As we are half way through out Term 3 school holidays, the UPS Education and Wellbeing Committee wanted to remind you of some useful resources about the important topics of cyber safety and online responsibility. We encourage you to familiarise yourselves with the UPS website and blog where you will find updated information about our children’s digital technology use and wellbeing. You can check out the UPS website at https://www.unleyps.sa.edu.au/planning-reporting/school-polices.html to find copies of the Cyber Safety Use Agreements that our children are required to accept each year they attend UPS, as well as our school’s Mobile Phone Policy. By keeping up to date with what’s happening at school, we can work together as a community to maintain a robust cyber-safety culture.
Of course, any school policy or agreement can only be effective with the full support of parents and carers. While teachers and staff at UPS are always promoting safe and responsible online use at school, it is imperative that parents and carers educate themselves about how to ensure safe and appropriate use of digital technologies at home. Discussing the responsible use of technology with our children and encouraging open communication about what is and what isn’t appropriate online content or online behaviour, is critical. In the end, for children and teens to take responsibility for how they safely and appropriately navigate the digital world, they must receive adequate guidance from the adults around them. As educator Dr Kristy Goodwin explains, “parents need to set digital boundaries around how much time kids are plugged-in, as well as what content they can consume, where, when, how and with whom they use digital devices”. These boundaries should be established together with our children and tailored to suit individual families’ needs and circumstances.
The Australian Government eSafety Commissioner website has excellent examples of family online or ‘tech’ agreements that can be tailored for pre-schoolers, junior primary school children and senior primary school children and teens. Check out www.esafety.gov.au if you are interested in putting a family online use agreement in place at home. This website is also a hugely valuable resource for families who want to learn more about online safety, report concerning behaviours or just gain a better understanding of the various online apps and websites that our children may start to use over the coming years. The website provides a parents’ hub so you can easily access information about issues such as cyberbullying, online gaming, online pornography, or unwanted online contact/grooming at https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents. The website also has user friendly information designed specifically for junior primary aged children at www.esafety.gov.au/kids and for older children and teens at www.esafety.gov.au/young-people.
In addition to the eSafety Commissioner’s website, you can find information and resources about cyber safety and responsible online use at the following websites:
- cybersafetysolutions.com.au – This website is operated by Susan McLean, one of Australia’s leading cyber safety experts and a former Victorian police officer. A number of people in the UPS community have heard Susan speak about the importance of keeping a vigilant eye on our children’s online use. You can find a handy Fact Sheet summarising some of Susan’s cyber safety and online tips on the UPS blog at www.unleyps.edublogs.org/files/2022/07/Internet-Safety-Tips-for-Teachers-Parents-and-Caregivers.pdf
- raisingchildren.net.au – This website provides general information about a variety of issues relevant to family life, including technology and media use. It provides a user-friendly drop-down menu separating information relevant to toddlers, pre-schoolers, younger children, teens and grown-ups.
- commonsensemedia.org.au – This website provides guidance to parents and carers about the age appropriateness of movies, books, websites, online apps, online games and websites. It also provides useful suggestions about some books, movies and apps that may help kids (and carers) deal with social media and digital life.
- drkristygoodwin.com – This website is operated by Australian researcher, speaker and author Dr Kristy Goodwin. It has some useful free content and also provides paid access to recordings of her popular parent seminars and masterclasses about how we can teach our children to use technology in productive and purposeful ways.
We hope you are having a wonderful break from school and that it is filled with plenty of outdoor play and rest, in addition to some fun and responsible screen time.
The UPS Education and Wellbeing Committee
September 2022