Red Rose Primary School
Online Safety Newsletter -April 2025
‘Too Good to Be True’ and Group Chats
Last term the pupils joined an online assembly by Parent Zone about ‘Too good to be true’ and I had a reminder of the need to be vigilant and attentive to the nature and reliability of information that we retrieve on the internet.
I was checking the age of my car and asked ‘How old is a car with 65 reg?’ (I did know but was just checking!) The answer, swiftly and authoritatively, came back ‘a car with a 65 registration was registered in 2015, making it 5 years old in 2025’. Hmm, not quite right is it! It is always worth checking information for its accuracy.
This skill of verifying information is a part of our Online Safety Curriculum. We all need to Be Alert - Checking if it is real.
Online Safety Act
You may have seen in the news that the government is going to implement the much awaited, Online Safety Act. The details of the proposals were released last week and much of the detail focuses on protecting young people when they are online. The implications of the Act will come to light over the next few months, but hopefully it will result in a safer environment for our young people. To read more about the Act this summary from the BBC is useful. Please be aware that the summary contains some details that young people may find distressing. BBC article on the Online Safety Act
Group chats
Our world increasingly seems to be run through a series of ‘group chats’ whether that is a family group, street group, sports club, group of friends or a rota for an organisation. They can be incredibly useful to keep in touch efficiently and quickly. Although our young people shouldn’t be on apps such as Whats app, (the legal age limit is currently 13 years) the world we live in seems to have a huge proportion of under 13 year olds on such social media apps. There can also be group chats within online games so the issues surrounding group chats are relevant to a wide range of people. To protect them, we can’t ignore the risks. This month, we’d like to share a guide to group chats. The guide is also useful for us as adults! Click for the ‘Guide to Group Chats’
Online safety Virtual Sessions for Parents
Please see the second page of this newsletter for details of some Online safety Seminars that are being run through Durham Learn. All the information is outlined below.
Our Online Safety focuses on the 5 pillars of Being Internet Legends
These 5 principles are Be Sharp - Be Alert - Be Secure - Be Kind - Be Brave
Future Online Safety Issues
If you have any issues that you think we should address in either our Online Safety curriculum or a future newsletter, please send your thoughts into Mr Ross, Digital Manager, at d.ross@redroseprimaryschool.com
Online Safety Virtual Sessions for Parents
Durham Learn, part of Durham County Council, are delivering some sessions for parents to support understanding of Online Safety. The sessions are outlined below
Online Safety (Safeguarding you and your child online)
Some content included will cover:
- Awareness and understanding of what your child is accessing online
- Is your child safe on media platforms or gaming sites and how safe these websites are
- How to keep your child safe when they are using social media
- How the internet can affect mental wellbeing
The available dates for the sessions are shown below.
If you would like to attend one of the virtual sessions, please use the QR Code or this link to register for the session that you would like to attend. The session will be over TEAMS, so a link will be sent to you after you register for the session.
Monday 12 May
9.30am -11.30am
5.30pm -7.30pm
Tuesday 13 May
9.30am-11.30am
Wednesday 14 May
1pm-3pm
Thursday 15 May
5.30pm-7.30pm
Friday 16 May
9.30am-11.30am
Friday 27 June
9.30am-11.30am
Monday 30 June
5.30pm–7.30pm
Tuesday 1 July
9.30am-11.30am
Thursday 3 July
9.30am–11.30am
Wednesday 9 July
10am-12pm
5.30pm-7.30pm
Thursday 10 July
10am-12pm
Link to register interest for the Online Safety Sessions