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Tuesday 6th February was National Online Safety Day and the theme this year was "Inspiring Change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online".
The children enjoyed a whole day of activities about the safe use of the internet and how they should be aware of becoming too dependent on the internet for all their entertainment. The day started with a whole school performance of "The Wind in the Willows," which showed the children how Toad had become obsessed with using the internet for games and messaging, at the expense of seeing his real friends. He posted boasting comments about his brand new car and how he would be going to a Gaming Conference, which allowed thieves to target him and steal his car. He was at home alone most of the time, messaging people he had never met, but then took a photo of a friend and posted it without their consent. He was finally arrested for using his gaming device whilst driving, and then had to complete an online safety course, which helped him to see how his internet use had taken up far too much of his time, and driven away his friends. He apologised to his real friends, Ratty and Badger, and they all lived happily ever after along the riverbank. All the children really enjoyed the play, which was very interactive and great fun!
Classes then had individual workshops with the actors from the performance. Here they played games and acted out scenarios to focus on the theme of talking about problems that may arise from internet use, and also to remember the SMART principles for safe use of the internet:-
S - Safe - Keep your personal information safe
M - Meet - you should not meet up with anyone you have only ever met online
A - Accepting - accepting files and opening messages from people you do not know can cause problems
R - Reliability - check the reliability of information you find out on the internet.
T - Tell - tell a trusted adult if anything on the internet makes you feel uncomfortable.
There was also a Key Stage 2 Assembly exploring new developments such as AI and Deep Fake Imagery and the impact these will have on our lives in the future.
It was a really fun and interactive day with children taking part in lots of exciting activities to reinforce the important message of internet safety and usage, as well as new and exciting changes in technology which will affect all our lives.
