On this page: Internet and mobiles | Chat rooms and online gaming | Setting up a chat service | Child proofing browsers | How to deal with Cyber bullying | e-Safety Sources of information and guidance | Resources | e-Safety Strategy and Policy | e-Safety Mousemat competition
Internet and mobilesThe Internet offers a huge facility for education and fun for children but there is the potential for harm if not monitored correctly. Chat rooms and instant messengers can open the way for paedophiles, bullying, and also an ease of access to pornography and other graphic material if not filtered sufficiently. This section provides advice and recommendations to those who wish to set up Internet facilities for children or who have worries about current ones. Chat rooms and on line gamingThere are a lot of chat rooms on the Internet and a lot of ways of providing the facility with different portals and software. Some are dedicated to particular interests, hobbies, and current affairs and some are just simply for chatting.As well as chatting in a main room some chat facilities let individuals request private conversations with other members in another window, or with a 'whisper' function (used mainly in on line gaming), that is a bit like instant messaging. There are many ways to access or set up your own chat room:
Setting up a chat room or instant messaging service
Child proofing browsersIf you run a facility where children have access to computers such as an Internet café, youth club or a computer room in a school the tips below may help you ensure the safety of the children using them.
What to do if a child is being cyber-bullied, threatened or stalked
e-Safety Sources of information and guidanceFor information and guidance in relation to e-Safety, click here: e-Safety Sources of information and guidance Resources
e-Safety Strategy and PolicyToday's children are citizens of a digital world. In their daily lives the use of the internet and digital technologies, including mobile phones, represent a seamless extension of the physical world. Their emotional lives and their development are bound up in the use of these technologies. In contrast to many adults for whom these technologies are additional tools to be used for specific tasks, many of today's children do not even notice they are using these technologies. As online content, social networks and instant messaging converge with mobile technology to produce lives which are always 'on', any line which may have existed between being online and offline is disintegrating. Local Safeguarding Children Boards have a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in their locality. If we accept the challenge of the digital world then the responsibilities which come with this duty must now include the development of strategies for safeguarding children in the online environment. To ignore e-safety issues when implementing statutory guidance could ultimately lead to significant gaps in child protection policies, leaving children and young people vulnerable. Non-statutory practice guidance issued in Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006) includes a section on child abuse and ICT (paragraphs 11.58-11.62). Paragraph 11.62 states: 'As part of their role in preventing abuse and neglect, LSCBs should consider activities to raise awareness about the safe use of the internet. Wandsworth Safeguarding Children Board (WSCB) accepted this role and responsibility and developed an e-Safety Strategy, Action Plan and e-Safety Policy, which was ratified by the WSCB and launched on 3rd June 2009. All WSCB partners are committed to fulfilling their safeguarding responsibilities and have agreed to implement the e-Safety Strategy and Action Plan. The e-Safety Policy was also developed to assist agencies in developing their own policy. The Strategy sets out WSCB's response to the challenge of the digital world and our strategic direction for 2008-2011, in line with the Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP). If you wish to receive hard a copy of the e-Safety Strategy and/or e-Safety Policy, please email us at wscb@wscb.org.uk or contact WSCB on 020 8871 8610 to request a copy.e-Safety Mousemat competition - safeguarding children and young people in the digital worldA 'Keeping safe online' mousemat competition took place, inviting all children and young people aged 5-18 years old, to submit a design for a mousemat that tells their friends how to keep and be safe whilst using the Internet, digital and mobile technology. There were two categories: one for the age group 5-11 and the other for age group 12-18. We received an overwhelming response, which we were delighted with. All the entries were very creative and it was hard to choose a winner for each category. After much consideration and keeping the key focus on the 'keeping safe online' message, we choose one winner for each of the categories, which we felt gave a very clear message of things to consider when a child or young person is online and therefore how to keep themselves safe whilst using the Internet. Two runners-up were also selected for each category. The winners and runners-up for the two categories were:
The prizegiving was held at Wandsworth Town Hall on 11th December 2008. All the prize winners and their families were invited to attend. The prizes were handed out to the winners and runners up by Councillor Tracey, Cabinet Member for Children & Young People's Services and Paul Robinson, Chair of WSCB. Many photos were taken, which can be viewed below. Both winning designs have now been produced and are being distributed to all schools, youth clubs, libraries, ICT suites, etc. across the borough. The prizegiving event was combined with a presentation to say thank you to another group of young people and their families who participated and contributed to Wandsworth's Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP) and Parenting Strategy. Again, a big thank you and congratulations to all 6 prize winners for their participation in the competition and sharing their views through their designs with other children and young people on how to keep themselves safe online. |
|||