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.
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 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 [email protected].
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.
Do you want to make real change? Do you want to have a chance to talk to industry about what young people want? Do you want an opportunity to shape the future of the Digital Leaders Programme? If this sounds like you then apply to be a Digital Champion today! You can find out more about the role and the application process in our information pack.
The Childnet Digital Leaders Programme is proud to be a youth-led and youth focused programme. However, we are continually striving to make it even better – this is where our Digital Champions come in!
Our Digital Champions represent the entire Digital Leader community from across the UK. They meet and collaborate with other Digital Leaders outside of their school and they are Childnet’s ‘go-to’ group for new and exciting developments on the platform and the programme. If you have great ideas about developing new modules and activities on the platform and would like first-hand access to fun and engaging opportunities, then being a Digital Champion is the role for you!
In addition to all of these awesome perks, Digital Champions may have the opportunity to be involved in regional and national events as well as speak with and give advice to big tech companies and schools on how to keep other young people safe online. Digital Champions also receive top class support from the Childnet Digital Leaders team and other Digital Champions too throughout.
You can find out more about our current Digital Champions here and their involvement in Safer Internet Day 2022 here.
All we ask from you is that you commit for 1 year from December 2022 – November 2023. During this year, we would require a minimum commitment of one video call per month as well as additional participation work – this shouldn’t take any more than 6 hours per month. For more information on this, please check out the information pack.
If you answered yes to all of the questions at the start, and believe you have what it takes to become a Digital Champion, then please fill out the consent forms included in the information pack, fill out the online form at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/X8T7TRQ, and return all your signed consent forms to [email protected] by Friday 11th November.
We are super excited to hear from you and receive your applications. Good luck!
Danielle, Fabian, and Kerease from the Childnet Digital Leaders team have recently visited several Digital Leader schools across the country.
We have been hugely impressed by what Digital Leaders teams have already achieved as well as the exciting plans they have been coming up with.
It’s been fantastic to see how engaged Digital Leaders are and how brilliant the support has been from their teachers.
We have had some fascinating discussion about the most important issues affecting young people online and received plenty of useful feedback for how to improve the programme.
St Patrick’s College
We were thrilled to have caught up with one of our Digital Champions, Dominik, at St Patrick’s College.
During his time with us, Dominik has been involved in many exciting projects. He took part in our live event for Safer Internet Day 2022, provided a voiceover for our video introducing the new Digital Leaders training platform and even played a vital part in this year’s Childnet Film Competition.
We have even more exciting plans in the pipeline for Dominik and other Digital Champions over the next year.
The team is hoping to meet as a group more often going forward but have already shared their learning with family members including how to manage online friendships, and have also improved their own communication, teamwork, and leadership skills.
Arena Academy
The Arena Academy Digital Leaders team provided us with a whole portfolio of the work they’ve been doing, such as reaching #1 on the leaderboard and running activities for Safer Internet Day including an assembly, the #PlayYourPart poster competition and a live Q&A session.
The team is made up of a range of ages, with the senior Digital Leaders helping welcome the newer members to the team.
They meet every week and are eager to connect with other schools – so much so that they are planning to run sessions in local primary schools to pass the beacon of online safety to the next generation!
Selston High School
Our visit to Selston High School afforded us the opportunity to see another of our Digital Champions, Jess, who visited Brussels as our representative in the Safer Internet Forum.
She has supported our newer Digital Champions, and even won the Childnet Film Competition! The team has been focusing on progressing through the modules but have lots of exciting plans for the future, including planning workshops and linking online safety lessons to help with recruiting their next cohort of Digital Leaders.
They are also busy putting together a list of websites and a cyberbullying worksheet to offer further support to pupils.
Holte School
The Holte School Digital Leaders team has been hard at work helping other pupils form healthy internet habits by putting up posters around school and writing pages for the school website, featuring online safety tips and guides, as well as how to get in touch with the team.
