Turton and Edgeworth give a 'thumbs up!' to e-safe

Feb. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- On Safer Internet Day, Zentek organised an assembly at Turton and Edgeworth Primary School to present to and educate the pupils about the Internet safety solution e-safe. Helen Yates and Caroline Hogan hosted the assembly, which was interactive with questions directed at the pupils and focused on safe use of IT for education and at home.  

Zentek’s aim was to raise awareness of the dangers of uploading personal information on to the Internet, primarily through social networking sites, such as Facebook. The presentation explained how much the children could be at risk, just through uploading a photo and posting personal details online. The children were asked:

“Would you put a picture of yourself up outside your house, with your name, age and contact details on it?”

Many children answered ‘no’ and so it was explained that this is exactly the same as posting a picture of your self on the Internet. The information seemed to enlighten some of the pupils as to how vulnerable you can make yourself through the Internet.

The children at Turton and Edgeworth seemed aware of what can happen if your personal details fall into the wrong hands. The presentation reinforced this knowledge by explaining that privacy settings are essential and can keep unwanted contacts at bay, this way pupils can use IT for education and at home safely.

It was explained to the children that you should only want your friends and family to know your plans and if your privacy settings aren’t set to ‘friends only’ for example, on Facebook, your details are available to people that you may not want to have contact with. E-safe explained this by asking:

Would you leave your front door open?
This is the same as not setting your profile to private, anyone can see it.

Explaining that anyone can walk into your life freely and know some of the things that only those closest to you should know. This helps children understand how they can put themselves at risk.

e-safe held a quiz during the assembly to which the children were asked to respond to questions by giving a ‘thumbs up’ or a ‘thumbs down’. The children were keen to take part in the questions asked and were enthusiastic when they got a question right! The quiz provided positive interaction with the children and they remained engaged throughout the assembly.

The pupils were given 5 rules to remember when using social media.

. Don’t let anyone push you into doing or saying anything you don’t want to on the Internet.
. Pick a username that does not include any personal information.
. Think before you post any photographs.
. Think before you open any emails.
. Only add people as friends if you know them.

Zentek provide e-safe as an Internet Safety solution that helps children understand why they cannot go on certain websites and why they must be careful about who they talk to over the Internet, as well as thoroughly protecting them in a number of threat areas.

Call 01204 397878 to arrange an e-safety assembly in your school.

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About Zentek Solutions: Zentek provide ICT solutions exclusively for the education sector, with specialist support within your region and national support for the Academies programme. Zentek became an approved supplier for the Department for Education’s ICT Services Framework Agreement last November and we have 16 years of experience providing bespoke ICT solutions and support to over 1000 schools and colleges.

Zentek are happy to visit your school for a FREE network audit, providing a comprehensive report on network and device performance. We can also offer FREE e-safe trials, allowing you to test an alternative approach to Internet safety, through educating pupils and securing other routes, such as USB devices and email, which inappropriate activity can pass through. These are important tools aligned with your vision to craft a solution that best fulfils your requirements.