Northumberland ICT & eLearning

Annual Online Safety Update

Tuesday 14th January '25, 3.35pm - 4.50pm - online.

We recommend that all members of staff attend this session annually. In it, we'll cover key areas of risk and how to mitigate these. We'll then move on to cover recent trends, risks and key actions you can take as well as highlighting some new resources to ensure your team is up to date and prepared for the year ahead.

The CEOP Series of Six Workshops

Sessions 4 and 5 of 6 (Live Streaming 11th February, Nude Image Sharing - 8th April both 3.30pm)

Last year KCSIE placed greater emphasis on roles and responsibilities in relation to filtering, monitoring and online safety. While this session is open to all members of your team, we'd particularly encourage DSLs to sign up for the full series of workshops which run across the school year. Topics covered include Online Sexual Abuse, Live Streaming and The Dark Web. Attendance will ensure that your DSL has a strong foundational knowledge of online risks and how to best mitigate these.

See guide for all six dates.

Cyber awareness

Tuesday 21st January '25 - 3.45-4.55pm, online.

This session will be delivered by Dave Tennant, a Force Specialist Cyber Protect & Prepare Officer with Northumbria Police. Dave will take us through the risks we should all be aware of and the key actions we can take to protect our personal accounts and our school network. Ensuring your team understand the risks and how they can best mitigate these is a vital part of securing your network against cyber attacks.

Canva: Creativity with Interactive whiteboards and video creation.

Following our two 'Canva Essentials' sessions that introduced us to the Canva interface we have a series of four new sessions, each taking a deep dive into a key element of Canva. Two of which take place this term:

Collaborative and creative classroom with digital whiteboards:

Tuesday 18th February, 3.30pm-4.30pm

Unleash creativity with video suite:

Tuesday 25th March, 3.30pm-4.30pm

(Look out for the final two sessions in this series taking place in summer term).

Micro:bit

Wednesday 22nd January '25, 3.45pm-4.15pm, online.

In this session we'll explore micro:bit basics and show you a range of resources and lesson plans to get you started.

Meeting Filtering and Monitoring Requirements

Thursday 6th February, 3.45pm – 4.45pm, online.

In this session we'll provide an overview of how filtering and monitoring works in your school and the systems and processes you should put in place to ensure these are managed effectively.

AI In education: an introduction

Tuesday 18th March, 3.45pm-4.45pm, online

AI is still a very divisive topic. In this introductory course we aim to demystify AI by exploring its origins and development, cautionary steps to be explored before using it in your setting and then how AI tools can be used to save you time in the many non-teaching tasks that fill your day.

Please email jennifer.harris@northumberland.gov.uk or jordan.graham@northumberland.gov.uk

to reserve any places.

Are you taking part in the Lego League Challenge this March? Wherever you are up to in your preparations for the big day, please get in touch if you have any questions or need some help.

jordan.graham@northumberland.gov.uk

For those of you who may not have heard of Lego League, it's a STEM competition that develops key skills for future careers, including coding, design and research, aimed at 9-16 year olds. If you are yet to get involved and would be interested in taking part next year, you can register your interest with Jordan.

We're already huge fans of Canva, whether your pupils are using it directly to create multimedia projects or maybe you work with younger pupils and use Canva to create engaging displays and resources, there is something for everyone. We wanted to highlight a brilliant new development that allows you to automatically add editable captions to your video. We can see this being used by pupils and teachers alike to create accessible stories, how-to guides and even pupil feedback videos.

All teachers and pupils using School360 have Canva Edu accounts. Get in touch if you need some help to get started.

Find out more by clicking the link below, or why not sign up for one of our new Canva training sessions taking a deep dive into interactive whiteboards, video creation, capturing student learning and using AI in Canva.

This resource from Internet Matters aims to help children stay safer on their devices by setting some digital resolutions. This is a great time of year to remind families that devices have settings that can be put in place to help create boundaries - ideally discussed and agreed upon with their child.

At the core of the resolutions resource is the new ABC guide for parents:

Activate

Use the controls and tools available from broadband providers, online platforms and apps to install safe search settings, block inappropriate content and prevent contact from strangers.

Balance

Agree a good balance for your children’s screen time, taking education and leisure content into account. Encourage active screen time over passive and consider setting limits for the total hours spent online each day.

Check

Check which apps your children use and the relevant age limits for each platform. And talk regularly about online safety and what they might come across so you can work together to manage any risks and keep online experiences positive.

Click the link below for full details.

Roblox remains very popular amongst the young people we work with. While teens express that there are many positive aspects to using the site, including self expression, problem solving and spending time with friends, as with most other sites and games, there are also negative aspects we should be aware of and ensure young people are equipped to deal with.

The JED Foundation have created a guide for parents covering topics such as cyberbullying, signs that your teen may be struggling and how to have conversations about this.

A reminder that Safer Internet Day takes place on the 11th February this year. The theme is 'Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online'. You can find a range of resources dedicated to specific age ranges, linked below.

Why not sign up for a live lesson? Pupils can improve their digital skills using their School360 Adobe account while embedding key Safer Internet Day messaging.

Sadly, we're all familiar with over the phone scams but as cyber criminals seek new and creative ways to trick us into parting with money or sensitive information, we are now seeing AI used to clone the voices of loved ones to convince victims to carry out their wishes.

Tech Radar have published an interesting article around this issue, which includes useful advice you may want to share with colleagues as part of ensuring your team stay vigilant against cyber crime.

Over the next few weeks you'll be receiving your copy of 'The Purple Pack' this pack outlines the service you receive via ICT SLA3 (online safety) and SLA4 (broadband). This is a handy guide explaining how the service meets standards as set out by the Dfe including what you can expect in terms of filtering, monitoring and reporting, and the quality of your connection.

Please get in touch to request support or reserve a place on any of our training sessions.

jennifer.harris@northumberland.gov.uk

jordan.graham@northumberland.gov.uk

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