Internet Safety Training for Parents and Families

It’s been a long day. We had a really productive cluster meeting in the morning (more on his later). However, the main point of this post it to talk about tonight’s event.

I thought it was outstanding. First of all we had a turn out from over 100 parents, representing over 250 pupils within the school. For a parent event that was not a parents evening, I was amazed. We had some excellent input from some great speakers including Joan Tranent (one of our senior social workers), Detective Sergeant Andy Jones (Lothian Borders Police) and Ronnie Summers (Headteacher, MGS) who set a great context for the evening. I also did my bit of the social networking side of things.

We were supported by LTS (who provided materials for the packs), The Child Exploitation Online Protection Agency – CEOP (who allowed us to be the first school in Scotland [I think the UK] to use their parent training material), Young Scot East Lothian (who provided staff and nearly the space bus!), our own staff (who adopted the role of coffee break experts) and most importantly the parents.

The press were there in full force, with representatives from the East Lothian Courier, The Times Educational Supplement and the Scotsman. I just hope now that the slant that the press take is that parent training, on-line safety and responsible use is an issue across Scotland and we are one of the first schools that are trying to embrace it, rather than it is a particular issue in Musselburgh Grammar. In fact it is my opinion that on-line safety is less of a problem in MGS than other areas of the UK because we have done so much work to promote the responsible use. As far as I am concerned the biggest hurdle when trying to promote the ‘responsible message’ is to get parents involved and try to encourage the idea of collective responsibility.

Tonight we took a huge and brave step in trying to achieve this and I was very proud to be part of such an event.

So what did we cover?

We started off with an adapted ‘Shift Happens’ Presentation. This used some of the statistics for the original but also included specific examples of on-line bullying and on-line grooming.

Next Ronnie Summers (Headteacher Musselburgh Grammar) Introduced the evening. I loved Ronnie’s analogy of wanting to get pupils to use the internet is like wanting them to ride a bike. We need to give them support BUT if they fall over they can get very hurt.

Andy Jones and Joan Tranent Spoke about the Law. I think parents found it particularly interesting to find out that just being in possession of an explicit image in some cases can constitute a break in the law.

I want on to show a few examples of social networking sites and the dangers that irresponsible use can bring. I tried to emphasise the point that parents and children need to understand that behaviour on-line is just like behaviour in any social space. For example, if you wouldn’t say something in real life? Why would you say it on-line?

The sites that we covered in detail were Habba Hotel, MSN Messenger, Bebo and a chat room called Teenspot. We also looked at how due to irresponsible use of a social networking site it was possible to find out where your parents lived, how much your house was worth and your annual income.

Here are a few key slides that I gave as a handout to parents:

If anyone would like more information about the evening, please get in touch.

For some great resources check out www.thinkuknow.co.uk

Finally, it was great to see representatives from other Authorities (thanks Mr W) and from other secondary schools in East Lothian who attended the evening because they were interested in what was going on - we are all in the same game after all, aren't we?

Comments

[Neil Winton]

Thanks for the meeting! It was very informative, and was worth it for the looks of realisation (and sometimes horror) on the faces of some of the parents.

I have copious notes that I'll be turning into a post (or two) tomorrow... in the meantime, thanks again for a great night!

[OllieBray]

Hi Neil - thank you for coming down to the evening. As ever your support and enthusiasm is greatly appreciated. I would really value your feedback (I'm sure you will mention this in your posts). Also looking forward to seeing your Flickr Photos - The Courier are after a good one for Friday edition. See you soon, and enjoy the rest of your holiday! Ollie

[dave t]

Dear Mr B:

*genuflects and tugs forelock in attempt to ensure that next request is met with favour*

As I am currently sticking a presentation for the Headshed together would it be possible to grab a copy of your adapted "Shift Happens"?. I showed the original and the latest versions to my S4s and they were very interested - gave me a chance to have a discussion period which ranged very widely indeed! 8-)

David
English Teacher
Elgin Academy

[OllieBray]

Hi Dave,

This is not a problem. However the adapted version was really to do with Internet Safety.

Did you know that Shift Happens has now been adapted for UK use. You can download it from here. Remember if you adapt the presentation under the share and share alike license you need to put your adapted copy back into the public domain and acknowledge the original source.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ukschools/archive/2007/06/18/shift-happens-did-you-know.aspx

Cheers for now, Ollie

[Don Ledingham]

Ollie

This is great. Could you contact Mary Horsburgh to fit some time in to meet with myself and Karen Robertson.

Thanks

Don

[OllieBray]

Hi Don - I have contacted Mary and she will arrange a meeting time. OB

[dave t]

Fantastic - many thanks! Enjoy your kayaking! (My half term is wife in Benidorm, daughter and grandson in house, me on babysitting for a week!) ROll on summer when I get a real holiday!

[jim henderson]

Very interesting Ollie. Something I am looking at from a Highland perspective. I have been collating some stuff about internet safety. You can find it here http://del.icio.us/jimhenderson/InternetSafety

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[Jan Harrison]

Yes, re-read this piece in the light of the recent comments by Cameron and the responsibility of Search engines and ISPs.