The internet is here, and it’s here to stay! There are no doubt potential downsides to young children accessing screen-based resources, but expecting today’s children to live without technology is no longer realistic. It’s all about balance - allowing children to develop technological literacy (as well as a host of other benefits on top!) whilst making them aware of risks and keeping them safe online.
Each room has an E-Safety Champion who help ensure our staff, children and families are able to use the internet and wider technology safely.
Children only have supervised access to safe material that promotes their development, with an acceptable level of screen time. This is only during adult-led activities, using material that has been previously screened by staff. Staff always model safe practices whilst using technology with children.
Children are taught the following stay safe principles in an age appropriate way -
• Only go online with an adult.
• Always be kind online.
• Keep information about yourself safe
• Only press buttons on the internet to things you understand.
• Tell a grown up if something makes you unhappy on the internet.
Where appropriate, staff discuss more complex topics such as -
• Who is a stranger, and who is not
• Comparing real life to what they might see online
• What they would do if a stranger tried to contact them
“There are a lot of things you need to be careful with when you’re online. You shouldn’t touch or click something that you are not familiar with. If you don’t recognise what you see or it makes you feel unhappy, you should tell an adult you trust.”
• Get online together. Talk to your child about what the internet is and use it together - show them the fun and educational things you can do.
• Remind them that if they see anything upsetting, they can come and talk to you.
• Be involved! Ensure children only use devices around you, so you can monitor their usage. Stay curious about what they are doing and encourage them to share their enjoyment.
• Put yourself in control. Use passwords and explore the parental control options on all your devices.
• Keep it age-appropriate. Choose safe, fun and educational sites and apps for your child. App stores offer age ratings to help with this!
• Read all about it! Purchase books about E-safety to read with your child to teach them about the importance of keeping safe online.
Every child is unique, so there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to managing screen time in your family. Here are some tips that could help!
• Remember that screen time can be both active (games, video calls etc.) and passive (endless scrolling!)
• Set a good example with your own device use.
• Switch off auto-play where possible, to remove the temptation to ‘binge watch’.
• Explore the screen time management settings on devices.
• Create ‘screen free’ zones at home and try to limit screen use before bed
Strategies that may help manage screen time:
Sand or Digital Timer: Can be used as a visual aid to support your child’s understanding of how much time they have left, or to count down to the next activity.
Visual Timetable: You could include access to a screens within your child’s daily routine to help them to understand that they will be expected to participate in a range of activities within the day.
Now/Next: Encourage your child to join in with less-preferred activities first, with the reward of (limited) screen time to follow.
Responsibility: Children love to be given jobs! Give them the opportunity to turn the iPad off, or they get to choose what toy they play with after using screens.
All these strategies are used at Red Bus to help children move throughout their Nursery day.
Kiddle - a safe visual search engine for children
Techosaurus - The NSPCC's online safety dinosaur
YouTube Kids
CBBC iPlayer
Teach Your Monster
You can report any suspicious or offensive material to the Internet Watch Foundation
www.iwf.org.uk
Suspicions that an adult is attempting to make inappropriate contact with a child online is reported to the National Crime Agency’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre www.ceop.police.uk
If you become aware that a child is the victim of
cyber-bullying, you can seek help from the NSPCC
on 0808 800 5000 or www.nspcc.org.uk or ChildLine on 0800 1111 or www.childline.org.uk