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SAFER INTERNET DAY
Parents and teachers are today being
encouraged to help change children’s online
behaviour to mark EU Safer Internet Day on 9th
February 2010.
The initiative – which sees events taking
place across Europe – encourages internet
users of all ages to think about how they
are using the internet and what they can do
to stay safe. Within the UK, the Child
Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP)
Centre, the national Centre for child
protection, is spearheading activities and
launching new resources to raise awareness
and empower children and young people.
Throughout
Oxfordshire,
schools, local authorities, safeguarding
children’s boards and the police have been
working together to raise awareness of
online safety and in particular Safer
Internet Day, resulting in a number of
activities taking place.
At Cooper School, Mrs Wordsworth, Head of
ICT, is holding assemblies for each year
group encouraging them to think carefully
about the information they make available on
their profiles on social networking sites (Facebook,
Bebo, My Space, etc) for others to see and
how they have set their privacy settings on
those sites. She will be using CEOP
materials for this purpose, having
previously attended an Internet Safety
Training session by CEOP.
“Most of our students are internet-safety
aware but it is important to keep reminding
them of the potential dangers of making
personal information and photos available
for anyone on the internet to see and
download”, Mrs Wordsworth explained.
Helen Penn, CEOP’s Head of Education
explains more: “The theme of this year’s
Safer Internet Day is ‘Think before you
post’ and we would like to encourage
everyone to do just that – do you really
know who you are talking to? Is it really
sensible to post that photo of yourself on
your social networking site? By changing
children’s online behaviour and educating
them from an early age, we not only empower
them with the skills they need to stay safe,
but also deter those offenders who seek to
harm children online”.
As well as teachers, police officers and
child protection specialists, hundreds of
volunteers from Microsoft, O2 and Visa will
be going into schools around the UK,
delivering CEOP’s Thinkuknow education
programme to over 50,000 young people. To
find out more about this programme or to
book a volunteer to present in a school, you
can contact the CEOP Education team by
emailing protect@ceop,gsi.gov.uk.
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