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One week to go until Safer Internet Day 2024!

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With just one week to go until Safer Internet Day on 6th February 2024 we want to share all of the things you can do to get involved in the day.

This year celebrations in the UK will be around the theme: Inspiring change?  Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online.

Thank you to those of you who have already registered your support and downloaded the resources. If not, there is still time to get involved for 2024! 

Register your support

If you haven’t yet registered for Safer Internet Day 2024, you can sign up your school for free and tell us how you’ll be celebrating on the day. You’ll just need to include your name, a sentence about your plans for the day, and logo. You will then receive a certificate to showcase your support in your school or setting.

Register here

Watch the webinar

To find out more about all of the great, free resources available for Safer Internet Day you can watch our webinar.

Suitable for all educators including class teachers, school leadership, computing, RSE or other subject leads, and any staff member with a responsibility for online safety provision. This webinar will tell you everything you need to know about the Safer Internet Day campaign and signpost you to the various free resources available to support you.

Watch the webinar

Download the resources

The official Safer Internet Day Education Resources are free to download and available in English and Welsh. There are also printer friendly resources towards the end of each pack.

Tailor made for educators to use with young people of all ages, the free resources include lesson plans, assemblies, things to send home to parents and carers,  ways to get involved on social media, and other quick activities you can run with your learners.

Download the resources

Check out the tops tips for all ages

Designed for 7-11s, 11-14s, 14-18s as well as parents and carers of all ages, the Safer Internet Day Top Tips are a great, practical way of embedding online safety education into young people’s every day life. 

See the top tips for young people

Test your knowledge with the quizzes

Brand new – test your knowledge with the Safer Internet Day Quizzes for 7-11s, 11-14s and 14-18s. These quizzes will help the young people you work with to apply their learning around the theme of change online to real life stations.

Take the quiz

Safer Internet Day 2024 was made possible thanks to kind support from Nominet, Supercell, Tesco Mobile and other industry supporters.

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Industry Q&A with Nathan Sawatzky from Supercell

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We recently had the great opportunity to interview an inspiring leader from the gaming industry and ask him questions that were submitted by Digital Leaders.

Nathan Sawatzky leads the Player Care team at Supercell, makers of Brawl Stars, Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, and Hay Day. He works on creating some amazing games and makes sure they’re safe for young people so you can have the best experience while gaming and having fun. We really appreciate him taking the time to give us all some great advice and insights into the gaming industry.

Well done and thank you to all the Digital Leaders who submitted questions for the interview, they made for a really interesting conversation.

You can find the full interview on the platform with Jayden, our Digital Champion, who did a terrific job of hosting and asking the questions submitted by all the Digital Leaders.

Below are three top online safety tips that Nate provided where he offers some pearls of wisdom for young people on navigating the online world.

Log in to the platform to watch the full interview, or if you haven’t already, subscribe to the Digital Leaders Programme here. We hope you enjoy!

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Safer Internet Day 2024: ways to get involved

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Safer Internet Day 2024 is celebrated on Tuesday 6th February with the theme: 

Inspiring change? Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online’. 

Childnet are a partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre and coordinate Safer Internet Day each year. The campaign covers an online issue or theme that speaks to the things young people are seeing and experiencing online. Created in consultation with young people across the UK, this year Safer Internet Day will be focusing on change online. This includes covering: 

  • Young people’s perspective on new and emerging technology 
  • Using the internet to make change for the better 
  • The changes young people want to see online 
  • The things that can influence and change the way young people think, feel and act online and offline 

There’s lots of different ways Digital Leader schools can get involved in this year’s celebration: 

  • Free educational resources – Schools can make use of the fantastic and fun education resources, there to help you to run engaging and interactive Safer Internet Day sessions with your Digital Leaders and wider school community.  
  • Register as an official supporter – You can register your school as a supporter of the day to appear on our map and also get the latest Safer Internet Day news! To get some inspiration about the things you can do for the day, and see how other Digital Leader schools are celebrating, check out our Supporters Map 
  • Make sure to tweet us on the day – Do let us know how you’re celebrating on the day on Twitter, using #SaferInternetDay and tagging @UK_SIC.  We even have a super helpful social media pack to help you with your planning! 
  • Send us a video – We are creating a short film featuring schools all over the UK, which will be shown at our Safer Internet Day event in London. You can see last year’s film here. To get involved and let us know what your exciting plans are, email [email protected] to receive more information. The deadline for submissions is Friday 19 January. 

