A primary school near Woodbridge hosted a series of sessions to teach children online safety as part of Safer Internet Day.
Charsfield Church of England Primary School’s latest ‘Learning Together’ session aimed to teach pupils and parents alike about the dangers children face online, as well as steps they should take to stay safe in a digital world.
Part of a wider initiative by the school, the ‘Learning Together’ scheme aims to highlight modern, real-world issues into the classroom throughout the year, with previous sessions being run on relationships, stranger danger, drugs and healthy food and drink.
The sessions were split into groups according to age to ensure all children understood the dangers faced online and across social media platforms.
Older pupils and their parents were tasked at signing up to a mock social media website as a test regarding giving away personal information, while the younger pupils read about Smarty the penguin’s first experiences with his new tablet computer.
The children have separate online safety classes every September, with the older pupils remembering the advice they’d been given when it came to taking the social media test.
Amie Reeve, head of school and safeguarding lead said: “It’s important in this day and age to teach children about keeping themselves safe online and the children and parents found lots to talk about – mobile phones were a hot topic as it had been highlighted in the news recently.
“We find sessions like these invaluable to highlight awareness of key issues in today’s modern society in our small rural communities.”
The day was regarded as a success by staff, parents and pupils, with feedback received labelled ‘extremely positive’ as all involved were able to take something important away from the sessions.
Data published by the NSPCC last month revealed Suffolk had 28 instances of sexual communication with children reported in the last six months.
Safer Internet Day was observed by schools across the country and the globe, with the University of Suffolk having hosted its annual conference in Ipswich last Tuesday.
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