esafety_officer

Thanks for the tag and apologies for a delayed response I'll echo this point - whilst all staff have responsibility, the overall lead responsibility sits with your DSL. The statutory safeguarding guidance for schools/colleges, Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) makes this very clear. In fact "esafety" as a term has been pretty much phased out of all the national guidance and replaced with 'online safety/safeguarding' to show that it very much should be viewed as a safeguarding and not an IT issue. I've published an updated summary about the online safety responsibilities within KCSIE 2023 here. It isn't a checklist as such, but it does have a number of 'action points' throughout for DSLs and school/college leaders to consider as well as links to resources to support schools. The key update to KCSIE 2023 was relating to increased emphasis on the role of the DSL in appropriate filtering and monitoring and signposting to the new DfE filtering and monitoring standards. The UK Safer Internet ran a series of webinars last week - the recordings are now available to watch, along with a checklist and some FAQs, links to resources etc. You may have an online safety and/or safeguarding lead in your local authority who can support your school within its specific local context but if not, Part two of KCSIE signposts to some really useful resources which I'd recommend as being excellent starting points you could use and share and use with the DSL. This includes the LGFL website/audit and/or 360 safe audit from SWGfL, lots of documents from the UKCIS Education working group and also the UK Safer Internet Centre resources.

Sorry for the delayed response to this - I've not been on edugeek for a while I'm afraid! We produced an overview of the online safety points in KCSIE 2022 - most recently updated in September 2022: https://www.theeducationpeople.org/blog/keeping-children-safe-in-education-2022-online-safety-summary-for-dsls-and-leaders/ I would advise schools should be seeking advice via their own local authority education safeguarding services as their advice or views may be different to ours, but our advice to our schools has been that where they do opt to carry online searches on shortlisted candidates, this should be done appropriately and safely, for example only accessing content that is available publicly. Searches and the schools approaches to them should be transparent (for example, candidates should be advised that online searches may be carried out during the application process) and should always take place in line with appropriate privacy and data protection legislation. We recommend that schools/colleges ensure they have a process in place to follow if they were to identify something that was significantly concerning, for example something that could indicate a candidate was unsuitable to work with children. We also recommended that any decisions are addressed in any safer recruitment policies the school has in place and that schools/college should seek specialist advice from legal/HR/personnel providers. As others have mentioned, KCSIE says 'as part of the shortlisting process schools and colleges should consider carrying out an online search as part of their due diligence on the shortlisted candidates' - I would suggest this isn't an IT issue and should fall within HR/recruitment personnel etc. roles and responsibilities.

I'm afraid I can't comment as I've not had any direct contact with them; I don't know who is creating the content they are sharing. It might be worth looking at the UKCIS external visitors guidance; although they aren't coming into schools to speak to children, the guidance does pose some questions which might be helpful to explore further.

The DfE have now published the updated ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE) guidance ready for implementation from the 3rd September 2018. An update to the original post shared above can be found here. In case it helps, a summary of key changes related to online safety are: All staff should undergo safeguarding and child protection training (including online safety) at induction The updated guidance includes a new section (Part 5) on 'child on child sexual violence and sexual harassment', which can occur on and offline New and more detailed information on specific safeguarding issues, including online issues Online safety is specifically referenced as part of the responsibility for the DSL within Annex B, 'The role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead' There is an expectation that DSLs should access appropriate training to ensure they are able to understand the unique risks associated with online safety, recognise the additional risks that children with SEN and disabilities (SEND) face online and have the relevant knowledge and up to date capability required to keep children safe whilst they are online Additional links have been added to supporting materials in annex C, online safety; this includes references to tools to assist settings in reviewing their online safety practice it's worth being aware that schools and colleges must comply with KCSIE 2016 (Guidance here) until the 3rd September 2018.

