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It’s not long until Safer Internet Day! This event is coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre.
This year’s theme is “All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online”
You will find a range of resources for schools for 3-7 year olds, 7-11’s, 11-14s and 14-18’s at: https://saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/safer-internet-day-2022/educational-resources and you may like to use these in conjunction with Gooseberry Planet’s own resources on this topic.
These are our Gooseberry Planet Scenario Recommendations for the Safer Internet Day theme:
Playground FS 2: Sc3 Online Information
Playground: Sc6 Sharing Online, Sc8 Online Bullying
Street: Sc6 Online Gaming, Sc7 Online Bullying
Village: Sc4 Safe Sharing, Sc5 Online Gaming
Town: Sc6 Online Bullying, Sc7 Online Gaming
City: Sc2 Digital Footprints, Sc7 Passwords and Passcodes
Gooseberry Student
Some Facts:
According to Ofcom, 88% of children aged 8-11 and 95% of children aged 12-15 say that people are mean or unkind to each other on social media platforms. 30% of 8–15-year-olds say they have been bullied and of those, about half say it happened during online gaming, on messaging apps or on social media.
What do you think?
Have you experienced people being mean online?
Are people online mean to those they know in real life or just to people they don’t know?
Do you think it’s easier to be mean online than face to face? Why?
Many people are nice to each other online. Can you give some examples?
How do you feel when someone is nice to you online?
How do you feel when someone is mean?
Are there rules about what you can do or say online? (Think about platform rules/community guidelines)
What action can you take if someone is mean online? (Think about blocking and reporting to the platform)
Sometimes you can feel very sad if someone is mean to you. What could you do if you are feeling sad? (Think about trusted adults and the support available in school)
What could you do if your friend is feeling sad? (Think about showing them kindness, about telling a trusted adult and being an upstander to bullying)
Gooseberry Teacher
Safer Internet Day this year encourages us to think about respect for others online. Sadly, there are many circumstances where children come across unkind or even hateful behaviour online. There are a range of online contexts in which you might like to explore this topic and to encourage tolerance, kindness and respect for those who are different:
Online gaming – children may experience unkind comments or destructive or deliberately inflammatory behaviour or they may find themselves excluded from gaming groups.
Social media, children can be faced with unkind comments, body shaming or upset from being unfriended, unfollowed or when their posts receive very few “likes”.
Peer pressure – for older children, you might use the opportunity to discuss the illegality of sharing nudes, and the importance of not pressuring anyone to create or share nudes and not giving in to such pressure.
Encourage children to use the tools available on the platform to block unwanted contacts and report behaviour that breaks the platform rules. The website www.reportharmfulcontent.com is a useful resource for this. It’s also a good opportunity to remind pupils how they can seek help within school.
Gooseberry Parent
The theme of Safer Internet Day this year is “All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online”
This presents a useful opportunity to have a conversation with your child about their experiences online. Ask them if they have ever come across unkind or bullying behaviour online and, if so, how it made them feel. Children often feel embarrassed and don’t tell if they have been bullied or received nasty comments. This might encourage them to tell you about worries that they have not previously shared.
Explore with them how to block unwanted contact on the online platforms that they use and how to report those who break the platform rules. Encourage them always to tell you if they are worried or upset by anything online and reassure them that you are there to support them, whatever has led to the problem. You might also wish to tell them about the confidential advice services offered by Childline.
Have a look at the website www.reportharmfulcontent.com which provides links to the reporting tools on many of the most popular online platforms.
Gooseberry Planet offers over 60 comprehensive lesson plans on all aspects of online safety for 5-13-year olds. Click here to find out more about Gooseberry Planet!