The team meet regularly and their peers can reach them by email or in their regular lunchtime drop-in sessions. They often help peers with solutions to cyberbullying, untrustworthy contact and fake news.
We’re thrilled that they have also held an online safety meeting for parents and carers covering a range of topics, including age-appropriate gaming.
Weekly newsletters are sent with online safety tips and more information about the team, and the whole team are eager to claim top spot on the Digital Leaders leaderboard!
Priory Academy
We were shown a thoroughly entertaining and educational presentation that the Priory Academy Digital Leaders team have been showing during form times.
It included a (very difficult) quiz that covered a wide range of topics including privacy, location sharing, fake news, relationships online, cyberbullying, and top tips.
Their learning has also been shared with family and friends with very positive reactions – parents and carers were very proud of their Digital Leaders for showing such initiative!
The team is also holding a schoolwide poster competition for individuals or groups using knowledge from the presentation, and students know they can always reach out to their Digital Leaders using the details provided
Childnet were even given some great ideas on how to expand and advertise more effectively!
We had a wonderful time visiting our Digital Leader schools and talking to them about the programme and wider online safety issues.
Thank you to all of the teachers and Digital Leaders who welcomed us so warmly to your schools – good luck to you all and keep us updated with what you’re up to!
If your Digital Leaders would like a school visit from the Childnet Digital Leaders team, then please get in touch at [email protected].
Make sure to keep us up to date with what your Digital Leaders achieve by emailing [email protected] and tweeting @ChildnetDL.
Thank you to everyone who was involved with and who supported the ‘Digital Picnic’ at King’s Ely Junior school before the end of term!
Dan Everest, who is Head of Key Stage 2 and Computing and Digital Innovation at King’s Ely, organises the family-orientated event each year with enthusiastic support from the school’s Year 7 and 8 Childnet Digital Leaders.
King’s Ely have been unable to hold a ‘Digital Picnic’ for the last two years due to the pandemic, so it was fantastic to see this year’s event so well attended by Year 3-8 pupils, along with their families and carers.
The ‘Digital Picnic’ is organised for several reasons:
▪️ To celebrate the students’ digital safety learning that occurs in school with parents, families and carers.
▪️ To enable pupils, parents, families and carers and staff to share digital tips and advice with everyone in attendance.
▪️ To promote open and family-orientated discussions about digital safety.
▪️ To provide parents, families and carers with advice about apps and games, all delivered by the Digital Leaders.
King’s Ely have supported the Childnet Digital Leaders initiative for many years.
The school’s Digital Leaders ran information stalls at the event, where they had hand-out documents and PowerPoint presentations for families about their app or game. The students were ready to answer any questions or concerns that parents or indeed pupils had.
Mr Everest said: “Our Digital Picnic is an important event on the school calendar. There were a record number of parents and students in attendance this year and the feedback has been so positive.
“The idea of working together and understanding the generational differences between digital use is really powerful and the real experts in the room were the Digital Leaders. What a fantastic effort everyone!”
As ambassadors for the Childnet Digital Leaders programme, the Digital Champions form our youth representative board.
Helping the Childnet Digital Leaders team to ensure that the programme is youth led, they represent a youth voice which is essential to the programme’s success.
They also support with module development, content creation, events and consultation, as well as representing the programme in the wider online safety community.
What activities have you taken part in as a Childnet Digital Champion?
Lucy: I have been lucky enough to be involved in many activities. I have taken part in two Safer Internet Days now, where for one I was part of a youth panel in a live event for UK Safer Internet Centre. I have also done a few calls with MPs to talk about the importance of online safety and what can be done about it, which have been really interesting! As Digital Champions, we also do regular focus groups with various companies such as Facebook which are always very informative and eye-opening!
How has the Digital Leaders programme benefited your school?
