Digiduck is a beautiful illustrated children’s book created by Childnet, which can be read online and now is available to order as a hard copy.

Digiduck’s Big Decision is a story for 3 to 7 year olds. It tells the story of Digiduck and his friends, and helps children understand how to be a good friend to others on the internet. Ofcom research recently shed light on the extent of internet use by 3-4 year olds, and at Childnet we are delighted to provide something for parents and carers, and teachers and those working in Early Years settings to read with these younger children that can help develop their understanding of the online world.

The book was developed with support from the EU, as part of our work as the UK Safer Internet Centre, and with support from Microsoft we have been able to make it available in hard copy.

http://www.kidsmart.org.uk/teachers/ks1/digiduck.aspx

Safer Internet Day (SID) 2013 will take place on Tuesday, 5^th February 2013.

A YHGfL on-line session December 12th , 4pm to 5 pm.

It is now an important day in the year where schools can support students, staff and other stakeholders with spreading the important message of being safe online. This on-line workshop will highlight different strategies and ideas based on the SID theme for 2013.

To book on the session and for further information click HERE

More information about Safer Internet Day 2013 can be found here on the ins@fe website:

http://www.saferinternetday.org/web/guest/sid-2013

As schools strive to be innovative with technology but budgets are squeezed, allowing staff and students to use their own technology in the classroom is becoming more popular. Opinion however is divided, will BYOD save money and have a positive impact on learning or is it a security and safety nightmare waiting to happen?

Recognising this, NEN the Education Network is beginning a major piece of work in partnership with industry and other interested groups.  They want to hear your voice and thoughts on the use of personal devices in the classroom. Please contribute by following this link:

http://www.nen.gov.uk/news/258/boyd-what-do-you-think.html

A new report released on the 19th September which aims to help schools ensure they are handling pupils’ personal information in-line with the law. The report has been written by the Information Commissioner’s Office, and gives practical advice on how to comply with the Data Protection Act. It was prompted by a survey of 400 schools across nine local authority areas that showed that whilst awareness of data protection laws was generally good, schools need to pay more attention to complying with data protection law.

Read more

http://www.ico.gov.uk/news/latest_news/2012/report-offers-school-data-protection-advice-17092012.aspx

New government guidance announced yesterday requires written parental permission to be obtained before students’ biometric data can be taken. Surely the most important point is the requirement for schools to effectively protect sensitive data? Gaining parental permission for a whole raft of school activities is every day practise for schools; it’s unlikely that many schools are routinely gathering potentially sensitive data without parental permission. However, many schools are not taking eSecurity seriously enough. Hardly a day goes by without an eSafeguarding incident hitting the headlines, this week we are reading about a pupil obtaining a staff member username and easily guessing their password, giving the pupil access to confidential behaviour reports which were then copied and used in a completely inappropriate way.

Across the public sector, information and data security has never before been so high profile. Over the last three years there has been embarrassing and potentially disastrous information and data-security breaches which have resulted in information of a personal and sensitive nature being lost or stolen. From April 2010, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) was granted the authority to fine private and public sector organisations, found guilty of breaching the Data Protection Act, up to £500,000, this includes schools. However in our experience many schools are not even aware that they are required to register with the ICO as part of their data protection obligations. With the immense pressure schools are under, will eSecurity be a priority? As schools become increasingly autonomous and with the demise of advisory bodies such as Becta, where will the checks and balances come from?

Gaining parental permissions is of no use without all the other safeguards being in place.

For more information on eSecurity visit our website:

http://www.yhgfl.net/eSafeguarding/eSecurity/Information-security/YHGfL-data-security

Following the fantastic success of the last 2 years, Childnet have just announced the launch of their third annual Film Competition for young people aged 7-16.

The shortlisted finalists from each category will be invited to go to London on Monday 9^th July where they will attend a private screening of their film at the British Film Institute. The winners will receive lots of fabulous prizes for their school!

 At a glance

Competition opens: Monday 16^th April 2012 @ 9am

Competition closes: Friday 15^th June 2012 @5pm

Finalists notified: Friday 22nd June 2012

Screening & finalist event: Monday 9^th July 2011

For more information and to register visit the Childnet website:

http://childnet.com/film-2012/

Monday 30th April 2012 – Central London

The challenge of empowering children to stay safe online has never been greater. With the explosion of social networking and increasingly
advanced technologies in handheld devices and phones, how can you keep one step ahead to protect children and young people?
Capita’s established Child Protection in the Digital Environment Conference covers the latest research and national policy driving this agenda. With input from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and the Department for Education, this conference focuses on
the key themes including:
• Effectively engaging and upskilling parents to support safe online practices at home
• Tackling cyberbullying and harassment of young people, teachers and parents
• Managing the benefits and risks of social networking
• Tailoring support services to protect the most vulnerable
• Adopting a multi agency approach to identifying, monitoring and reporting risks and safeguarding concerns.

For more information:

http://www.capitaconferences.co.uk/public-sector-conferences

For SID 2012, YHGfL is pleased to announce a special discount with ROAR Educate for their parental eSafety software, Grapple. The programme gives a series of online scenarios for parents to work through, in order to gain a better understanding of eSafety issues that children might encounter. YHGfL have negotiated a fixed fee of £60, for schools to be able to buy the software and disseminate it to parents.

Vist the YHGfL web site for further information

Roar Educate has created a short demo HERE and other  YHGfL deals with Roar.

To celebrate safer Internet Day the UK Safer Internet Centre will be producing a 12-hour Internet radio marathon. The theme for the day will be Connecting Generations, under the slogan – “Discovering the digital world together safely!” Click on the image above to view the full programme in detail.

Each hour of the radio programme will be dedicated to a different topic and the hosts will be encouraging listeners to tune in and to interact as true participants. You will be able to IM, Facebook, email, text and phone in or tweet and re-tweet about the show, which proved very popular last time around.

If you have a school website or learning platform why not share the station with your parents and encourage them to listen to certain programs such as Parental Controls at 17:05 or Mobile Internet at 19:30. You might also like to use this as a stimulus for creating your own podcasts on the theme of Safer Internet.

If you are doing something exciting for Safer Internet Day we would love to hear from you. Visit www.yhgfl.net/eSafeguarding/eSafety/Safer-Internet-Day-2012 for further information or email contact(at)yhgfl.net

Have you tried out the new eSafeguarding MOT to test your school? Why not download it today to check your schools progress.

http://www.yhgfl.net/eSafeguarding

For further information why not contact a member of the YHGfL eSafeguarding Team on contact(at)yhgfl.net to have a free eSafeguarding consultation.