At St Joseph's we use a whole school approach to teaching our pupils about Online Safety, that goes beyond teaching to include all aspects of school life, including:

• culture
• ethos
• environment
• partnerships with families and the community

Our principles of online safety include:

• clear processes for reporting incidents or concerns in the child protection policy
• reflecting online behaviours in the school’s behaviour and bullying policies

We teach our pupils to be clear about what is expected of them online as offline. 

It's important to remember that the legal age to have an account on most social media - Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Snapchat - is 13 years old.

Online safety is an integral part of children’s education in today’s digital world and is embedded in their learning at school. We also want to help our parents and children improve their own understanding of online safety issues so they can learn to use the internet and all digital media in a safe and secure way.

We proactively engage staff, pupils, parents and carers in school activities that promote the agreed principles of online safety. 

• Online safety workshops for pupils and parents
• Regular online safety newsletters for parents
• Safer Internet Day and online safety assemblies
• Responding to current online safety issues
• Extending support to parents, so they are able to incorporate the same principles of online safety at home.