Aimee: The Childnet Digital Leaders Programme has been beneficial to my school as it has given students the opportunity to take responsibility and learn about digital safety so that they are able to teach their friends, parents and teachers about a subject they are passionate on. It has even benefited those not directly in the programme because students in the school feel comfortable talking to Digital Leaders about issues or concerns they have with the online world.
Childnet Digital Champion Aimee
Did you enjoy being part of Safer Internet Day 2022?
Cosima: Yes, very much so! It is great to be involved every year, but this year especially was really brilliant as the topic was so relevant to young people. I think by having a specific focus on gaming and relationships online it not only made everything we were talking about extremely relevant to the current issues, but also made it super fun to talk about. Being able to share experiences and advice with those who are not already so aware is such a rewarding experience as you know that it is going to positively benefit so many young people – especially with the interview this year reaching almost 2.5 million people! It is also as always lovely to meet and address so many new people and old friends and get to hear their views and opinions too. The biggest highlight for me was definitely the Safer Internet Day MP call as we really got to get into what issues were going on, why they were happening, and most importantly what could be done to change them!
Safer Internet Day reached more young people than ever – how did it feel to play your part?
Christtian: It feels great to know that I have made an impact in spreading awareness of Safer Internet Day. It is also nice to know that the people that you are telling about Safer Internet Day are, in fact, doing something about it, sharing it, spreading the word, etc. It feels brilliant knowing that more young people than ever before have been impacted by Safer Internet Day 2022 and knowing that I played a part in that as a Digital Champion.
What is the most important issue in online safety at the moment?
Alisa: I believe that online safety is such a wide topic that there’ll never be a way to choose a single problem as the most important. However, in my opinion, one problem that is caused by lack of awareness is the most important. That is sharing too much personal information online with strangers without thinking of the consequences. These actions taken by young people can lead to them getting in a variety of dangerous situations.
Childnet Digital Leaders made a huge impression on Safer Internet Day 2022 – even receiving congratulatory letters from MPs!
Once again, young people were at the heart of the day, which is celebrated globally in February each year to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology.
Digital Leaders and Digital Champions helped to ensure that the voice of young people was championed in a range of events across the UK, by:
Joining a youth panel for the Safer Internet Day 2022 livestream event at BT Tower
Taking part in media interviews which were broadcast across 70 radio stations, reaching a potential audience of 2.4 million people
Amongst the Childnet Digital Leaders involved was Alisa, who joined MPs for a Q&A event to share her experiences of being online and her recommendations for how this space can be improved for young people.
Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, was particularly impressed, and took the time to send Alisa a letter congratulating her on being involved in the day:
Dear Alisa,
I am writing to you as your MP to offer my warmest congratulations on your participation as a Digital Leader at the Safer Internet Day Q&A event earlier this month.
I’m very sorry I couldn’t join you, but I wanted to let you know that I’m incredibly proud of young people in Brighton – such as yourself – for sharing their experiences with technology and the online world.
Conversations around online safety are particularly crucial for children and young people who have had to spend much of their time online over the past two years due to the pandemic – and thank you for stepping up and showing such leadership.
The Childnet Digital Leaders Programme is an excellent opportunity to empower young people and their peers to talk about online safety in schools, and for MPs to hear from about real life experiences and be better informed to make important policy decisions that will affect future generations.
Thank you again for your hard work in this area, and I wish you all the best for the remainder of your training programme and beyond.
Do you have a passion for promoting online safety? Do you have a desire to help other young people? Do you have knowledge of the Childnet Digital Leaders online platform? Then this exciting new role is the one for you!
The Childnet Digital Leaders Programme is proud to be a youth-led and youth focused programme. However, we are continually striving to make it even better – this is where our Digital Champions come in!
Our Digital Champions represent the entire Digital Leader community from across the UK. They meet and collaborate with other Digital Leaders outside of their school and they are Childnet’s ‘go-to’ group for new and exciting developments on the platform and the programme. If you have great ideas about developing new modules and activities on the platform and would like first-hand access to fun and engaging opportunities, then being a Digital Champion is the role for you!
