page
• LEGO Let's build and talk cyberbullying! Download the free ‘Build and Talk Cyberbullying’ activity pack to your smartphone, tablet or laptop. The only other thing you’ll need is your household’s box of mixed LEGO bricks and 15 quiet minutes with your child. Link to LEGO Small builds for big conversations: cyberbullying

Innocent Searching campaign

Innocent searches online can lead to not-so-innocent results, but parental controls can help keep your child safe. For help and guidance on parental controls see: Link to NSPCC website article "Parental controls - get advice on setting up parental controls to help keep your child safe online"

Share Aware

Help your child stay safe on social networks, apps and games. This includes a parent’s guide to talking to your child about what to share online, videos to support this, advice on what children use social networks for, age guidance and what to look out for: Link to NSPCC Keeping Children Safe Online

Online Games

Online games can be a great way for children and young people to keep busy and stay in touch with friends and family, but it’s important that they play safely. Link to NSPCC website article "Online games - understand the risks and get advice to help children play online games safely"

Minecraft:

Link to NSPCC blog "Is Minecraft safe for children?"

Link to Internet Matters "What is Minecraft? What parents need to know"

Roblox: 

Link to NSPCC "Is Roblox safe for my child?"

Link to Internet Matters "What is Roblox? Parents' guide to playing safely"

Fortnite:

Link to Internet Matters "What is Fortnite? Safety guide for parents"

Safer Internet Day 2025

Safer Internet Day is the UK’s biggest celebration of online safety. Each year it covers an online issue or theme that speaks about the things young people are seeing and experiencing online. Created in consultation with young people across the UK, this year Safer Internet Day will be focusing on the issue of scams online and for young people, how to protect themselves and others, as well as what support is available to them. 

Safer Internet Day 2025 took place on the 11^th February 2025, with celebrations and learning based around the theme 'Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online‘. Link to UK Safer Internet Centre: Safer Internet Day 2025