Anfield School is a catholic international primary school based in Hong Kong. The school, which teaches children aged 4-11 years, develops its curriculum alongside the English National Curriculum.
Class teacher and computing lead, Anna Gilchrist, spoke to us about how Anfield School is dedicated to implementing an online safety culture to help students learn about the risks of the internet. Having purchased our Certified School Package, staff members and students at Anfield have benefited from learning how to recognise and respond to the dangers of the digital world.
Recognising online risks
The internet has provided the opportunity to socialise, learn, and work over the past year when COVID restrictions prevented us from face-to-face interactions.
Noting this, Anna commented: “Students are exposed to more risks now online than ever before. Much of our life is online. Throughout the past year, students have been learning online and often, independently. It is important for them to be able to identify risks online and know how to respond to them.
“Children spend a lot of time at home online, especially on phones and tablets. They are accessing online games and YouTube videos and being exposed to potential risks of inappropriate content, for example, Among Us, where they can play against people they do not know.
“We have spent time discussing online identity and bullying as well as the importance of keeping information private and secure.”
Prioritising online safety
Keeping on top of the latest online safety training has, therefore, never been more important. Our comprehensive range of online safety resources provides thorough knowledge of the various risks and how to respond to them.
To help commit themselves to improve their online safety, Anfield School purchased our Certified School Package.
Anna said: “We felt that we needed up to date, relevant lessons to engage the children and the certificate helped train teachers about the importance of current issues and advice on how to keep our children safe online. We believed that this is an important issue, especially as most learning has been online in the past year. There is a range of courses available – not just online safety – such as mental health and wellbeing.”
Our training can be rolled out to all staff once you have subscribed to a membership. This ensures your school fosters a whole-school approach to online safety. At Anfield School, the headteacher, deputy head, teachers, and teaching assistants took advantage of the National Online Safety resources.
To ensure Anfield’s dedication to improve online safety was adopted by the whole school community, parents also completed the
NOS online courses and attended the school’s virtual online safety workshop. Because of this commitment, Anfield was awarded the NOS Certified School Accreditation.
Anna continued: “The lesson plans for KS1 and KS2 are in-depth and well structured. They link well to each key stage national curriculum objectives.
“The Wake Up Wednesday guides are also useful to share with staff, children, and some of the older children to advise them about different apps. The webinars and explainer videos have helped staff know how to support children in managing online risks.”
