NLThe 6th February saw thousands of events taking place across the UK for this year’s Safer Internet Day, and as UK coordinators, the UK Safer Internet Centre team were holding events in London, Liverpool and Glasgow.
The UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC) is a leading global partnership between charities, SWGfL, Childnet and the Internet Watch Foundation; and it was the UKSIC team from SWGfL who were in Liverpool to host a jam-packed day at Anfield Stadium, as well as joining Everton FC at Goodison Park!
What happened throughout the day?
This year, over 100 pupils from Liverpool primary schools, and mascot Mighty Red, joined the team at Anfield to familiarise themselves with new technology, online scenarios, and what they can do if they find themselves facing difficult situations on their favourite platforms.
Pupils and teachers joined Boris Radanovic for two assemblies to gain a better understanding of how to navigate the online world. Reporting and talking to a trusted adult about the content they see and use online were amongst the key pieces of guidance for the young pupils.
Teachers were also introduced to the Report Harmful Content service and the Professionals Online Safety Helpline, helping them to understand how they can use each of these avenues when the young people they work with are faced with situations that impact their safety and wellbeing online.
Following each assembly, pupils were then involved in a number of engaging workshops, exploring this year’s Safer Internet Day theme by being asked: ‘How does the internet influence us?’ Faced with a range of online scenarios, groups discussed whether each one had a positive or negative impact or whether a scenarios influence was dependant on other factors. These workshops gave the children time to develop their critical thinking skills, allowing them to understand the impact of online content such as fake accounts, affirmations, streaming videos, and content showing ‘crazy’ stunts.
The workshops also gave the UKSIC team a small insight into the understanding that these young groups already have about the online world, highlighting the need for schools to implement digital literacy education and further online safety approaches at early stages.
Next door to these workshops, teachers joined Ken Corish to explore ProjectEVOLVE and how the popular digital literacy toolkit can support and improve learning and understanding of online scenarios within classrooms. Ken also gave an exclusive glimpse into the much-anticipated ProjectEVOLVE EDU platform, which is to be launched early this year! As well as this, teachers were also provided with Social Media Checklists and information about other services that will allow them to further support the young people in their care.
Anfield Stadium
The day also gave pupils the opportunity to take a tour of the stadium, which was met with great excitement, especially after all of their hard work! It was clear to see that from involvement, enthusiasm, and discussion that the event was a great success, improving knowledge and helping to give pupils key pieces of guidance which they can then explore more with their teachers, parents, or carers.
We would like to thank everyone who came to this event and those who made it possible. It’s this continued support that helps to make Safer Internet Day a staple in the online safety calendar.
Register your support and discover latest research
If, like the UKSIC team, you held an event for Safer Internet Day, why not let them know? You can do this by registering your support from the UKSIC website. Finally, you can find new research, published especially for the day, which highlights the latest impact of online technology alongside concerns, and considerations.
