The links and documents below provide help for parents and carers to keep children safe. These have an overview of some popular games and social media apps.

At Hawthorn, we hold Online Safety sessions for parents with Simon Aston (North Northamptonshire Council); he has a wealth of knowledge around the latest apps and technology that our children are using and has some great tips for helping you to support your children to stay safe online.

There is a new Children's Code which social media apps are starting to conform to by changing various features. This includes Instagram which has features to manage content, who children interact with (and vice versa) and more.

Internet Matters is another excellent website which offers a wealth of information around staying safe online.  

YouTube

YouTube now has more user-friendly filtering options for different ages. Supervised Experience is a filter allowing users to block content at 3 different levels, which are:

• Explore - for users 9+.

• Explore More - for users 13+

• Most of YouTube - all content excluding content marked as 18+.

Parents can manage these settings from their own device via Google Family Link. 
See HERE for a helpful guide which includes a walkthrough video under "Supervised Accounts on YouTube - How do I Get Started?".

Cyber Sprinters

The National Centre for Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has some great resources for parents/carers about keeping personal information safe, passwords, suspicious messages and more. All the resources are available HERE, along with The Cyber Sprinters game which is available for children to play. 

National Online Safety

Visit National Online Safety for a wealth of parent guides and resources. 

Further Advice

Please follow the links below for further Online Safety advice.

Guide to Roblox for parents by Wayne Denner	Internet Matters guide to Be Real
CEOP - Education from the National Crime Agency	The Children's Society Protecting children from exploitation online
e-Safety tips, advice and resources to help children stay safe online	Helping parents keep children safe online
Making the internet a great and safe place for children	Educate Against Hate
NSPCC: Keeping children safe online We all have a part to play in keeping children safe online. Find out how with our online safety guides.	Help and advice for parents to keep children safe