Internet Safety

Further information and online activities

The following information and links have been compiled from Fife Education materials, various websites and the "Signposts to Safety" booklet prepared by Becta in 2004 but still of value today. The complete Adobe Acrobat file may be downloaded here. Responsible adults at school and home should check out recommended sites themselves before directing children to them as certain sections might be less appropriate than others.

One of the first things to do with a class could be to devise their own Internet Rules (from Becta's Signposts to Safety) or perhaps from Kidsmart Being SMART rules and from Fife Education's Acceptable Use of the Internet: Pupils' leaflet. The Think You Know website suits primary and early secondary pupils as it provides simple rules using animation and cartoon characters. Fife's Stay Safe on the Net: Pupils Rules leaflet should be placed in prominent locations, be brought to pupils attention and could be supported by additional posters produced by pupils themselves using the sources mentioned on this page.

Kidsmart (by ChildNet International) has clear explanations for all the topics listed below.

Signposts page 16

Be Safe Online - an LT Scotland site covering most internet features including those listed in this table.

Know It All with sections for teachers of primary and secondary aged children.

Teachers should be aware that Internet Safety applies to all their pupils from the very young upwards. Please use age appropriate resources to support your class lessons.

Important:

If you feel threatened or in danger online then look for the CEOP panic button - it appears on the most popular social networking sites and you can choose to install it on Facebook.

You are likely to cover evaluating web materials as part of a class lesson.

Signposts page 16

The Safer Internet site offers an excellent overview.

Fife Council's Child Protection handbook on "Safe Parenting" has a section devoted to Internet Safety and so too does its very informative website.

Look at Kid Smart's Safe Searching section.

Kidsmart has a section devoted to Parents and Carers.

Certain websites will be blocked by Fife Education servers. Teachers should place a call on the Help Desk (6000) to change this status if they can guarantee the site's suitability.

Please refer to the section on Filtering (below).

Websites may ask for contact details and other personal information.

Raise awareness of this with your class.

If you have a Facebook account you must look at this interactive guide to help you keep your identity safe.

If you take and send photos or upload which offends someone this is known as Cyberbullying.

Everyone suffers.

Websites may ask for contact details and other personal information.

At home please find out about the Parental Settings options offered by your internet service provider.

Fife's Acceptable Use policy states clearly that pupils schould not provide information that may identify them.

It is worth bringing the effects and consequences of cyberbullying to the attention of school children.

The Respect Me site offers very good advice and there is a very good You Tube video called Tagged posted on the Australian government's Internet Safety website. This could be played as part of a call lesson.

Signposts pp21 - 23

A major source of viruses is in attachments to the message. If in doubt of the source, don't open the attachment and, better still don't open the message.

Fife has individual pupil accounts in secondary and class e-mail for primary schools.

Direct access to webmail accounts is blocked for security reasons but messages can be read if sent to the relevant fife.gov.uk or fife.sch.co.uk account.

Signposts pp 25 - 28.

glow and Radiowaves offer secure areas to chat and blog in safety.

If you are under 13 years old you should not have an online account at sites like Facebook.

Chat Danger from ChildNet International.

Signposts pp 25 - 28

Chat Danger from ChildNet International.

Parent information on Facebook by the Safer Internet Online site.

Chat Lines and MSN Messenger and similar applications are blocked in schools but a secure Scottish Executive backed site is offered by Grid Club and glow - the Scottish intranet where chat and wriitng blogs is only available in this secure environment.

Pupils are unable to send messages until they are registered by the school. The site is moderated by experienced teachers.

Kidsmart has its own section.

Smartphone theft is on the increase.

1 in 5 children aged 8 to 16 have had their mobile phone stolen.

Visit the Out of Your Hands website.

Signposts pp 32 - 34

Information on mobile phone theft and how to immobise the lost phone is available on the Out of Your Hands website.

The Fife Child Protection site raises awareness of grooming of children by adults through mobile phones and other electronic media.

Mobile phone theft information for P4 - P7, S1 to S3 and S4 upwards can be downloaded from the Out of Your Hands website.

Peer to Peer

File Sharing

Letting other internet users share your hard drive is to be avoided in school.

File sharing via websites devoted to this practice is not to be undertaken in school - just share files through e-mail attachments with people you know or via a document store in glow.

Kidsmart has its own section to explain file sharing.

This is only for home use.

Be very wary of this service on your home PC.

Note this is an activity not permitted in school.

Sharing files over the internet is possible either as attachments to e-mail or through a download option. Caution must be taken at all times for all users in particular pupils.

Teachers are expected to refer to plagerism and copyright statements in the Acceptable Use Policy and be aware of potential virus infection. Click here for a short description with reference to Fife standard circulars.

In particular, downloading files (eg, Music) is to be treated with caution. The source must be investigated and copyright and other related restrictions applied.

Always be wary of unexpected e-mail attachments and of download "offers" on websites.

Pupils should not download files without permission - part of the Acceptable Use Policy.

Ask your teacher for permission to open any attachment sent to you when you are in school.

Home PCs should be protected using your Internet Service Provider's (ISP) own software or proprietary products or even free "home-use" downloads.

There are numerous 'anti virus' or 'internet security' applications in the marketplace.

It is also very useful to install a "Pop-Up" blocker.

Signposts pp 17,18

Pupils should understand that websites accessed at school are accessed through filtering software which checks the website against categories or individual sites which are deemed unsuitable.

Signposts pp 17,18

Parents and Carers using home PCs should set up separate child accounts and decide the level of parental control. ISPs offer this service and have broad settings to suit different age groups which may be supplemented by additional parent restrictions.

If set correctly, children seeking access to restricted sites will be prompted to send a message (e-mail) to their parent's account seeking permission to "unblock" the site.

The Fife Education and Fife Council networks employ filtering software to deny access to particular groups of websites.

Teachers who wish to access such blocked websites should go to the Web Fitlering section in FISH to note the procedures to be followed.

Discuss with your teachers ways in which sites track what you ar edoing and keep this information.

What would happen to your personal identity if this information is hacked?

GetNetWise - a public service from a number of internet industry and public bodies.

The Safer Internet Site offers a range of information.

Chat Danger - a Childnet Internation website covers using chat online.