Case Study:
Glenthorne Primary School
Aware of the fast pace at which the online world is growing, Glenthorne Primary School wanted to empower themselves and their community with online safety know-how.
They ultimately chose to join National Online Safety as a Certified School. Amy Morgan, Year 4 teacher, has been delighted with the results so far.
The importance of online safety
Amy outlined: “We promote independence, resilience and perseverance at Glenthorne Primary School.”
Amy recognises the central role that the internet plays in children’s everyday life. Ensuring all key stakeholders are kept abreast of the latest developments in online safety, therefore, is key – as is providing the education to empower them in supervising pupils’ use of digital technology.
She continued: “The online world can be a dangerous place for children, if they don’t know how to manage online risks and navigate the dangers.”
“It’s important to teach our children how to be safe online, as computing is a huge part of their lives now,” Amy explained.
“Online safety has become such a large topic,” she nodded. "I think it’s crucial to teach it in order to prepare the children for their future.”
Discovering National Online Safety
“We stumbled on National Online Safety as it was recommended by another school,” Amy recalled. “Our headteacher found out more about the programme, and we decided to go ahead and become a Certified School.”
Reflecting on the overall achievement of earning Certified School status, Amy believes the resultant feeling of pride will spur everyone at Glenthorne on to continue utilising National Online Safety’s resources and training.
She smiled: “The accreditation was something that stood out to us. Having the plaques up is fantastic. The achievement was nice and it’s great to have on display. We take it very seriously.”
At times, trying to stay on top of the latest online and tech trends can feel a little overwhelming.
This is where our bite-sized resources have come into their own for Glenthorne Primary: specifically in the case of our weekly #WakeUpWednesday guides and our free mobile app for parents and carers.
Amy nodded: “It’s great that we can send out the #WakeUpWednesday guides to parents and carers. We really like those.
“It’s a quick and easy thing that we can do to maintain contact with parents and carers about online safety,” she elaborated.
A wealth of online safety training
Throughout the pandemic, it was important that the school’s online safety training was flexible – something that we at National Online Safety were able to cater for.
Amy remembered: “When we were in lockdown, we had a huge uptake for the webinars and courses – they are fantastic to watch.”
She continued: “It was great in lockdown particularly, because remote learning was brand new for everyone.”
Amy is also consistently impressed by the frequent updates to our training resources – something which she believes sets National Online Safety apart from the rest.
“Personally, I think the weekly #WakeUpWednesday guides are the biggest benefit. They are invaluable,” she confirmed.
“We’re going to work towards our accreditation again this year,” Amy concluded. “We’re looking to renew our Certified School Membership, so we will definitely be using it in the future.”