Catherine McKinnell, MP for Newcastle North, visited Waverley Primary School in Dumpling Hall today to discuss the importance of online safety for children and young people.
She was joined by tech firm Google who used the visit to highlight their ‘Be Internet Legends’ programme for schools.
Google research has shown that 96% of teachers believe that children should learn about online safety both at home and in school. So, to help teachers educate their pupils about staying safe online, Google launched Be Internet Legends, an educational programme aimed at 7 to 11-year-olds to help them be safe, confident explorers of the online world – through a wide range of online platforms, teaching resources, face-to-face workshops and assemblies, and free training resources for over 19,000 UK teachers.
Be Internet Legends works in partnership with family internet safety experts parentzone, and it is accredited by the PSHE Association. The programme has so far reached over a million children across the UK, and it consists of five key pillars, which children at Waverley Primary were taught today, to help them learn the essentials of how to stay safe online:.
These are:
- Be “internet sharp” – think before you share
- Be “internet alert” – check it’s for real
- Be “internet secure” – protect your stuff
- Be “internet kind” – respect each other
- Be “internet brave” – when in doubt, discuss
The Waverley Primary pupils and their teachers were also shown Interland – a fun-filled adventure game to make learning about online safety fun and informative. Children learn about avoiding hackers, phishers and bullies practising the skills learnt with the programme.
Following today’s visit, Catherine said:
‘Whenever I meet with children and young people across Newcastle, being able to stay safe online is one of the main concerns they always raise with me.
‘This is a really fantastic, free resource for children and young people, their parents and of course schools to help them safely and positively navigate what can seem like a bewildering online world.
‘It was great to see the pupils at Waverley Primary get so much out of this opportunity, which I hope other local schools will also take up.’