We’re already hearing about some of the fantastic plans you have lined up and are looking forward to hearing about what Digital Leaders did in their schools to celebrate the day. Contact us at [email protected] to tell us about your activities and we’ll put them in a blog on our website and on the platform, and Digital Leaders will win 150 points for their school on the leaderboard!  

We can’t wait to celebrate Safer Internet Day with you! 

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Announcing the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme’s Award-Winning Achievement

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We are excited to announce that the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme has received the prestigious Teach Primary Award!

Our Digital Leaders educational platform has received a highly commended award in the APPS category from the judge panel for the Teach Primary Awards! This incredible achievement is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and innovation put into our platform. We would like to express our gratitude to the schools, educators, and everyone else involved in our mission.

Here’s what the panellists had to say about the Childnet Digital Leader’s Programme:

“Childnet’s Digital Leaders Programme is an exceptional initiative that empowers young people to become confident and responsible digital citizens. This web-based platform, thoughtfully crafted by experienced educators in collaboration with young individuals, offers an engaging and educational experience.”

This recognition highlights the importance of our work in addressing the critical need for online safety knowledge and peer-to-peer leadership. Through the Digital Leaders Programme, our students have gained invaluable skills and knowledge, enabling them to navigate the digital world with confidence.

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to our amazing Digital Leaders, their schools, and all our partners for their unwavering support. This achievement would not have been possible without their passion and dedication.

To join the Childnet Digital Leader’s Programme and begin your journey of empowering young people to become responsible digital citizens, click here. We cover a wide range of topics, such as digital wellness, online privacy, and peer to peer learning, so your young people can contribute to a safer online environment while developing their leadership skills.

Once again, congratulations to all our Digital Leaders Team and everyone involved in making the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme a resounding success. Together, we are shaping a safer and more responsible digital future for young people.

Let’s continue to empower our Digital Leaders and inspire positive change in the digital world!

The Childnet Digital Leaders Programme is delivered as part of Childnet’s work in the UK Safer Internet Centre.

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Applications to join our Digital Champions for 2023-24 are now open!

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We recently caught up with our current Digital Champions to find out more about the role, what they have done, and to get their advice for any Digital Leaders thinking of applying.

What has been your favourite moment as a Digital Champion?

Cosima: Over the years there have been so many moments where I’ve been like ‘oh my gosh, I can’t believe I’m actually doing this’ – but for me I think my biggest highlight as a Digital Champion has been interviewing Paul Scully (who used to be Minister for the Digital Economy) for Safer Internet Day in February 2023. As an A-level politics student, it was incredibly cool to get to research the Online Safety Bill and visit such an iconic place within politics. However, more importantly as a Digital Champion, it was so interesting to hear the government’s plans for improving online safety and rewarding to be able to hold them to account on protecting young people as they have such significant power available for change in the space.

What sorts of things have you done as a Digital Champion?

Dominik: As a Digital Champion we have gone out to many places such as the BT Tower in London and the Meta offices for some of our monthly catch ups. We take part in Safer Internet Day to promote safety online and we travel to the BT Tower to broadcast our message of online safety, we also do some community work such as surveys and other things such as blogs and talks with MPs.

What advice would you give to someone thinking of applying to be a Digital Champion?

Jayden: I’d say that if you have a passion for helping people and representing a safe internet for all young people, then I’d absolutely go for it. Be resilient and know that if you’ve applied before and not gotten the role, you can still apply! I got in the 2nd year I applied, so I’ve learnt this from experience. Finally, be yourself and be happy! The most important thing when applying for anything is to be positive and answer all the questions formally, as if you were speaking to a teacher.