In addition to all of these awesome perks, Digital Champions may have the opportunity to be involved in regional and national events as well as speak with and give advice to big tech companies and schools on how to keep other young people safe online – wow!
You may be thinking this is a little daunting? But have no fear, as you will receive top class support from the Childnet Digital Leaders team and other Digital Champions too throughout.
You can find out more about our current Digital Champions here and their involvement in Safer Internet Day 2021 here and here.
All we ask from you is that you commit for 1 year from December 2021-November 2022. During this year, we would require a minimum commitment of one video call per month as well as additional participation work – this shouldn’t take any more than 6 hours per month. For more information on this, please check out the information pack.
If you answered yes to all of the questions at the start, and believe you have what it takes to become a Digital Champion, then please fill out the application form included in the information pack, fill out the online form at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/YFQQSKH (you may need to copy and paste link), and return all your signed consent forms by Friday 19th November.
We are super excited to hear from you and receive your applications. Good luck!
The Digital Champions are the youth ambassadors of the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme. Childnet work closely with them to ensure that the programme is youth-led, they have opportunities to represent the Digital Leader community in many ways, including at events and in consultations. You can find out more about the Digital Champions here.
In this blog we ask some of the Digital Champions about their experience in the role this year, including highlights and how they have found taking part in the group throughout the COVID-19 school closures. Thank you to Cosima, Jess and Aimee for their insightful and thoughtful responses, which you can read below.
What has been your highlight of your Digital Champion role this year?
Cosima: For me my biggest highlight was either presenting our charter at Westminster to the MPs or talking to Baroness Nicky Morgan at the BT centre event on Safer Internet Day!
It was such a unique experience that not many people my age would get to do!
At first talking to the MPs was a little daunting but as the day progressed I became a lot more fluent in what I was saying, I guess practice makes perfect! In addition, once Aimee went on to go and do her speech, and I had to do everything solo, I felt kind of proud of myself for being able to do that!
As it I was talking about something I was passionate about when it came to doing our stand at the event, I found it quite rewarding in a way to get the message across to so many different representatives of different companies. Oh and a bonus was that I was on the news hehe!
How have you found your Digital Champion role throughout the COVID-19 pandemic?
Jess: During the COVID-19 pandemic, our lives have had to adapt in many ways, including the way we work and communicate. Although we haven’t been able to meet up in person a huge amount this year, by communicating online, the Digital Champions team has been able to keep in touch and continue to make a change. Personally, I feel as though being able to communicate more online has brought me closer to the team and made me feel like I am making a bigger impact with what I do. With more people using the online world as a way to chat with friends and work from home, we have been working hard to support our peers and other young people who are spending more time online and make sure they are safe and well. I feel like my role during this time has made me a more well-rounded person, and has helped me develop my communication and teamwork skills, despite only communicating through a screen. The rest of the team have done an awesome job of keeping us all informed and updated throughout this time, and I have felt more confident in my role than ever before. Although this has been an uncertain time for us all, I have felt more connected with not only my friends, but the rest of the Digital Champions and Childnet team and through more online communication, I have felt a bigger part of the team and a more confident person.
What would you say to someone thinking about applying to be a Digital Champion next year?
Aimee: If I could say one thing to someone who is thinking of applying to be a digital champion, I would say don’t allow any feelings of doubt, worry or anything else put you off it because it has been my best experience! It feels like a close family and you get to take part in a range of new and enjoyable opportunities that teach you so many skills as well as putting you in really influential positions with the ability to help and teach many people from all over. I’ve loved it so much and I would recommend it to everyone so, to everyone reading this, definitely try it!! 🙂
Thank you to our Digital Champions for sharing their thoughts on how they have found their role over the year. If you are interested in becoming a Digital Champion next year, then keep your eyes peeled for the next round of applications due to open in September.
