Today, Monday 6th February 2017 marks the start of our Online Safety Week at Highfield J&I School. Throughout the week your child will be learning about how to stay safe online whilst in school and at home. We will also be participating in the globally celebrated Safer Internet Day tomorrow (Tuesday 7th February).

Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, the theme for this years Safer Internet Day is ‘Be the change: Unite for a better internet’. This theme will run throughout our Online Safety Week.

Safer Internet Day is a fantastic opportunity to have a conversation with children about using the internet safely, responsibly and positively. Whether you are a parent, grandparent, foster carer, aunt, uncle or older sibling – we can all play a role in empowering children to enjoy their time online! This year, the UK Safer Internet Centre is particularly focusing on the role of images and videos in young people’s lives and has provided some conversation starters to help you talk about these issues with children. Also courtesy of the UK Safer Internet Centre, here you can find useful information and resources for parents and carers.

Let’s ‘unite for a better internet’!

The week commencing Monday 6th February 2017 is our Online Safety Week at Highfield J&I School. Throughout the week your child will be learning about how to stay safe online whilst in school and at home. We will also be participating in the globally celebrated Safer Internet Day on Tuesday 7th February 2017.

Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, the theme for this years Safer Internet Day is ‘Be the change: Unite for a better internet’. This theme will run throughout our Online Safety Week.

Will Gardner, Director of the UK Safer Internet Centre and CEO of Childnet, said: “Safer Internet Day is an opportunity for everyone across the UK and globally to unite for a better internet. Whether you are a young person, parent, carer, school or organisation, we can all ‘be the change’ and take positive actions to make the internet a better place. Hundreds of schools and organisations have pledged their support for Safer Internet Day and it is this collaboration that helps ensure Safer Internet Day has such a positive impact, reaching 40% of UK children in 2016 and growing year on year.”

As part of our Online Safety Week and Safer Internet Day activities, we are inviting you to a parent workshop which will be held on Wednesday 8th February at 2:45-3:15pm in the Infant Hall. During the workshop we will give you useful advice and top-tips to ensure that both you and your children can stay safe online and enjoy a ‘better internet’. This is a fantastic opportunity to ask for advice, put your mind at ease, or just enquire as to what you can do to keep your children safe online at home.

If you have any further questions regarding the parent workshop, please do not hesitate to contact the main school office.

Last week, the children in year one, were immersed into their new topic – Up, Up, Away. All the children wrote letters which they attached to balloons. The children then watched the balloons get released into the sky.

After the balloon release, the children then began thinking about what they might have seen if they had flown Up, Up and Away with the balloons. They came up with lots of fabulous ideas and created aerial maps which are shown below. We've got houses, shops, cars, a park, a mosque, Highfield Primary School and a big red bus.