Online Safety

At Fishburn Primary School, we want children to enjoy the opportunities technology offers while learning to use it safely, responsibly and respectfully. Working together, school and families can help children build positive online habits and feel confident asking for help.

Online safety at school

Children learn about online safety through Computing, PSHE and Relationships Education, with messages revisited across school life. Teaching takes account of children’s ages, understanding and individual needs.

We help children learn how to protect personal information, recognise unsafe contact, treat others kindly and tell a trusted adult when something worries them.

Find out more about our teaching, filtering and monitoring arrangements on our Safeguarding Children Online page.

Helping your child stay safe at home

Talk regularly. Ask your child about the games, videos and apps they enjoy. Take an interest and let them show you how things work. Reassure them that they can tell you about anything worrying, even if they have made a mistake.

Check settings together. Use parental controls on your broadband, devices and individual apps. Review privacy settings, location sharing, messaging and spending controls. Remember that controls support supervision and conversation; they cannot remove every risk.

Choose suitable games and apps. Check age ratings and minimum-age requirements before downloading or creating accounts. Consider whether your child can chat with strangers, receive private messages or make purchases.

Protect personal information. Help your child understand why they should keep passwords, addresses, school details and their location private. Discuss photographs and ask permission before sharing images of other people.

Agree healthy routines. Set clear family expectations about when and where devices are used. Make time for sleep, physical activity, friendships and activities away from screens.

Think before trusting. Explain that people, images and information online may not be what they seem. Encourage children to check with an adult when something seems confusing, upsetting or too good to be true.

Find practical parental-control guides from Internet Matters.

If something goes wrong

If your child tells you about an upsetting online experience:

Stay calm, listen and thank them for telling you.
Reassure them that you will help.
Use the platform’s reporting and blocking tools where appropriate.
Contact school if the concern affects your child’s safety, wellbeing or relationships.

If the concern involves a sexual image of a child, do not copy, screenshot or forward the image. Seek advice promptly from the police or our safeguarding team.

Reporting a concern

Please contact the school office and ask to speak to:

Mr Richard Parkin — Designated Safeguarding Lead
Mrs Charlotte Sinclair — Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Telephone: 01740 620162
Email: fishburnadmin@edenacademytrust.co.uk

Please do not send harmful or sexual images to the school email address.

For concerns about online sexual abuse or grooming, you can make a report to CEOP.

If a child is in immediate danger, call 999. Do not wait for school to respond. For other safeguarding concerns, including outside school hours, see our Reporting a Concern page.

Further support for families

Internet Matters parental-control guides — help with settings for devices, games and apps.
CEOP Education: parents and carers — advice about protecting children from online sexual abuse.
Childline — support for children and young people, online or by calling 0800 1111.
Our Internet Matters Advice Hub — further online safety advice for families.