www.safesocialnetworking.org

Safe is a unique new project that gives primary pupils a real-life way of learning e-safety through social networking. Practical activities develop children’s skills, confidence and safety awareness online.

Since children are going online at younger and younger ages, internet safety campaigns and initiatives must be tailored towards younger age groups,...this has implications for curricula and teacher training in primary schools.
57% of 9-16 year olds have a social networking profile

Safe complements and adds to initiatives like the DfE and UKCCis’s Zip it Block it Flag it, by offering a safe and authentic way to practice these skills.

Safe trains pupils to ask, before they share information:
Who will see what you share? How do you control this?
What  are you sharing? Is it yours? What personal information are you sharing? How will it affect others?
Where are you sharing things? Is this the best place?

Teacher resources enable any primary school to easily deliver fun Safe activities. Pupils complete 10 key criteria, which give them the proven ability to carry out a full range of social networking activities – safely.  On completion, they receive the Certificate in Social Networking Safety.

The key outcome is that young people develop their ‘internal capacity’ to protect themselves, feel confident and spot danger online. Like cycling proficiency or swimming lessons, we want children to do safely what they enjoy and benefit from.

Just as importantly, teachers and LA staff gain the skills, confidence and resources to offer Safe to future classes and to spread best practice to other schools.

Statistics

40,000 primary pupils benefiting from the Safe programme
10 UK Local Authorities receiving intensive training
150+ Local Authorities signed up for free resources

Testimonial - Amy Roberts, Deputy Head, Riversdale Primary

We are extremely proud to be the first school to complete SAFE. The reasons we started using SAFE materials and aiming for the certificates was we had been looking for ways to help children be safe online. Most of the other materials we found only covered some aspects of online safety. SAFE however is systematic and covers all the aspects that we knew children needed to understand in order for them to use the internet with confidence and in a manner which was not going to expose them to abuse. We also knew that if DigitalMe was recommending it, that the product would have been well researched and delivered in a child friendly manner.

The use of Radiowaves by our school community has enhanced both our curriculum, and our pastoral care of the children as well as giving us a greater sense of community. Children have learnt how to be positive with one another, but also how to help each other develop their ideas. They have push the boundaries of their knowledge tremendously as they have been desperate to include new features on their pages. They knew that they could ask in this community for help to learn new skills. Children are delighted to share their skills or mentor each other in acquiring them.

 Supporters: The Nominet Trust, Radiowaves, The I in Online, Childnet International



www.safesocialnetworking.org