Cyber Safety

Electronic devices, and in particular the internet, have certainly revolutionised everything we do, from managing our day to day lives to communicating to entertainment. The internet enables us to keep in touch with family and friends who live in other parts of the country or world and the way we do business has changed dramatically. We are so in touch with others and yet can be so disconnected, because of the same piece of technology.

Mobile devices have made our ability to run our lives from virtually anywhere, possible. We can be contacted 24 hours a day, from anywhere, by anyone. We can now even run our classrooms remotely.

Technology is developing at such an amazing rate that we are constantly having to update our skills and ideas about how it can enrich our lives and how we need to protect ourselves and our children.

All of this makes the management of technology a mine field for our children and therefore for us as parents. Parents need to stay abreast of what their children are using and how they are using it, they need to embrace the technology themselves so they understand the possible issues their child may face as they navigate the ever-growing programs/apps out there.

Most of the communication apps/programs have age limitations in their Terms and Conditions; these are there to protect your child. Very few of these apps or programs are deemed suitable for children under the age of 13 and therefore should not be being accessed by children in Primary Schools. However, we know that these apps/programs are increasingly appealing to our children and their connection to their peers. One of the major issues with these sites is that our children don't have the maturity or ability to make positive decisions about how they interact with others, this includes connecting with people they don't know and becoming involved in inappropriate online behaviour.

The chat function available on most of the game sites is also an aspect that parents need to be very aware of and monitor if their child uses them. Again the materity and decision making skills of children is not alwys well developed and these game sites are often used by adolescents and adults, who can then access your child in the chat room.

Social media conversations are often used to alert the broader community of current issues or dangers, and although some of these cannot be verified, it is important that what we take from these warnings is that we need to know what our children are using and who has access to them whilst they are on the internet. Open discussion about appropriate and safe behaviour is an important aspect of educating our children, both at school and at home.

Parents can download and install software that assist them to manage their child’s use of these apps and the use of their mobile devices. For further information on this please visit

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/skills-advice/taming-technology

http://sipbench.eu/

There are a number of great sites around that can assist parents and children to understand the complexities of the technology they are living with. A great place to start is the eSafety Commissioner’s site:

Homepage | eSafety Commissioner

There are some basic safeguards all parents can put in place to help protect their child:

Keep your home computer is a busy area of your house and don’t allow your child to access the internet on their personal/mobile devices in unsupervised areas.
Understand the importance of technology in your child’s life, in particular the importance of online friendships and peer groups.
Set up email and chat accounts with your child. Make sure that you know their screen names and passwords and that they don't include any personal information in their online profiles.
Learn how the various social networking websites work. Learn alongside your child, let your child be the "expert" and ask them to help you understand the tools they are using online.
Know the ‘Terms and Conditions’ of the sites your child is using, including the age limits for access.
Build trust with your child. Set time limits, explain your reasons for them, and discuss rules for online safety and Internet use. Ask your child to contribute to establishing the rules; then they'll be more inclined to follow them.
Regularly go over their "buddy list" with them. Ask who each person is and how your child knows him or her.
Discuss cyberbullying with your child and ask if they have ever experienced it or seen it happen to someone.
Tell your child not to respond to any cyberbullying threats or comments online. However, do not delete any of the messages. Instead, print out all the messages, including the e-mail addresses or online screen names of the cyberbully, or take a screen shot if printing is not possible.
Tell your child that you won't blame them if they are cyberbullied. Emphasize that you won't take away their computer privileges - this is the main reason kids don't tell adults when they are cyberbullied.
Let the school know if your child experiences cyberbullying.

Please come in and have a chat to either your child’s teacher or any of the principal class staff if you have any concerns or questions.

Robyn James

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