Keeping Your Family Safe Online

We believe that the effective use of the internet is worthwhile and is an essential skill for children as they grow up in the modern world, but it’s important to keep yourself and your family safe. Our school Internet provider operates a filtering system that restricts access to inappropriate materials.

RHC Website

The RHC button is an asset of SWGfL, a charity working internationally to ensure all benefit from technology, free from harm.

The button has been developed to offer anyone living in the UK a simple and convenient mechanism for gaining access to reporting routes for commonly used social networking sites, gaming platforms, apps and streaming services alongside trusted online safety advice, help and support. It also provides access to an online mechanism for reporting online harm to the RHC service for those over the age of 13 where an intial report has been made to industry but no action has been taken. RHC will review content in line with a sites' community standards and act in a mediatory capacity where content goes against these.

Children under 13 years of age are encouraged to tell an adult that they trust about what has happened and to ask for their help in reporting this going through our how we can help resource together.

RHC also have advice and links to reporting routes for other online harms people may come across or face, such as impersonation, privacy violations and intimate image abuse.

The RHC button provides a gateway to the RHC reporting pages, an area of the RHC website offering:

links to reporting routes on commonly used sites for 8 types of online harm
help, advice and support on what to do if experiencing or witnessing harm online
signposting to industry partners reporting forms and the ability to report legal but harmful content directly to RHC for further investigation

https://reportharmfulcontent.com/report/?from=button

Reporting to RHC

Reports can be made 24/7 through the online reporting forms and helpline practitioners will review and respond to reports within 72 hours between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday.

Reports can be made to RHC by anyone over the age of 13. SWGfL operates 3 helplines and to be sure you're getting the right support take a look at the Helpline flowchart to find out who can best support you.

TOP TIPS FOR KEEPING YOUR FAMILY SAFE ONLINE

* HAVE A DISCUSSION & GET INVOLVED: This sounds simple, but many parents are fearful of broaching the topic or don’t know where to start, but the reality is, for many children. there is no longer much distinction between their lives on and offline. Ask your children about what they and their friends are doing online, to try and understand where any risks may be. Have a discussion about what information is and isn’t appropriate for your children to share, and explain why. Discuss which social networks they use and ask them to inform you of any upsetting messages, making it clear you won’t get angry.

* SWITCH ON PARENTAL CONTROL TOOLS: There are now some simple and easy-to-use filtering products available, which can help people make the right decisions for their homes. Different ISPs offer different types of filtering – for example, Sky Broadband Shield uses a system of age ratings people will be familiar with - PG, 13, 18 – to decide the level of filtering to apply, and is available for free to their customers.

* GET SAVVY ABOUT TECH: These days it’s not just about the PC in the corner of the room. In many homes there are on average 7 internet-connected devices, with everything from smartphones to TVs and games consoles that connect to the web. Look out for a ‘whole home’ parental control tool that allows you to filter sites across the devices in your home.

* REGULARLY REVIEW YOUR PRIVACY SETTINGS: These can control who can view your child’s profile on social networking sites and how much information, like photos and video they can see. Review these regularly on your children’s accounts – and yours too – as technology is continually being updated and settings may not automatically change to keep up.

* SET BOUNDARIES: Parental controls are not just about blocking access to websites, they are a tool to help set boundaries. Some will allow you to easily amend filters at the touch of a button, so you can set filtering during specific time frames.

* KEEP TALKING: Young people use the internet to socialise and grow and, just as you guide and support them offline, you should be there for them online too. As they get older keep talking about how they are using the web, who they’re talking to and what they’re sharing. It is important to continue to discuss boundaries and how they are set so that they evolve along with your child’s use of technology.

Online trends and the popularity of apps change all the time, and it can be difficult to keep up.

We have attached some Fact Sheets of current trends which we hope you will find useful.

Stay Safe - Stay SMART

The following rules are what we teach our pupils in school when they start to access the internet... does your child know how to stay SMART online?

SAFE

Keep safe by being careful not to give out personal information – such as your full name, email address, phone number, home address, photos or school name – to people you are chatting with online.

MEET

Meeting someone you have only been in touch with online can be dangerous. Only do so with your parents’ or carers’ permission and even then only when they can be present.

ACCEPT

Accepting emails, IM messages, or opening files, pictures or texts from people you don’t know or trust can lead to problems – they may contain viruses or nasty messages!

RELIABLE

Information you find on the internet may not be true, or someone online may be lying about.

TELL

Tell your parent, carer or a trusted adult if someone or something makes you feel uncomfortable or worried, or if you or someone you know is being bullied online.