If you want a policy specifically for children, then I'd recommend involving your pupils in creating and writing it. Obviously that can be a bit more difficult for a primary or infant school, but can be overcome by using pupil councils etc. This will help give them a sense of ownership over the policy, which then means they are more likely to follow it! Also it's likely to be much shorter and more accessible, so it will be helpful to share throughout your community. We have some suggestions to cover in a child friendly policy in our online safety policy guidance (appendix 3).

It might be too late but we have guidance on using social media that might be helpful: E-safety - KELSI Personally I'd suggest starting by surveying parents; there is little point going to the effort of setting up a Twitter account if none of them actually use it...! The next step would then be 'risk assessing' the concept to explore how to manage it as safely as possible; to do that you need to develop a thorough understanding of how the tool works. We specifically cover some FAQs on setting up Facebook pages and groups, Twitter and YouTube.

I provide specific online safety training for Govenors within my LA so it might be worth seeing if there is anything offered locally that you can access, although I am aware that the safeguarding provision for schools varies from area to area. The focus for Governor training is usually more on their strategic safeguarding responsibilities, and they need to be able to offer support and challenge to ensure their school is fulfilling its statutory responsibilities. This means that the content for Governor training is likely to be quite different to that you would provide for staff. The UKCCIS Education Group developed guidance for school governors to help governing boards support their school leaders to keep children safe online. I'd suggest that to be a really useful starting point. I'd focus on 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' (KCSIE) and the Ofsted 'Inspecting Safeguarding' documents as they sets out clear responsibilities and expectations for Governors. I have blog posts here and here which might be useful. KCSIE highlights some of the main risks in annex C which may also be helpful. The UK Safer Internet Centre have some information for Govenors as well.

As others have said, it depends on the aims of why it is that you are doing this. It may also depend on the type of school involved, for example the approaches for a Secondary school or College are likely to be different to that of a Primary or Special School. If the aim is simply to signpost parents to resources which will enable them to apply appropriate parental controls to their child's devices for when children are at home, or explore social media sites etc. then I'd suggest the following (some are aimed at parents of younger children, some will be suitable for all ages): Internet Matters Uk Safer Internet Centre - Parent's Guide to Technology Parents and carers - Childnet Think U Know How to Guides Net Aware - NSPCC Parent Info Vodafone Digital Parenting NSPCC Online Safety NSPCC Share Aware We also signpost to other useful links to share with parents/carers here: Online e-safety useful links and information - kelsi.org.uk Schools are limited to what they can do with regards to personally owned devices. The school can request that any on site use of mobile phones etc. is in line with the school AUP and that pupils use the school wifi which should then be appropriately filtered and monitored in line with statutory requirements. Robust classroom management approaches will then be required to be implemented by all staff so the school can check/ensure that the policy is enforced. Any misuse or breaches should be dealt with in line with your school online safety/child protection/behaviour policy. If you are having specific issues outside of school e.g. pupils use of social media at home, then the school Designated Safeguarding Lead should be informed, and they should take action in line with the school child protection and online safety policies etc. It also would be worth considering if appropriate education messages are in place within the curriculum - for example are the education messages given to pupils up-to-date and appropriate? Is it staff saying "don't use social media; it's dangerous" rather than supporting pupils to develop appropriate online behaviours and responses. We find that a focus on banning/blocking etc. rarely deals with the underlying behaviour issues that cause issues on social media, and tends to lead to a reactive rather than proactive response - this is rarely effective in the long term. I know of one school that gave parents the option of attending practical workshops to help them put parental controls on their children's devices - this was run with great success by the technical staff by will support and assistance by the PTA and Designated Safeguarding Lead. Another school offered a similar workshop for parents when they were rolling out BYOD. They stated that pupils could only use their devices in school once their parents had attended a workshop. The session then went through the school's expectations for safe and appropriate use/behaviour (and included the parent and child signing a specific AUP there and then) and also signposted parents towards guidance and advice regarding online safety including applying parental controls.