We’d like to welcome you to watch our Digital Champions webinar, where our Digital Leaders address further questions regarding the programme, by clicking here.  Applications are now open to join our group of Digital Champions for 2023-24! More information, including the Information and Application packapplication form, and parent/carer consent forms can be found on our website. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

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Digital Champions tell us about their experience

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Three of Childnet's Digital Champions

Three of our Digital Champions – Aimee, Indira, and Lauren – are leaving their schools and the Digital Champions group. Although we are sad to see them go, we are confident that they will achieve great things! We recently caught up with them to learn about their experiences as Digital Champions.

What is your favourite thing you have done as a Digital Champion?

Aimee: I think my favourite thing to do as a Digital Champion would be between hosting the last Safer Internet Day in the BT Tower with Dominik, and speaking to MPs in Parliament with Cosima, because both allowed me to collaborate with people my age on a cause we cared deeply about whilst also educating a wider audience about issues we felt needed to be addressed.

Indira: My favourite thing is hard to identify because the opportunities I have had were all unforgettable. I loved Safer Internet Day both years and all of the meetings where I met new people and companies. I have learnt so many new things which I guess is my favourite thing.

Lauren: Aside from Safer Internet Day (which is always good fun), judging the Childnet Film Competition last year was amazing. Seeing all the creativity and talent these young people had and voicing the issues they wanted to in the video format was incredible and learning from the judges themselves was good too.

What is your most memorable moment as a Digital Champion?

Aimee: It would definitely be my first kick-off day as a Digital Champion because it was the first time I’d seen Facebook’s beautiful offices and also was the first time I met the team I would work with for the next 5 years! It was such a fun day full of amazing memories and the start of many long-lasting friendships.

Indira: My most memorable moment was Safer Internet Day! I was able to attend twice and was both part of a panel and then hosted the panels! It was amazing and the views from the top of the BT Tower in London were breathtaking and certainly nothing short of memorable!

Lauren: Safer Internet Day is always extremely memorable. I loved this year especially because I had multiple different opportunities to spread the messages I want to through doing media work. The day itself was memorable because I met up with some of the other Digital Champions in person (after seeing them online for such a long time) and other members of Childnet’s Youth Advisory Board. It was really inspiring to see so many youth voices being listened to.

What are you going on to do next?

Aimee: I’m going to study Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at Royal Holloway! I’m also going to continue my work in the online safety space, trying to come up with more solutions to issues brought up by young people every day!

Lauren: I am going on to sixth form to study maths, physics, and computer science as I have always loved those subjects. I am looking forward to opening more opportunities to use the skills and knowledge I have learned as a Digital Champion in the future.

What is your top piece of advice for someone thinking of applying to be a Digital Champion?

Aimee: Jump into the deep end and apply! As daunting as it may be at first, it will lead to so many amazing opportunities and priceless memories that you will never forget. It also gives you the platform to advocate for something you really care about.

Indira: My advice would be go for it! The platform gives young people a voice they otherwise would not have and it’s great fun!

Lauren: My top piece of advice as you become a Digital Champion would be to take every opportunity you get. I’ve pushed myself out of my comfort zone quite a few times as a Digital Champion and have gained so much confidence and public speaking skills as a result. And to add to that, the team behind the Digital Champions and the other Digital Champions themselves are always really supportive so they always help out. As for applying to be a Digital Champion, I’d recommend you to consider a couple of things that you really care about and want to change, then speak about those because it really shows your passion for the role and what you will do with it.

You can watch our Digital Champions webinar, where they answered questions from our Digital Leaders, by clicking here. Applications are now open to join our group of Digital Champions for 2023-24! More information, including the Information and Application pack, application form, and parent/carer consent forms can be found on our website. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at leaders@childnet.com.

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Childnet Digital Leaders Programme Shortlisted for TeachCo Awards!

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We are thrilled to announce the exciting news that the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme has been shortlisted for the Teach Primary Awards.

This remarkable achievement is proof of the hard work and dedication of our team, as well as the teachers and young people we work with.

