Patcham Infant School & Nursery Class

Parent, Carer and Pupil Online Safety Information

Whatever your age or ability, using the internet can be a fun and useful tool in learning today, but it's not without its pitfalls or dangers. At Patcham Infant school we keep up to date with the latest information and technologies to make sure your children are safe while at school.

Online Safety encompasses many aspects of using the computer, internet or even a mobile phone. Information entered into a website or search engine today, may be stored, indexed or even sold to third parties for years to come.

Developing and keeping up to date with your Online Safety knowledge need not be a daunting experience. There are videos, blogs and websites dedicated to Online Safety to help and guide you.

This page is designed to help you and your children to become safe online and help find relative and up to date information. Please bare in mind that we have no control over page content on other websites or links, as these may change over time.

If you are new to the world of computers or would just like to know a bit more about the different technologies, the'BBC' have a great site called 'Webwise' that can help you learn from the very basic through to the more advanced.

Keeping your computer up to date

Is your software up to date? Most modern operating systems (on computers), such as a Windows PC or an Apple Mac, have the option to update automatically over the internet, but is this option switched on on your computer?

Do you have anti-virus and firewall software installed on your computer and is it up to date? New viruses, Trojans and worms are created all the time, these can compromise your computer's security or even allow someone to control your computer remotely.

New Internet browsers update automatically, but if you are using a version more than a few years old this may not be the case. The newer internet browsers not only make it safer, but often add more functionality to enhance your internet experience.

Safer Searching

We all use search engines to find things on the internet. 'Google' and 'Yahoo' both have child friendly versions that fillter the results you receive, but how you search makes a difference aswell. Check out the 'kidsmart' site for more information.

Online Safety

Whatever you do online, these sites help you to know how to stay safe whilst using the internet.

Appropriate Apps, Games and Websites

Checking the age appropriateness of apps, games and websites is extremely important. Simply type the name of the app, game or website into the search bar of the site listed below to instantly find out if it is appropriate for your child to access.