February 10th is Safer Internet Day an annual event (since 2004) thats promotes safe and responsible internet use in more than 50 countries worldwide.
As a part of this a series of workshops organised by Bristol Safeguarding Children Board, the South West Grid for Learning and Avon and Somerset Constabulary aims to educate parents of the risks children and young people can face on-line and how best to help deal with them.
The first workshop takes place at Monks Park School in Horfield (my old school!) and then take place throughout Bristol.
If you are not based in Bristol or if you can't make any of the workshops the South West Grid for Learning Trust have a download section with useful e-safety resources on their website which is well worth checking out.
The workshop identifies 11 golden rules for safe use of the internet and they are good. common sense guidelines rather than some of the scare mongering that takes place in the press.
Golden Rules' for safe use of the internet include:
Ground rules
* keep information private - think, would I tell this to a stranger?
* agree rules about meeting online ‘friends’ in real life
* generally - if not acceptable in real life it shouldn’t be acceptable on line
Online safety
* anti-virus and parental monitoring systems
* online safety guides
* activate security and privacy settings
Location
* internet access should be in a family room, rather than a bedroom
* be aware that devices such as gaming consoles or mobile phones can access the internet or via a neighbour’s wireless network
Dialogue
* share the experience
* get your children to teach you - this is better than any course you can go on
* ensure they are happy to talk to you if they have a problem or feel uncomfortable
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