At Childnet, we are proud to have developed a programme that has been recognised for its innovation and impact in promoting digital citizenship and online safety among young people.

What is the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme?

The Childnet Digital Leaders Programme is an innovative educational programme designed to help young people become more confident and responsible digital citizens. The programme provides training and support to young people, empowering them to become leaders in their schools and communities.

Through the programme, young people learn about various important digital issues, including online safety, cyberbullying, digital footprints, and social media. They also develop essential skills, such as critical thinking, communication, and leadership. To find out more about the Digital Leaders Programme, click here.

What are the TeachCo Awards?

The TeachCo Awards are a highly respected achievement that celebrates excellence in educational resources.

Joe Carter, the group editor at The TeachCo, says:

“We run a prestigious programme of awards across the education sector, celebrating the very best resources available to schools and nurseries. Clear criteria and expert judging panels ensure that every winner is truly worthy, which in turn means the results are eagerly anticipated by our audience. All finalists become part of a rolling promotion plan that puts them in front of thousands of teachers via e-marketing, online news stories, and extensive magazine coverage.”

We are grateful for the opportunity to continue to make a positive difference in the lives of young people and to raise awareness about the importance of online safety knowledge and peer-to-peer leadership.

Why is this Significant

The Childnet Digital Leaders Programme being shortlisted for the TeachCo Awards is significant for several reasons. Firstly, it recognises the vital work that the programme is doing to help young people become responsible digital citizens. The programme is helping to address a critical need in today’s society, as more and more young people spend time online.

Secondly, the shortlisting is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Childnet team, who have worked tirelessly to develop and implement the programme and its interactive platform. The Childnet Digital Leaders Programme has already positively impacted many young people’s lives, and this recognition is a well-deserved accolade.

We are optimistic regarding the outcome of the awards, and to have made it onto the shortlist. The upcoming awards give us the opportunity to celebrate the tremendous efforts of our dedicated team and of all Digital Leaders too.

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We remain committed to enhancing our platform’s features and services so that we can continue providing the highest quality of education to students. Furthermore, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all our partners, schools, and educators for their invaluable feedback and for entrusting us with their students’ education. Our success would not have been possible without their support.

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Digital Champions Webinar

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Just before the Summer break, on July 13th we hosted our first Digital Champions Webinar and it was a great success! Quite a few Digital Leaders had expressed interest in learning more about who the Digital Champions are and what they do in this role. We truly value your feedback and always try to take it on board as much as we can, so we decided to plan an interactive Q&A session where everyone could have the chance to hear from them directly. Over 70 questions were submitted by Digital Leaders via our survey. We didn’t get to answer all of the questions during the session so we will try to get more answered in a blog in future!

Thanks to all the Digital Leaders who submitted questions in advance of the session. Some examples of the fantastic questions we received included: 

  • “How did you become a Digital Champion? I would like to know because hopefully one day I can be a Digital Champion!” Mariyam, Southrise Primary School 
  • “What are your three top tips to help children in their school?” The Digital Leaders from Notting Hill and Ealing Junior School 
  • “What’s your favourite thing about technology and why?” Ida, Woodlands School  

If you aren’t familiar with our Digital Champions already, they are a small group of Digital Leaders who went through an application process in order to join our youth representative board.  They help the Childnet Digital Leaders team ensure that the programme is youth led. They represent a youth voice which is essential to the programme’s success and support us with module development, content creation, events and consultation, as well as representing the programme in the wider online safety community. 

During this session, they did a terrific job of explaining more about their role, online safety and projects they have been involved in. If you’re looking for inspiration for things to do as a Digital Leader, we encourage you to watch the video linked below. 

