The internet is integral to the lives of children and young people, it provides opportunities to socialise, communicate, be entertained, learn and find support. It can also be exploited by those with malicious intent, targeting vulnerable groups and individuals in our society.

What is digital resilience?

With so many aspects of our lives now entwined with using technology in an online world, supporting our children and young people to be digitally resilient is fundamental. Digital resilience encapsulates the need to develop knowledge, skills and strategies in order for children and young people to:

• manage their online experience safely and responsibly while protecting their digital identity
• identify and mitigate risks to stay safe from harm online
• understand the importance of using reliable sources and employing critical thinking skills to identify misinformation
• seek help when they need it
• learn from their experiences and recover when things go wrong
• thrive and benefit from the opportunities the internet offers.

Building digital resilience in our children and young people also depends on the resilience of our families and communities. The Hwb Programme aims to provide learners, families, education practitioners, professionals and governors with the latest resources, information and guidance to enhance their digital resilience.

Our approach to digital resilience focuses on three key areas – online safety, cyber resilience and data protection. We seek to equip our children and young people with excellent knowledge, skills and strategies in these areas and also to recognise when to access help and support and where to find it.

Online safety

Keeping children and young people safe online is of critical importance and firmly a safeguarding matter in the twenty first century. We are committed to nurturing and promoting the safe and positive use of technology to children and young people by building a strong architecture around the child where professionals are skilled and families are aware of how to support children in their online lives. We seek to foster a protective environment for our children and young people by supporting families, practitioners, governors and other professionals creating a culture where keeping children safe online is everyone’s business.

The Keeping safe online area on Hwb has been designed and developed to support online safety in education across Wales. It provides an extensive suite of up-to-date bilingual resources, Welsh Government guidance and links to further sources of support on a range of online safety issues.

In addition, it also hosts bilingual resources created by or developed in collaboration with key partners, such as SWGfL, NSPCC, Common Sense Media and the National Crime Agency.

Everyone has access to all these resources through https://hwb.gov.wales/zones/keeping-safe-online/

Follow the links for some useful parental safety information.

Common Sense Media Parents Resources

To support the learning in the classroom, you can use these tip sheets and provide them for parents to enable them to gain better understanding and start a dialogue with their children at home. The tip sheets include topics like cyberbullying, online security, smart searching, respecting creative work and many others.

Parental Controls.

Recent research has shown that children spend far longer online than their parents think. This research also confirms that some children are bullied whilst online, or see harmful or inappropriate content. This clearly highlights the need to educate children on potential dangers of the web. In the first instance, parents have a role in discussing with their children how they can stay safe online. However, for an added layer of security, it’s worth investigating the parental controls offered by your internet provider.

Most online service providers offer some safety features that can help you manage access to age-inappropriate content, report concerns or protect privacy.

• BT• Sky• Talk Talk• Virgin Media

For additional resources please visit Hwb – digital learning for Wales web site parent e-safety.

E-safety News…