E Safety
With the use of online social networking sites increasing, it is important to remember that while the internet is a fantastic resource, it is unfortunately open to abuse.
Here at Fort Pitt we are doing all that we can to educate and protect our students in their use of ICT and the internet.
We recently held an e-safety presentation evening in association with Kent Police, and we are planning to repeat this event in the near future. In order to re-enforce the responsibilities that our students have when surfing the web, we are also delivering e-Safety during PSHE lessons.
Within school, filtered internet usage is regularly monitored. In addition, we have implemented a system which monitors all school network activity, detecting ‘violations’ as they occur – for example, any use of inappropriate language in e-mails and documents, or potential signs of cyber-bullying. These violations are automatically flagged to administrative staff, and dealt with accordingly.
Obviously, we can only provide these safeguards within school – it is equally important that students are encouraged to use the internet safely and responsibly outside school.
For further information and practical advice on staying safe on-line, please take the time to visit the following websites.
For parents / carers:-
BBC Parenting – Your Kids – Keeping them safe
DirectGov - Internet Safety information for Parents / Carers
CEOP - Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre
Virtual Global task Force - Making the internet a safer place
For students & parents / carers:-
CBBC – Stay Safe
CBBC Newsround - Safe Surfing
NCH – Net Smart rules!
Chatdanger – How to keep safe while chatting online
TUK? – Thinkuknow
You may also find it useful to view the BBC Panorama programme on internet safety entitledOne Click from Dangerand the follow up programmeOne click from capture
Reporting abuse
The symbol on the 'Report Abuse' button below, which looks a bit like an eye on legs, represents the Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT), a group of law enforcement agencies who work together to fight online abuse relating to children. If you click on the button you will be reporting a problem directly to someone at CEOP (the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Agency) You are then likely to be contacted by a social worker or a police officer, to talk through your report in more detail. They need to do this to make sure you are safe. It is also a good idea to talk to your parents about your report to CEOP, although if your report concerns a family member, CEOP will not make contact with them until an investigation has been completed.
If you do not want to make a report by pressing the button but are still worried about something online, then please talk to a member of Student Support at school, or to an adult you can trust.
