Better Internet for Kids

This blog is a guide for parents and carers. It describes what Twitch is, why it's popular with young people, how it works, and what parents and carers need to know to help keep children safe while using Twitch. It includes advice from young people about what they think parents and carers need to know.

This blog looks at how age ratings are decided for games, how parents and carers can respond when children tell them they want to play games that are designed for older children, how to find alternative games, parental controls to use, and where to find more information about this issue.

The best time to talk to your children about the internet is when they are using it. Going online together, and engaging with your child’s favourite sites and services, provides the perfect opportunity to start a discussion, in a relevant context. This article includes top tips about playing games together, reading together, exploring the online world together, wathcing films and having fun together.

This article shows what parents and carers can do to help support young people to be safe online with tech given as gifts. It includes information on setting up a device before gifting it, how to discuss your expectations about how a new device is used, practical safety tips and how to talk to your child about online safety.

The resource is comprised of a video called 'Home truths' which shows multiple offenders in a family home, talking to a child in an inappropriate way, in order to open parents' eyes to the potential dangers of their child being online and that this abuse could be happening right under their nose. This is a hard-hitting and impactful visual representation of the kind of abuse the IWF sees on a daily basis.
The resource is also a downloadable PDF which includes the TALK checklist, TALK stands for;
Talk- start talking to your child about online sexual abuse

An online information page with advice on online sexual harassment for 11-18 year olds produced by Childnet, part of the UK Safer Internet Centre. The page includes a video, top tips and answers to frequently asked questions we hear from young people.

The Digiduck Activity Menu includes a range of teaching and learning activities designed for educators to use with children aged 3-7 years old. The activities are based on the first three books in the Digiduck series and include:
- quick creative activities,
- quick discussion activities,
- quick writing activities,
- longer activities with supporting resources and worksheets.

Young people tell us that watching videos is fun and entertaining, can be a way to switch off from other things going on in their lives and is a big part of popular culture.

Many children and young people are also interested in creating and sharing their own videos. There are lots of positives from participating in this. For example, it allows young people to:

- express their creativity,
- develops useful skills (e.g. editing),
- learn new things,
- share a passion or interest with others, and
- have fun.

In this Beta release, the Knowledge Map feature will be available for years 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 10 with the additional year groups releasing in the Autumn term. The types of scenarios that are put in front of students vary depending on the topic and age group.

For example, young people will be shown a scenario such as:

I want to show my friend and others how much I enjoyed the video they posted. Any ideas?

Surrounding the scenario are a number of responses they can choose from, such as:

Reshare the content with your friends and followers.

When deciding about camera use during lessons there is no hard and fast rule, and ultimately this is a decision that needs to be made as a school or setting, with both staff and students interest at the forefront.
This article discusses points to consider when having cameras on, to record or not to record, talks about devices, what to teach and points to other recommended sources for help.