Online Safety
At Stella Maris, we want to help keep your child safe online in a way that supports learning, wellbeing and good family values. Online safety means more than blocking harmful content; it also involves building good habits such as using strong passwords, keeping personal information private, and talking regularly about what children see and do online. Please encourage your child to come to you straight away if something feels worrying, confusing or unkind, and explain that reporting is always the right thing to do. For parents, it helps to agree on practical rules for screen time, where devices are used in the home and which apps or websites are suitable, as well as checking privacy settings together. You can also support safer choices by using parental controls, keeping devices updated and supervising activity, especially for younger children. If you would like guidance on starting these conversations or setting up safer settings, please speak with school staff—we are here to work with you to help children enjoy the internet safely.
Useful links and information
If you are looking for a comprehensive bank of resources for online safety go to the Internet Matters site by clicking on this link: https://www.internetmatters.org
This site has guides for everything, from setting up parental controls to specific information about online APPs.
Parenting in a Digital World presentation
Online Safety for Parents slides using information from Childnet and Internet Matters
Parents know that keeping our children safe online is a growing challenge. At Stella Maris we take this challenge very seriously. The NSPCC has developed a range of resources to help parents protect their children when using the internet – please click on the links below to see them.
If you have a problem relating to online safety that you would like some help with, please get in touch with a member of the Senior Leadership Team/Designated Safeguarding Leads and we will make sure you get the help and advice you need.
A straightforward guide to protecting your children from online hate, extremism, and fake news
A Parents’ Guide to being Share Aware
Your Child’s Online World – a Guide for Parents
Online Safety Policy
Other websites you might find useful:
Get Safe Online - Website with links to keeping your computers, accounts and identity safe online.