Some great quotes from the Digital Champions during this session: 

  • Lauren: “They asked how can I be a better Digital Leader? I’d say going out of your comfort zone a little bit can really help. If you’re presented with an opportunity, maybe to do an assembly in school, or to take part in an activity, that’s a really good idea of just stepping out of your comfort zone and becoming a little bit more confident with what you’re doing.” 
  • Aimee: “In my school I always tell people to be as comfortable as they can be and express themselves in how they want to be in the online world and do what benefits them and don’t feel pressured to do anything that doesn’t benefit them or would harm them in the long run. ”
  • Indira: “It can be hard, especially online, to post things without feeling like it might upset somebody, because just like when we send a text, it doesn’t always come across how we would say in real life. So, I understand why the nerves would be there, but I think it’s important to just remember that we’re all still humans who make mistakes. And so if we’re aware of what we’re posting online, and we’re just conscious of how other people might perceive it, and then if we do make a mistake, because you know, mistakes are part of life, we own up to them, I think then the nerves can go away a bit, because if we just remember there are real people on the other side, there is more of an awareness, and we’re less likely to hurt somebody else’s feelings, at least on purpose.” 

The Childnet Digital Leaders team were so pleased with the level of participation from the Digital Leaders who submitted questions and the Digital Champions insightful responses and want to thank you all for your work!  

If you’re feeling inspired after watching this video and are interested in applying to become a Digital Champion, the applications will open in mid-September. Watch this space for more updates!  

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Digital Leaders in Action: Year 5 present online safety assembly – Bromley High School

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We are delighted to present a guest blog from Bromley High School Junior. Here they detail the work they have done in educating their peers about online safety.

Online Safety Assembly by Izzy and Zinnia Year 5

As Digital Leaders we wanted to create an assembly for the school about online safety. Even though online safety is something that most people are aware of, it is always good to have a reminder because it is very easy to forget and even little things can trick you.

We held this assembly to raise awareness about online safety in order to remind people how important it is. To create this assembly we had to work as a team and this collaboration has also produced a strong bond between the Digital Leaders who participated.

We all had the courage to stand up and present the ideas to our school without any adults being involved. Every break and lunchtime we could all meet, we would come together and keep practicing. Through this process, we learnt how to speak confidently. Usually for school assemblies there would be two Year 6’s helping out with the slideshows on the computer. In this case, it was the Year 5 Digital Leaders who took charge.

Our teachers are really proud of us, and we can say the same thing about ourselves. We are definitely going to create another presentation one day and raise even more awareness in our school. We want to teach every single person how to be safe online.

It has been an amazing journey from day one of becoming a Digital Leader and now we have grown confident enough to present an assembly to raise awareness of online safety.

Well done and thank you Bromley High School Junior for sharing your work with us! We love hearing from our Digital Leader community all over the world. Email [email protected] if you would like to tell us about what you have been up to.

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Want to talk about about it? – Digital Leaders responses to the Safer Internet Day module

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This year, Safer Internet Day took place on 7th of February. Childnet, who are a partner in the UK Safer Internet Centre, organised this day in the UK. Well done to all the Digital Leaders who completed the Safer Internet Day module on the platform and thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas about how to make the internet a safer and better place for everyone.

We asked Secondary Digital Leaders what the most important online issue for young people online is with some of the feedback below:

Below is a graph based on feedback from the Primary School Digital Leaders on what the most important issue is for young people:

Here are some thoughts Secondary Digital Leaders had about chatrooms and the risks they present:

It’s important that children and young people as well as adults share any concerns they might have about being online with others, so together we can  resolve these situations. The aim of the Digital Leaders Programme is to help children and young people know how to respond to different situations when arise.

The theme of this year’s Safer Internet Day 2023 was ‘Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online’. We hope everyone took this as a chance to talk to friends, classmates and family members about what it means to be online and how to be safe.

Here are some examples Secondary and Primary school Leaders gave of how talking about our online lives is beneficial:

It was great to hear how Digital Leaders planned to celebrate Safer Internet Day this year. A lot of leaders planned assemblies and talks about online safety.

Below are some examples of the creative things that were organised for the day from Secondary & Primary:

We love to hear about the ways young people enjoy life online: a lot enjoy gaming with friends, being creative, dancing and making art. It’s clear that being online can be a positive and enjoyable experience. However, sometimes things happen that can upset us or make us feel uncomfortable. If this happens, it’s important that we talk to others about what we’re experiencing. A problem shared is a problem halved!

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