Online Safety encompasses internet technologies and electronic communications such as mobile phones and wireless technology. It highlights the need to educate children and young people about the benefits and risks of using new technology and provides safeguards and awareness for users to enable them to control their online experiences.
As technology evolves we constantly update and adapt our policy and teaching to meet the safety needs of the children in our care. In addition to agreeing to a set of e-Safety rules for acceptable ICT use, learners are taught how to become safe and responsible ICT users.
Our ICT systems in school are constantly monitored and updated by expert technical staff, ensuring a high standard of safety for the young people who use them.
Safer Internet Day Information
Safer Internet Day 2024
What is Safer Internet Day?
Safer Internet Day is an event organised in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, which aims to promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people. The event has grown year-on-year, and it is now celebrated in approximately 170 countries worldwide!
During this event, lots of local and national organisations come together to raise awareness about the best practices in order to protect our safety online. The Safer Internet Day Slogan is, ‘Together for a better internet’. Topics of focus include:
- consent
- ownership
- data privacy
- cyberbullying
- digital identity
- social networks
The main goal of Safer Internet Day is to raise awareness and start a conversation about online safety, particularly with young people who may not be fully equipped with how to stay safe when using the internet. Unfortunately, one company alone cannot make the whole internet safe, but lots of people working together can have a big impact. The aim is to make a safer and better internet for everyone, children and adults alike!
When is Safer Internet Day?
This event is celebrated every year on a Tuesday in early February. Safer Internet Day 2024 will be on Tuesday 7th February 2024.
What is the theme of Safer Internet Day 2024?
Each year, Safer Internet Day covers a new theme. For Safer Internet Day 2024, the theme is “Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online”.
The internet plays a huge part in the lives of young people today, with many playing online games, posting on social media, and using video sharing platforms. It can be used positively, helping young people learn new skills, express themselves creatively and strengthen social bonds. However, the use of many popular online platforms has also been linked to low self-esteem and anxiety. They also come with a set of safeguarding risks, from the pressure to participate in dangerous challenges to cyberbullying.
It’s very important to provide young people with a safe space where they can share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences about life online. This can help educators and parents alike to promote wellbeing, and to better understand the specific safeguarding risks affecting the young people in their care.
Safer Internet Day 2024 will take place on the 7th of February 2024, with celebrations and learning based around the theme ‘Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online’.
Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, the celebration sees thousands of organisations get involved to promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people.
In the UK, we are celebrating by putting children and young people’s voices at the heart of the day and encouraging them to shape the online safety support that they receive.
That is why we are asking parents, carers, teachers, government, policymakers, and the wider online safety industry to take time to listen to children and young people and make positive change together.
This year we are hoping to answer the following questions:
- What issues really matter to children and young people?
- What changes do they want to see?
- How can we all work together to advocate for them moving forward?
With your help, Safer Internet Day 2024 can be a springboard for conversations that shape how we talk about and respond to online issues, not just for one day, but throughout the whole year.
About Safer Internet Day
Over the years, Safer Internet Day has become a landmark event in the online safety calendar. Starting as an initiative of the EU SafeBorders project in 2004 and taken up by the Insafe network as one of its earliest actions in 2005, Safer Internet Day has grown beyond its traditional geographic zone and is now celebrated in approximately 170 countries worldwide.
From cyberbullying to social networking to digital identity, each year Safer Internet Day aims to raise awareness of emerging online issues and current concerns.
