Online Safety

Intent

At St John’s Primary School, we are committed to ensuring that all pupils become safe, respectful, and responsible digital citizens. We recognise that technology plays a central role in children’s lives and that safeguarding extends beyond the physical environment into the online world.

Using the Education for a Connected World framework and 2BeSafe – Being Safe in a Digital World, we aim to provide a comprehensive, age-appropriate online safety education that empowers pupils to navigate digital spaces confidently and safely.

Our curriculum is designed to develop children’s understanding across key areas such as self-image and identity, online relationships, online reputation, privacy and security, managing online information, health and wellbeing, and copyright and ownership.

We want pupils to understand both the benefits and risks of technology, enabling them to make informed choices, recognise unsafe situations, and know how to seek help. At St John’s, we promote a culture where children feel confident to speak up and understand that staying safe online is a shared responsibility between school, home, and the wider community.

Implementation

Online safety is taught explicitly and consistently across all year groups through planned lessons, assemblies, and cross-curricular opportunities. The Education for a Connected World framework provides clear progression in knowledge and skills, ensuring coverage of all aspects of digital life from Early Years through to Year 6.

The 2BeSafe – Being Safe in a Digital World programme supports delivery through engaging, child-friendly resources, scenarios, and discussions that reflect real-life online experiences. This enables pupils to explore sensitive topics in a safe and supportive environment.

Key features of our implementation include:

Discrete online safety lessons embedded within the Computing curriculum
Regular revisiting of key messages to reinforce learning over time
Use of real-world scenarios to develop critical thinking and decision-making
Opportunities for discussion, reflection, and pupil voice
Whole-school events such as Safer Internet Day
Clear links with safeguarding policies and procedures

Impact

The impact of our online safety provision is that pupils at St John’s become knowledgeable, vigilant, and responsible users of technology who can keep themselves and others safe online.

Children demonstrate a clear understanding of how to behave appropriately in digital environments and show respect and empathy towards others. They can identify potential risks such as cyberbullying, scams, inappropriate content, and online manipulation, and they know practical strategies to respond safely.

Pupils leave our school able to:

Protect their personal information and privacy online
Build positive, respectful online relationships
Critically evaluate online content and recognise misinformation
Understand the impact of their digital footprint
Balance screen time with healthy offline activities
Seek help confidently from trusted adults when needed

Ultimately, our pupils move on to secondary education as confident digital citizens who can participate safely, responsibly, and positively in an increasingly connected world.