Yes, SID tends to mean February is a busy month for me, so please forgive a fairly brief reply! The UK Safer Internet guidance on appropriate monitoring is really useful They identify three of the most common types of monitoring: Physical monitoring aka adult supervision (this relies heavily on staff training and policy!) Internet and web access aka logfiles etc. Active/Pro-Active Monitoring KCSIE 2016 says that schools need to have an approach towards monitoring that is appropriate to the school's specific needs. For example what is considered to be "appropriate" for a small rural primary with a only few laptops is likely to be very different to a large urban secondary with 1:1 devices or BYOD! One of the main things I'd encourage is for Headteachers and leaders (including Governors) to be aware of the filtering and monitoring systems in place in their setting. What I sometimes find is that leadership staff occasionally have a very limited understanding about how filtering/monitoring actually works in the school and therefore they rely heavily on technical staff to answer questions. I'm hearing more and more often that Ofsted are beginning to challenge this practice as online safety (and therefore filtering and monitoring) is now clearly viewed as a safeguarding and leadership issue. I wouldn't expect school leaders to necessarily understand the finer technical details but they need to have a basic understanding and certainly the Designated Safeguarding Lead must be involved in monitoring and taking action if/when concerns arise. This could include working with the technical team to review logfiles on a regular basis (such as daily or weekly) or they are the nominated person to receive and take action based on reports generated by physical or active/pro-active systems. Leaders need to be able to justify the decision making process they went through when deciding which solution was felt to be the best option. This would include issues relating to the age range of pupils, the number of pupils, the vulnerability of pupils (such as children with SEND, EAL etc.), how often pupils access the school IT system and the proportionality of costs vs risks. Budget is definitely a factor to consider however leaders must ensure that the welfare of children and young people is paramount at all times and this should be reflected in the decision making process. The UK Safer Internet Centre guidance covers some of this in much more depth and leaders have told me that they found reading it to be really helpful when making decisions. If the school has appropriate filtering in place, which is supported by robust systems to monitor internet use that are appropriate to the school's needs based on the above approach, then yes, it is quite possible that additional software may not be required.

My role is more to support schools etc but I may have some suggestions. There are some useful guides available online, most are aimed at parents rather than young people though: Facebook Checklist - Online Safety Services Parents and carers - Safer Internet Centre Net Aware - also really good for age restrictions For information about Facebook pages and groups then I find Facebooks help section really useful: Group Basics Page Basics Whats the difference between a Facebook page and group? Age restrictions: Under Age Use - Internet Matters Under 13s and social media - parents info This infographic can be useful for discussing age restrictions and the difference between app store rating etc. I've also used Net-Aware to have conversations with young people about age limit. Our safer professional practice with technology guidance document has some advice on why these limits are in place. I'd also be inclined to suggest not focusing too much on specific apps if you can - the privacy settings change so frequently and the popularity can vary with young people and this can make the presentation seem out of date or irrelevant very quickly. For example I'm finding less teenagers use Facebook in the traditional way and prefer to use it just for messenger. I'd focus on key behaviours to help reduce and respond to risk. Other links that may help are: Think U Know Childnet CBBC Stay Safe The other difficulty you may have will depend on the ages of the young people in the group. Content I'd suggest for 11-13 years olds would be very different to 14+ so you may need to think about this from a safeguarding perspective to make sure both yourself and young people aren't at risk. I'd suggest a discussion with your lead for safeguarding for your group (if you have one) or a discussion with Scouts UK Head office to ensure that you're following the safeguarding procedures etc.

