Last month, the Government made 2 significant announcements that related to e-safety issues. The latest announcement made on Boxing Day reiterated the need for education and parental support in keeping children safe online. Here is a brief summary of the developments.
On 11th December, David Cameron announced measures that aim to protect young people from online predators. Speaking at the We Protect Children Online summit, he presented 3 strategies to help at-risk children including; blocking internet search terms; identifying illegal images and; global child protection and laws.
Further information about this story can be found in our e-safety blog
On 26th December, Nicky Morgan announced further moves to help protect children, by reaching out to parents, encouraging them to use the new whole home parental controls - introduced by the government - as well as online resources such as ParentPort and Internet Matters to help keep their children safe online. In her speech she is quoted as saying:
"From my conversations with parents I know how worried parents are about keeping their children safe online."
"This isn’t just about what they may be exposed to but ensuring that parents’ pockets are also not hit by the unauthorised purchasing of apps and games - something very easily done."
"But this isn’t just a problem for parents, schools have a role to play too, which is why we have put online safety at the heart of the curriculum and I am delighted to announce extra funding to ensure children are given the information and tools they need to protect themselves online."
To support this, the additional funding of £500,000 will be given to the Safer Internet Centre, to ensure schools and teachers are also equipped to teach our young people about how to be safe online. The money will provide advice for schools, alongside:
Further details of the announcement can be viewed on the GOV.UK website.
With e-safety now also part of the curriculum, it is clear that the Government see this as an essential part of the education agenda.
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