Online safety for Parents

Online Safety – Supporting Your Child’s Safety & Wellbeing in a Digital World

Mrs Hill – Deputy Designated Teacher for Child Protection (Online Safety)

At Ballyclare High School, we are committed to keeping our school community safe online and have achieved external accreditation and endorsement of our policies, leadership, and education in this area, having become the first school in Northern Ireland to be awarded the Online Safety Mark in 2015. Reassessed in 2018, and again in May 2022, we are now the only school in Northern Ireland to be awarded the Online Safety Mark on three occasions.

“The school is to be complimented for the way in which it strives to share its good online safety practice and has taken a lead in this respect in Northern Ireland.”

Online Safety Mark Assessor Report, March 2018

“The online safety provision is very much embedded in the culture and the day to day running of the school. High quality leadership of online safety has led to high levels of staff confidence and awareness and the ability to provide high quality online safety education and incident response.”

Online Safety Mark Assessor Report, May 2022

We are acutely aware of the ever-changing world of online learning, collaboration, and global connection. Our aim is to enable our pupils to access the digital world knowledgeably, creatively, and fearlessly through our bespoke progressive education programme delivered during their life skills lessons on a Tuesday morning. Our programme covers four strands of online safety: Digital Citizenship, Digital Literacy, Online Safeguarding and Digital Resilience. Our Pastoral Team also provide support and guidance to both pupils and their families.

As with all aspects of your child’s education, a joint approach from school and home will help to keep your child safe online. We invite parents to download our Safer Schools app. Further information, including the code to join, is sent out to parents via SIMS ParentApp and in Year 8 induction packs.

For our families, our Safer Schools app provides easy-to-follow steps to make homes and devices safer, will keep you up to date with the current online trends, threats, and risks to young people, and offers expert guidance to help your family navigate important issues such as managing mental health.

Now, more than ever, it is vital that we recognise the influence of technology on our children’s wellbeing. Research from Internet Matters found that the degree to which parents were involved in their children’s online experiences and activities shaped what impact technology had on their developmental, emotional, physical, and social wellbeing. Our Pastoral Team can provide you with support and guidance should you have concerns about the impact technology is having on your child’s wellbeing.

At times, it might seem difficult to stay on top of your child’s online activity, whether it be social media, content creation or gaming. Internet Matters have created a parenting toolkit with content that will support you through every digital dilemma and help you keep your children safe. Click on the image below to set up your digital family toolkit.

Setting up your toolkit will only take a few minutes and will generate useful links and documents to support you and your child(ren) in making good online choices.

For more useful tips on helping your child make a safe start to social media and gaming, please click on the images below.

Video Games, Consoles & Platforms

If your child is a keen gamer and uses a range of consoles or devices to play the latest games, make sure to take a look at the parental control how-to guides to get up to speed on how to set the right level of protection.