We take online safety extremely seriously at St. Patrick's Catholic Primary School and encourage children to use the internet responsibly and sensibly both at school and at home. All children and parents are asked to agree to the St. Patrick's Acceptable Use Policy. During February, we take part in Internet Safety week where each class focuses on a different aspect of E Safety.

Tips for parents:

• Know what your children are doing online and who they are talking to.
• Ask them to teach you to use any applications you have never used.
• Keeping the computer in a family room means that you can share your child’s online experience and that they are less likely to act inappropriately (i.e. via webcam).
• Help your children to understand that they should never give out personal details to online friends, personal information includes their messenger ID, email address, mobile number and any pictures of themselves, their family or friends. If your child publishes a picture or video online, anyone can change it or share it. Remind them that anyone may be looking at their images and one day a future employer could!
• If your child receives spam/junk email & texts, remind them never to believe them, reply to them or use them. It’s not a good idea for your child to open files that are from people they don’t know. They won’t know what they contain — it could be a virus, or worse — an inappropriate image or film.
• Help your child to understand that some people lie online and therefore it’s better to keep online mates online. They should never meet up with any strangers without an adult they trust.
• Download a safety button on your computer.
• Download the 'Click CEOP' button into your browser toolbar to provide instant access to internet safety information for children and parents. 

Click here to subscribe to 'Wake Up Wednesday'. You will receive weekly emails with fantastic, helpful resources linked to social media, games, safe internet use and much more. They provide excellent conversation starters with your children.