There isn't a list as such I'm afraid! And yes, there are some very dated and inaccurate messages/contents out there. Equally there is some excellent providers, the difficulty as you say is working out which is which (especially if colleagues don't have sufficient training or understanding to differentiate). To be honest kids usually suss out who is and isn't credible much quicker than adults do, which of course makes them question the understanding of their setting in the first place..... If the content is free it may be worth trailing it with some students for their views etc. first. If not, then it doesn't hurt to ask for preview materials etc. so you can make an informed decision. I frequently get questions by school about external companies and consultants who offer a range of online safety training and resources. I also have providers asking me to promote them to schools! I have to remain impartial due to the nature of my role and as such I tell my schools that I can't recommend one external provider above other and I tell providers that schools need to decide which tool/speaker/package best meets their own community needs. However if I am aware of services, such as through feedback through other schools or my own experiences and use (some providers have given me demo accounts etc.), then I will share (keeping information confidential as required) their anonymised views and opinions or indeed my own perspective, when approached, so as to help schools to make informed decisions. It's very difficult to say which ones are any good to be honest as I (and other similar LA staff or grids etc.) can't always quality assess their content. To be fair, some of them are excellent and some are very out-of-date and inaccurate so I would suggest schools undertake research to source other opinions - I wouldn't just go from reports that providers give you (they are unlikely to share negative feedback!) so maybe speak to other local schools, your LA or other national organisations for other views. Word of mouth and personal recommendations is often undervalued. One concern I often have (especially for staff training) is that external providers often may not know the localised policy and procedures regarding safeguarding and child protection (some do and are excellent) which means schools may be at risk of breaching their statutory safeguarding duties. One example is a school which bought an online e-Learning system for their staff training but it didn't cover how staff can make referrals locally. Here in Kent we don't use the same systems as other LAs and that meant children (and indeed staff) were at significant risk. One of the best approaches is to develop internal resources rather than reliance on external providers for example using students to educate other students, parents or staff. That's not to say that external providers and speakers don't have a time and place (for example to highlight a particular message or approach) however if used on their own, then they won't be enough to meet the requirements. I typically would suggest external providers should be used to compliment school's own internal training and education approaches and schools check that external support has had appropriate and up-to-date training (e.g. have they accessed CEOP training or any other similar national or local training) which would enable them to provide appropriate education to your staff/students. There are some nationally acknowledged organisations and resources such as Think U Know, Childnet, SWGfL, UK Safer Internet Centre, BBC etc. which are excellent and are useful as a starting point. We also link to a range of materials on our website and you may find your own LA has such links available, if not then feel free to use mine. I am aware that there may be additional guidance at some point for schools/settings who are looking at hiring external consultants or providers regarding online safety. I'll share it on here when it becomes available. Happy if anyone wants to email me etc.

That's fine, best way to contact me is via email and you can find my contact information here E-safety - kelsi.org.uk

Happy to help if I can, but yes, this week is a busy one! Our website has template Acceptable Use Policies and online safety policies for schools and other educational settings to use and adapt which cover a range of issues.

The following resources are ones I recommend to schools as being helpful for staff CPD and training: Staff E-safety INSET Presentation - Childnet For working with young people - Childnet For you as a professional - Childnet Professional reputation - Childnet Professional reputation - Safer Internet Centre Helpline - Safer Internet Centre FAQs - Safer Internet Centre https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/teachers/ https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-you-can-do/get-expert-training/keeping-children-safe-online-course/ - NSPCC/CEOP e-Learning course It may also be worthing seeing if your local safeguarding children board or local authority offer any online safety guidance for schools as that may also be available to you and will be specific to your local area. For example the Kent resources for schools and education settings can be found here: E-safety - kelsi.org.uk

Your school should have a policy regarding this to protect both staff and students. It should be widely publicised and staff should receive appropriate training and guidance, especially if they are expected to carry out an authorised search. The following link from the DfE may help https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/searching-screening-and-confiscation The SWGfL have a policy template regarding searching and deletion: Policy Templates - Online Safety Services which is really useful in explaining what is required. Authorised staff do have the ability to search pupils and seize items which are "banned under the school rules" but need to be cautious they don't breach other legislation. A potential serious issue which could occur could be a member of staff searching a pupils phone as they believe it to have a bullying photos on it and then finding indecent images or extreme content. Currently there is no case law on this issue (as far as I know) so I would suggest your school's leadership team are clear about what is and isn't acceptable for staff and students to do, what "banned items" are, who is able to seize, search and delete and how this is documented.