What is E-safety?

A back to basics explanation of e-safety in relation to schools


Back in 2012, Ofsted added e-safety to their school inspection requirements, placing more demands on the school timetable, school budgets and school staff. These requirements extended way beyond the classroom, encompassing the “whole school community” within the schools expected scope of delivery.

But now, almost 3 years later, it’s still easy to find staff members in schools who are unclear as to what e-safety is, let alone know who is responsible for making it part of the school agenda. Is it ICT? Is it pastoral? Is it SLT? In our experience, it’s everyone!

There are many statistics regarding the use of ‘connected devices’, incidents of cyber bullying and indeed teachers falling foul of inappropriate use of social media which support the need for e-safety awareness across the school, but what is e-safety?.

Firstly, let’s tackle the term ‘e-safety’. This can also be called ‘internet safety’, ‘online safety’ or ‘web safety’. E-safety is often defined as the safe and responsible use of technology. This includes the use of the internet and also other means of communication using electronic media (eg text messages, gaming devices, email etc).

In practice, e-safety is as much about behaviour as it is electronic security. E-safety in this context is classified into three areas of risk:

  • Content: being exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful material
  • Contact: being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users
  • Conduct: personal online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm.

Quoting directly from the Ofsted inspection briefing, e-safety (in the context of an inspection) is described as the school’s ability:

  • to protect and educate pupils and staff in their use of technology
  • to have the appropriate mechanisms to intervene and support any incident where appropriate.

A good way to see how your school fairs against the Ofsted requirements it to ask yourself these 5 questions:

  1. How do you ensure that all staff receive appropriate online safety training that is relevant and regularly up to date?
  2. What mechanisms does the school have in place to support pupils and staff facing online safety issues?
  3. How does the school educate and support parents and whole school community with online safety?
  4. Does the school have e-safety policies and acceptable use policies in place? How does the school know that they are clear and understood and respected by all?
  5. Describe how your school educates children and young people to build knowledge, skills and capability when it comes to online safety? How do you assess its effectiveness?

These questions, along with examples of good / outstanding practice can be found here

It is essential that all members of school staff (teaching and non-teaching) are aware of e-safety and their own responsibilities when using the vast array of technologies now available for both personal and professional use. For pupils, it is no longer acceptable to simply have a firewall in place to prevent them accessing certain sites from the school network – the vast majority have a connected device in their pocket they could use instead, making education on this topic essential. And parents must also be made aware of e-safety to ensure that good practice continues outside of school grounds.



For more information about e-safety for staff, E-safety Support members can download a guide to E-safety from your dashboard. If you are not an E-safety Support member and would like a copy of this report, join our free membership package.

Written by Safeguarding Essentials on March 19, 2015 15:38

Educating and empowering

CIS MagThe RDI and Child Internet Safety, both North West companies who are passionate about online child safety, recently joined forces.

The partnership is about raising the profile of safety of children whilst out and about via the Friendly WiFi Scheme and to communicate details of the scheme to parents and the educational sector. The announcement of the partnership also coincided with the launch of the Child Internet Safety magazine.

The Child Internet Safety magazine is free of charge, and provides an ideal reference point, with focus on everything from social media, gaming, e-commerce, internet access, internet footprint and identity, to e-safety, content filtering, and mobile devices. The information gathered together means families can celebrate the amazing resources found online and via connected devices - whilst also being well aware of all the hidden digital dangers.

Aisha Tilstone, Founder and Publisher at Child Internet Safety comments “Every child is now born into a digitally enabled world and we’re all, collectively, still learning about the benefits, and the dangers. Children are at the forefront of that, because their natural tendency to explore, communicate, and break down barriers is amplified online; any mistakes can have far-reaching consequences.”

Ed Vaizey, Minister for the Digital Economy, said: “The Friendly WiFi and Child Internet Safety partnership will make clear to parents which cafes, restaurants and other businesses have internet access that is safe for their children to use. It will help these firms ensure that families feel comfortable and make it clear to parents they are choosing a safe online environment. It will also allow parents to access the Child Internet Safety magazine, which will help show families how to stay safe online.

“This shows that businesses are responding to Government’s call to think about how they can help parents protect their children from inappropriate content online.”

To download your free copy of the Child Internet Safety magazine, please visit www.childinternetsafety.co.uk.

Written by Friendly WiFi on January 29, 2015 12:30

Community Education Awards – Internet Safety Categories

Community Education AwardsThe Community Education Awards is an annual celebration of schools’ efforts to help children and young people to become positive community members.

The Police Community Clubs of Great Britain use the Awards to demonstrate the most innovative and effective approaches currently in use and encourage the development of more projects that will have a positive impact on pupils.

The awards for 2014/15 include categories spanning; Health, Safety and Lifestyle; Finance, Enterprise and Employment; Environment; Individuals and; Technology. The Technology category includes the two following awards:

SCC Internet Safety Award
The Internet can be an invaluable resource for entertainment, making new friends and helping children learn. However, the Internet poses many dangers with users potentially at risk. In the same way children should learn about safety in school, they should also be taught the importance of staying safe online. Schools should enter this Award with projects that deal with educating children on how to avoid inappropriate content, how to keep personal information safe and the best practice for downloading information.

The Cyber Bullying Project Award
With social networking, the Internet and the use of mobile technology (texting) having a bigger impact on how we all communicate on a daily basis, it is crucial that children do not become victims of cyber bullying. With pupils just as likely to experience cruelty from children in internet chatrooms as in the classrooms themselves, this award would like to hear about projects that have looked to tackle cyber bullying.

The awards are supported by a number of big names including Axa PPP Healthcare and Childline, and their Brand Ambassador is once again Esther Ranzen, who has been involved with the awards since their launch in 2011.

Awards Organiser Kelly Griffiths said: “The Community Education Awards continue to go from strength to strength with pupils and teachers gaining recognition for their work in a number of areas such as internet safety and the environment, amongst many others.

“For the 2014/15 academic year we have expanded our Awards to incorporate more topics and we are already looking forward to hearing success stories from schools and teachers up and down the country.

“We are proud to offer schools the opportunity to have a project or person rewarded for their achievements. As we open the Awards for entries, we would like to encourage schools to visit our website and enter one of the awards on offer through our online form.”

Enter your school now

For more information and to get involved in the awards, simply visit the Community Education Awards website and choose the category you wish to enter.

Written by Safeguarding Essentials on September 25, 2014 10:50


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