Blog – Latest stories tagged 'safer_internet_day'

Today is Safer Internet Day. This European initiative has now become a global event with schools, organizations and companies encouraged to help children and young people be safe on the Internet. Each year has a different focus and for 2016, the theme is ‘Play your part for a better Internet.

Key events and resources for this year will look at young people examining ways to take ownership of the Internet and discuss initiatives to reduce cyber bullying and hate statements.

Key emphasis on the day will be the Twitter hashtag '#shareaheart' and representatives from companies, football clubs and other organisations will be visiting schools to spread the message. The UK Safer Internet Centre also has a range of activities on the day including SID TV, discussions with celebrities, the social media ‘thunderclap’ and a range of other events.

The key question is that after the intense media activity on the day, what happens on Wednesday 10 February? The point for schools is that Internet safety is not just for one day, but for life. The schools that tick their e-safety box on Safer Internet Day and do nothing for the rest of the year are doing a great disservice to their pupils. An ethos around online safety needs to pervade through the school all year round with initiatives to engage students and stakeholders on the safe use of technology.

Whilst SID is great for building awareness, we need to look at countries such as Scotland who have a monthly focus on e-safety during March. This is backed up by a national TV campaign which makes it hard for parents to ignore. Indeed, this 'drip-drip' approach is so important in embedding the message that digital parenting is a key aspect of being responsible guardians.

Other ways to ensure Internet safety is part of the year-long curriculum include planning events throughout the year that will focus on engagement with pupils and parents. This includes a focus on cyberbullying during November to link in with Anti-Bullying Week or a refresh of the school e-safety polices in August. For more ideas, E-safety Support members can download a 2016 planner with further suggestions for activities throughout the year.

If you are a school taking part in Safer Internet Day, then I wish you a great day. And don't forget, now is also a great time to review your e-safety strategy and ensure that you have systems in place to be proactive and make sure that your Safer Internet Day efforts are used to ensure that is more than just a one day event.

#esstips Competition

Entry for our SID2016 #esstips has now closed with well over 700 fantastic entries - we will be announcing the winners during the course of Safer Internet Day

On the 9th February 2016, millions across the UK and globally will be celebrating Safer Internet Day. Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, the day is a great opportunity for teachers to engage with young people and their parents and carers about safe and positive use of technology and encourage them to play their part to create a better internet.

Each year hundreds of primary and secondary schools get involved in the day, running activities in the classroom, putting on assemblies, holding parent sessions or getting involved in the Safer Internet Day social media campaign. As a result, last year, Safer Internet Day 2015 reached 25% of 11-16s, with a third of those going on to change their behaviour – an incredible figure for a one-day campaign!

Over 200 schools have already joined the official supporters list for Safer Internet Day 2016, and it looks set to be the biggest Safer Internet Day yet.

To help schools and youth groups deliver activities for children, young people and parents and carers on Safer Internet Day 2016 the UK Safer Internet Centre has developed Safer Internet Day education packs.

Safer Internet Day education packs

The theme for Safer Internet Day 2016 is ‘Play your part for a better internet’ and provides an opportunity for schools to explore the responsibility we all have to help create a kinder online community.

The Safer Internet Day education packs aim to empower young people to celebrate diversity online in order to inspire a kind, respectful and inclusive internet, and help raise awareness about the issue of online hate and cyberbullying to ensure no child is ever targeted online for being different. This is explored through posters, assembly presentations with scripts, drama activities, quick activities, full lesson plans and even films!

To help teachers get involved the UK Safer Internet Centre has some ideas about how you can use the packs to run activities on Safer Internet Day:

In the classroom, teachers can use the UK Safer Internet Centre’s primary school lesson plan to get pupils to create their own set of Digital Rights which they believe could make the internet a better place.

New this year, the whole-school activities for primary and secondary are a great way to get everyone involved in Safer Internet Day. This includes our #shareaheart social media campaign, a positive commenting activity and ideas for a question wall.

