Today is Safer Internet Day– a worldwide event that is celebrated each year in February to raise awareness of online issues. This year’s theme is ‘Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online’.
We’ve been celebrating how great the internet is and talking about our favourite things to do online. We’ve also been exploring online issues and how to deal with them. Some of these issues include online bullying, fake news, scams, and seeing things that make us feel scared or uncomfortable.
In Foundation, they’ve been reading the story Penguin Pig by Stuart Spendlow. It’s a wonderful story with key messages which reinforce staying safe online.
Years 1 and 2 joined together this afternoon to play games in the hall which involved discussing different online scenarios and what to do in different situations.
Years 3 and 4 explored a website all about staying safe online. They found out about age appropriate websites, games and apps. Quite a few children were surprised to find out that Tik Tok has an age rating of 13+.
This afternoon, I watched an engaging lesson in Years 5 and 6, where the children were reading online messages on a gaming platform which showed an example of online bullying. The children were excellent at identifying why the messages were an act of bullying. They then had to re-write the messages making sure they were positive and kind.
The key message for all our children today has been to tell a trusted adult if they feel unsafe, unhappy or uncomfortable online. It would be great if you can continue these conversations at home, too.