New technologies have become integral to the lives of children and young people in today’s society, both within schools and in their lives outside school. These technologies can stimulate discussion, foster creativity and generate awareness of context to promote effective learning. Unfortunately, they can also pose a danger to young people and give access to a wide range of unwelcome activity which schools and parents have a duty to protect them from.

At Catcote Academy, we have an ICT Acceptable Use Policy Agreement for students to follow and we invite parents to support and promote the positive use of computers, tablets and mobile phones.

Online safety features throughout the curriculum, and is specifically taught as part of our ICT and PSHE lessons. In addition, Catcote Academy takes part in the annual national ‘Safer Internet Day’ (usually in February), where students are exposed to a range of activities to experience and learn about the do’s and don’ts of staying safe online, within a safe environment at school. We also have experts such as Cleveland Police visit and speak to students.

Staff at Catcote Academy receive regular updates regarding online safety. The Online Safety Lead Teacher is a registered CEOP Ambassador and attends regular online safety meetings. Our ICT policy is regularly reviewed by our Board of Trustees to ensure we are doing all we can to keep students safe.

Literature is regularly sent home to keep parents up-to-date with the fast-paced changing world of online safety both printed form and through our social media pages. Parents are invited to attend bespoke online safety sessions in school ran by the Online Safety Lead Teacher.

Parents are strongly encouraged to take advantage of a FREE parent account for the award-winning website “National Online Safety” by following our link https://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/catcote-academy There are many courses, webinars and information available concerning all aspects of keeping our young people safe online.

There are many websites where you can go to get advice on how to set parental controls on devices including X-Box and Playstations – go to www.thinkuknow.co.uk for lots of helpful tips and advice.

Below are further useful links for parents and students:

https://parentzone.org.uk/

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/

https://www.iwf.org.uk/

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/

https://www.bbc.com/ownit

Barnardos – Be Safe Guide