Keeping our children safe online

At Upton Primary School, online safety is part of safeguarding, and safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. The internet gives our children wonderful chances to learn, create and stay connected, and we want them to enjoy it safely, kindly and confidently.

We keep children safe online in three ways: we teach them how to stay safe and what to do if something worries them, we protect them in school with filtering and monitoring, and we work with you at home. This page explains each of these and tells you exactly who to contact if you are worried.

Worried about something? Here's what to do

If you are worried about something your child has seen, said or done online, or about the way someone has been contacting them, please tell us straight away. It doesn't matter whether it happened in school or at home.

About CEOP. CEOP is part of the National Crime Agency. Children and adults can report online sexual abuse or worrying contact to its Child Protection Advisors. CEOP does not deal with bullying; for that, contact school or Childline.

Tips if something has happened

• Stay calm and thank your child for telling you. They are more likely to tell you again.
• Don't delete messages or images. Note usernames, dates and the app or game.
• Never screenshot, save or forward a nude or sexual image of a child, even to report it. Tell school or the police instead.
• Block and report the person on the app, and check privacy settings.

What our children learn about online safety

Every child from Nursery to Year 6 is taught online safety, building a little more each year. Our lessons follow Education for a Connected World, the UK Council for Internet Safety framework, using the free ProjectEVOLVE resources from SWGfL and the UK Safer Internet Centre.

How we teach it

• ProjectEVOLVE online safety lessons from Nursery to Year 6, covering all eight strands below.
• Computing lessons: Barefoot Computing in Reception and the Teach Computing Curriculum in Years 1 to 6.
• PSHE and RSHE through OneLife, including healthy relationships, privacy and asking for help.
• Safeguarding Question of the Week: every class discusses one safety question each week, and some focus on life online.
• Reflection Friday: children talk through a real-life situation, including online ones, and what would help.
• Safer Internet Day each February, assemblies and Year 6 transition work on phones and social media.

The eight strands we cover

You can see when online safety is taught in our Computing and PSHE long term plans.

How we keep children safe online in school

Every device children use in school is protected by filtering and checked by monitoring, and both are reviewed at least once a year.

Filtering stops children reaching harmful or inappropriate websites, images, videos and AI-generated content. Our filtering is provided by Netsweeper and Eduthing support its use through our Service Level Agreement. It blocks illegal material using the Internet Watch Foundation and police counter-terrorism lists, and it also blocks adult content, gambling, violence and other content unsuitable for primary-age children. Children and staff have different filtering settings, and safe search is switched on.

Monitoring helps us spot if a child may be at risk. Staff supervise children whenever they use laptops or tablets, and Netsweeper alerts the DSL to concerning searches or activity. Any concern is followed up by the DSL in line with our safeguarding policy, and we will contact you if it involves your child.

No system is 100% effective, which is why teaching children what to do matters just as much.

Who is responsible

Other ways we keep children safe

• Pupils agree to an age-appropriate acceptable use agreement each year.
• Children are not allowed to use personal phones in school. Children who walk home hand their phones in to their class teacher each morning. They must make sure they are turned off before entering the school premises.
• Staff check any website, video or app before using it with children.
• We only use school-approved online learning tools such as Accelerated Reader, Times Tables Rock Stars and children log in with school accounts.

Our policies

You can read our Online Safety Policy, Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy and Acceptable Use Agreements on the Policies page. Paper copies are free from the school office.

Helping your child stay safe at home

The most powerful thing you can do is talk with your child, often and calmly, so they know they can always come to you.

Talk

• Ask what they enjoy online, which games and apps they use and who they talk to. Play alongside them sometimes.
• Use our weekly Talk at home question and the Safeguarding Question of the Week to start conversations.
• Make it clear they will never be in trouble for telling you about something that worried them.

Set up devices safely

• Turn on parental controls on every device, games console and app store, and on your home broadband.
• Use child accounts and safe search, and keep devices in shared family spaces, especially at bedtime.
• Agree family rules for screen time, and charge phones and tablets outside bedrooms overnight.

Check age ratings

• Games have PEGI ratings (3, 7, 12, 16, 18) for content, but many also allow chat with strangers. Check chat settings too.
• Most social media and messaging apps, including WhatsApp, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, require users to be at least 13. They are not designed for primary-age children.
• The government has announced that certain social media platforms will not be allowed to offer services to children under 16 from spring 2027 (government fact sheet).

Teach the basics

• Keep personal information private: full name, address, school, photos in uniform and passwords.
• People online are not always who they say they are. Never meet up with someone met online.
• Not everything online is true. Talk about adverts, fake videos and AI-generated images.
• If something feels wrong: stop, block, report and tell a trusted adult.

Useful links for parents and carers