Case Study:
Carr Hill High School
Aware of the current risks which exist online for their pupils, Carr Hill High School wanted to further develop their culture of safeguarding through National Online Safety.
Our Certified School Package was the perfect way for Carr Hill to do exactly that, and they soon set off on working towards achieving their accreditation through the programme.
Since then, and the school have received their accredited status and have been delighted with the online safety training and education the programme has provided for the whole school.
Online safety knowledge for all
A big plus point for the Lancashire-based secondary school was our package’s comprehensive nature, with the ability to empower, not only school staff, but everyone in the wider community.
Mr Johnstone, Assistant Headteacher at Carr Hill High School said: “We purchased the Certified School Package to ensure we were complying with our statutory obligation to keep young people safe online. We also need to ensure that students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to stay safe, and that adults (school staff, governors and parents) know how to best support young people in staying safe.
“Within our school community and local area, we feel that the biggest problem we are faced with is sexting, and the issues that are associated. Several of the online training modules provided by National Online Safety have been used to address this and other pertinent safeguarding issues, for example, County Lines. All staff have had CPD (Continued Professional Development) time allocated to the completion of this training.
“During CPD time, staff are able to access the National Online Safety online training modules, and complete them at their own pace. There are also user guides and helpful tips which we promote as a school, to help staff (and students/parents/carers) to access further information about a range of topics.
“The biggest advantage has to be the flexibility to complete training as and when, it can be worked around any other pressing commitment, which within a school environment is very helpful. The resources are engaging, very informative and well presented.”
Parental uptake
As well as strong engagement levels from staff, parents and carers have shown a real enthusiasm too – something that’s delighted the school.
“We have been very pleased with the response from parents, they are able to access a lot of the resources on our website as we have a safeguarding resources page complete with useful information,” he stated.
“Within this section, we have provided a link to the National Online Safety website, and a range of the user guides and ‘What parents/carers need to know’ safety information about a range of current apps, consoles and items that young people use on a regular basis. We share information about these resources through our social media to ensure we inform parents/carers of what is available to use.”
Accreditation and next steps
Reflecting on the overall achievement of being a Certified School, Mr Johnstone says the overwhelming feeling is one of pride, and will only spur everyone on to further promote our resources and training.
Mr Johnstone declared: “It is a fantastic achievement, one that we are very proud of, as it reflects our commitment to keeping our young people safe online.
“In the future, we will continue with National Online Safety training modules and promoting the user guides for new technology, and to warn parents/carers of the dangers of new apps or to inform them of new consoles etc. We will use further training to help with a range of online safety issues and keep everybody up to date.”