Children and young people have a wealth of technologies to use at their fingertips and in my online sessions they are taught how to navigate these and keep themselves safe online.
Our young people don’t see any separation from their ‘online’ worlds and their ‘real’ worlds – they are one and the same to them, however so many things are different online and need to be taught.
For example, they don’t hold the same reservations – talking to strangers, sharing sexual images, being cruel with their comments, all of these are common place online and in addition to all this, they can come across adult themed content and make themselves open to adults wishing to exploit them if they don’t understand how to set up their privacy and what to look out for to keep themselves from potentially dangerous situations.
In my Online Safety sessions, I root all learning to relevant, up to the minute information. Giving the facts required to enable children and young people to be tech-savvy, recognise dangers and make the right choices online and always whilst working within governmental statutory guidance where applicable and providing signposting for further support.