Social media and online safety

What is online safety? Why is it important?

Children today are growing up in an increasingly complex world, living their lives seamlessly on and offline. This presents many positive and exciting opportunities, but also challenges and risks.

The aim of Online Safety is to ensure that children are aware of the nature of the possible threats that they may encounter whilst engaging in activity through the Internet – these could be security threats, protecting and managing their personal data, their online reputation management, or avoiding harmful or illegal content.

By practicing Online Safety, we can prevent and mitigate the risks that are involved with using digital technologies, platforms, and services. Once the risks are managed, the internet can be enjoyed free from harm and to enormous benefit.

Over the last few years, there has been a huge increase in the amount of research being conducted to find out about children and young people’s online activity and the impact this can have on them. Each year, Ofcom produce a ‘Children and parent’s: media use and attitudes report’ – these reports look at media use, attitudes and understanding among children and young people aged 3-17.

Who is at risk online? What are the potential risks?

Anyone can be vulnerable online, and a person’s vulnerability can fluctuate depending on their age, developmental stage, and personal circumstances. However, there are some children, for example looked after children, child who have special educational needs and children with mental health difficulties, who may be more susceptible to online harm. This vulnerability does not mean that a child should not go online, instead it means that the child may need more support or supervision when online and they may need extra steps in place to support them if something goes wrong.

A recent report conducted by Internet Matters looked at children who had vulnerabilities in the physical world and then looked closely at their behaviour in their online world. It highlighted that children who have specific vulnerabilities (including things like learning, speech and language, hearing or mental health difficulties) were the most vulnerable children online too.

Some organisations then split the 4 C’s categories into further groups of risk. Please see the table below to see specific examples of potential risks that children may experience online, including some crosscutting risks that do not necessarily fit into one of the 4 C’s:

How can we support children with Online Safety?

The DfE produced updated guidance for schools in January 2023, which outlines the government’s approach to Teaching Online Safety and explains how schools could ensure their pupils understand how to stay safe and behave online as part of existing curriculum requirements. The guidance suggests schools should:

• Teach pupils about the underpinning knowledge and behaviours that can help them to navigate the online world safely and confidently regardless of the device, platform, or app (including evaluating content online, recognising persuasion, analysing behaviour, identifying risks, and seeking support).

• Have an understanding of the risks that exist online so they can tailor their teaching and support to the specific needs of their pupils.

• Refer to the Education for a Connected World Framework for age specific advice about the online knowledge and skills that pupils should have the opportunity to develop at different stages of their lives.

• Take into account additional considerations when planning their curriculum, such as: vulnerable pupils, use of external resources and external visitors and teach about harms in a safe way.

• Teach about online safety and harms within a whole school approach.

Where can professionals go for more information or support?

There are lots of organisations with information about all the different potential online issues – you can check out the links located on the right-hand side of this page, or perhaps check Internet Matters for some quick information, advice and resources.

If you have a concern about something which has happened online, and you’d like some free, independent advice or support – you may choose to contact the Professional Online Safety Helpline (POSH) – this is a free service for professionals and volunteers working with children and young people. It can provide signposting, advice, and mediation where appropriate.

Sometimes, a parent/carer or child may inform a professional about something which needs to be reported to other professionals and/or organisations. Professionals should always follow their safeguarding policy and procedures and seek advice from senior leaders when necessary. Professionals may find the following reporting sites supportive and informative:

• Should I make a report to CEOP? | concerned adult
• Report Child Sexual Abuse Images & Videos Online (iwf.org.uk)
• Report Harmful Content – We Help You Remove Content