For quick activities teachers can use the SID TV videos to think about how we communicate online. For primary, the Smartie the Penguin video can be used to teach young people what to do if they get a mean comment online and how we can all be a good friend to others. For secondary, the real-life stories and expert perspectives can be used to think about and the impact of how we communicate online and how to deal with negative comments or cyberbullying.

Assemblies in the week of February 9th could focus on how we all have a role to play to make the internet a better place. Use the ready-to-go assembly and script for secondary schools and primary schools, including a poem that celebrates difference online – or why not support pupils to deliver their own assemblies?

Why not display the Safer Internet Day poster in your primary school or secondary school?

Reach out to parents and carers using the Safer Internet Day parent pack, which includes a template letter, resources and a ready-to-use presentation.

For more ideas about how to get involved visit: the Safer Internet Day website

#shareaheart for Safer Internet Day 2016!

To help spread the love and promote respect and kindness online on Safer Internet Day the UK Safer Internet Centre is encouraging schools to take part in the #shareaheart social media campaign.

Whether it’s a positive message in the UK Safer Internet Centre’s specially designed heart signs, a post filled with heart emojis, or something more creative, there are lots of ways you can get involved! To find out how visit: http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2016/play-your-part/share-a-heart

Remember to share your heart message, image or video on social media on the 9th February using the hashtag #shareaheart!

E-safety Support Resources

Before Safer Internet Day, why not get students thinking about how they would like to mark the event using the Safer Internet Day assembly from this website. The assembly (in both Primary and Secondary versions) is available to all E-safety Support members and can be downloaded from your dashboard.

esstips competition
There is still time to enter the #esstips competition. Simply submit your entries before midnight on 8th February. Find out more

Safer Internet Day 2015 will be celebrated globally on Tuesday 10th February with the theme ‘Let’s create a better internet together’.

Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre the celebration sees hundreds of organisations get involved to help promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people. For SID2014, over 650 organisations got involved, reaching 25% of children and 18% of teenagers.

The UK Safer Internet Centre – a partnership of three leading charities; Childnet, the South West Grid for Learning and the Internet Watch Foundation – provide resources for children, schools and families, and tools for getting involved at www.saferinternet.org.uk.

Globally, Safer Internet Day is celebrated in over a hundred countries, coordinated by the joint Insafe/INHOPE network, with the support of the European Commission, and 31 national Safer Internet Centres across Europe.

The day offers the opportunity to highlight positive uses of technology and to explore the role we all play in helping to create a better and safer online community. It calls upon young people, parents, carers, teachers, social workers, law enforcement, companies, policymakers, and wider, to join together in helping to create a better internet. Ultimately, a better internet is up to us!

Last year an unprecedented number of organisations got involved in the day! Hopefully, you will find it hard to avoid hearing a mention of Safer Internet Day before or on the actual day!

Safer Internet Day TV will be presented by CBBC Friday Download stars Molly and Harvey, this will stream live on 10th February at 11am, 2pm and 7pm. It will be available to watch at www.saferinternetdaytv.com and www.youtube.com/UKSIC, the programme will feature advice and practical information from experts and providers such as Facebook, Google and Twitter on internet safety and issues from cyberbullying to reporting and privacy, as well as messages of support from lots of well-known faces!

3 Ways to get involved

1) Promote the day using #SID2015

The official hashtag is #SID2015 and it would be great if you could post messages of support on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.

2) Thunderclap

Help reach millions on social media on the morning of Safer Internet Day and kickstart a day of trending!

Simply sign up to the Thunderclap with your social media accounts, then on the morning of Safer Internet Day your accounts will automatically send out the Safer Internet Day message, along with hundreds of organisations and individuals.

3) Share a smile

“Share a smile” this Safer Internet Day – whether that’s a smiley emoticon or smiley selfie! We want to create a wave of positivity online this Safer Internet Day, and we hope we’ll get lots of people sharing positive messages. It would be great if you could get involved with this!


Don't forget, all E-safety Support members can download an assembly introducing Safer Internet Day from your dashboard.