Online Safety for Parents
Helping children enjoy the online world safely
The internet provides children with wonderful opportunities to learn, create, communicate and play. However, children also need the knowledge, confidence and support to recognise risks and make safe, respectful choices online.
At Childwall Church of England Primary School, online safety is an important part of our safeguarding and curriculum provision. We want every child to become a confident, responsible and considerate digital citizen.
Our approach reflects:
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The statutory Relationships, Health and Computing curriculum
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The Online Safety Act 2023 and guidance published by Ofcom
Online safety is not taught as a one-off topic. It is revisited throughout the curriculum and whenever new risks, technologies, games, apps or concerns emerge.
Understanding online risks
Keeping Children Safe in Education groups online risks into four broad areas:
Content
What children may see online, including inappropriate, upsetting, violent, misleading, extremist or sexual material.
Contact
Who children may communicate with online, including people who pretend to be someone else, seek personal information, behave inappropriately or attempt to groom or exploit children.
Conduct
How children behave online and how their behaviour may affect others. This includes cyberbullying, unkind messages, sharing private information or images, and creating or forwarding harmful content.
Commerce
Risks linked to advertising, online purchases, scams, gambling-style features, in-game spending and financial exploitation.
Children may also encounter misinformation, pressure from influencers, harmful online challenges, artificial intelligence-generated content and images, or technology designed to keep them online for extended periods.
Advice for parents and carers
Children are more likely to seek help when online safety is discussed regularly and calmly. Try to take an interest in your child’s online activities without making them feel that they will automatically lose access to their device if they tell you about a problem.
Practical steps you can take
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Talk regularly about the games, apps and websites your child enjoys.
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Play games or explore apps together so that you understand how they work.
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Agree clear family expectations for device use, screen time, online communication and spending.
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Keep devices in shared family spaces, particularly for younger children.
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Check the age rating and minimum age requirements before allowing access to an app, game or social-media platform.
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Use parental controls on your home broadband, devices, app stores, games and individual apps.
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Check privacy, location-sharing, chat and friend-request settings.
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Disable or password-protect in-app purchases.
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Encourage your child to use strong, separate passwords and two-step verification where available.
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Explain that photographs, videos and messages can be copied or shared, even when an account is private.
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Talk about advertising, influencers, scams, misinformation, online challenges and AI-generated content.
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Model safe and respectful online behaviour.
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Maintain healthy routines around sleep, exercise and device-free family time.
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Revisit settings and family agreements regularly as your child grows or begins using a new device or service.
Parental controls are helpful, but no technical system can replace regular, open conversations with your child.
If your child tells you something has happened
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Stay calm and listen carefully.
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Reassure your child that they have done the right thing by telling you.
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Do not blame them or immediately remove all access to technology.
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Do not respond to or confront the person involved.
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Save usernames, messages, dates, web addresses or screenshots where appropriate.
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Report and block the account through the app, game or platform.
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Contact school if another pupil is involved or the incident may affect your child’s safety or wellbeing in school.
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Report suspected online sexual abuse or exploitation to CEOP.
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Contact the police if a child is in immediate danger.
Do not save, copy or forward a sexual image of a child. Seek advice from CEOP, the police or the school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Trusted guidance for parents and carers
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CEOP Education: Parents and Carers
Audience: Parents and carers of children of all ages.
Guidance from the National Crime Agency about gaming, social media, online relationships, grooming, parental controls and starting conversations.
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Audience: Parents, carers and professionals.
Age-specific advice, app and gaming guidance, family agreements and practical help with parental controls.
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Internet Matters: Parental Control Guides
Audience: Parents and carers.
Step-by-step instructions for setting controls on broadband, phones, tablets, games consoles and popular apps.
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Audience: Parents, carers and professionals.
Advice about online risks, talking to children and responding to concerns.
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Audience: Parents, carers, children and professionals.
Advice, family resources and updates about emerging online-safety issues.
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Audience: Parents and carers.
Conversation starters, family agreements and advice about different online risks.
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Audience: Parents and carers.
Information about children’s protections under the Online Safety Act and what online services are expected to do.
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Audience: Parents and carers.
Independent reviews and age guidance for games, films, apps, websites and other media.
Reporting an online concern
Contact the school
If an online incident involves a pupil from our school, affects your child’s wellbeing or may present a safeguarding risk, please contact the school and ask to speak to the Designated Safeguarding Lead or a Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Concerns can also be reported to any trusted member of school staff. Information will be handled sensitively and in accordance with the school’s safeguarding procedures.
CEOP Safety Centre
Audience: Children, parents, carers and professionals. CEOP, part of the National Crime Agency, receives reports about online sexual abuse, grooming and exploitation. CEOP should not be used for general cyberbullying or account disputes.
Childline
Visit Childline or telephone 0800 1111.
Audience: Children and young people. Childline provides free, confidential advice and support. Calls do not appear on most telephone bills.
Report Remove
Audience: Young people under 18 in the UK. Report Remove, operated by Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation, helps young people report nude or sexual images or videos of themselves that have been shared online and seek their removal.
Internet Watch Foundation
Report child sexual abuse imagery to the IWF
Audience: Adults and members of the public. Reports can be made anonymously. Do not download, save, copy or share the material in order to report it.
Report Harmful Content
Audience: Anyone aged 13 or over. This service can provide advice when harmful content has been reported to a platform but the response has not resolved the concern.
Report a concern to an app or website
Most services provide tools to block users and report accounts, messages or content. The government’s Kids Online Safety reporting guide explains what can be reported and where to seek additional help.
Immediate danger
If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.
For a non-emergency police matter, call 101 or report it through the relevant police force’s website.
Online safety in school
At Childwall CE Primary School, we:
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teach online safety through Computing, Relationships and Health Education and across the wider curriculum;
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teach children about privacy, consent, respectful communication, misinformation, digital footprints and asking for help;
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revisit learning in an age-appropriate way as children move through school;
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respond to new and emerging risks, including developments in social media, gaming and artificial intelligence;
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maintain appropriate filtering and monitoring systems on school devices and networks;
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train staff to recognise and respond to online safeguarding concerns;
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encourage children to report anything that makes them feel unsafe or uncomfortable;
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work with parents, carers and external safeguarding agencies where appropriate;
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review our approach to online safety and the risks faced by our pupils regularly.
Technology and online risks change quickly. Parents and carers are encouraged to check this page and the linked national websites regularly for the latest advice.