Case Study:
Shebbear College
A co-educational independent school for pupils aged 3 to 18, Shebbear College are always looking for ways to stay up to date with the online world.
After joining our Certified School membership, they’ve benefitted from instant access to online safety training, education and resources for the whole school community, including parents.
Indeed, the college is proud of how its parents and carers have empowered themselves with the knowledge they need to tackle the latest online risks and dangers.
Communication across the community
That interaction and engagement with parents and carers is essential when it comes to protecting children online and is something which the school takes great satisfaction in.
Fran Lovett, Deputy Head (Pastoral) and Safeguarding Lead at Shebbear College said: “We encourage parents to join the National Online Safety system, and we continue to communicate on a weekly basis.
“Our school community are really good at reporting or self-reporting concerns about pupils – they’re a very caring community. Really serious stuff doesn’t get to that level, because they have a system where they can talk and we have a really good pastoral team too.
“The more we can let the parents and the wider community know that this is something which we do take seriously and are committed too, the more it gets them onboard.
“We’re proud of what we do, but we’re not very good at shouting about the good things, because we just get on and do it.”
Empowering parents
Responding to the latest apps, games and online trends, our weekly #WakeUpWednesday series has been invaluable for Shebbear, who’ve been able to send out timely information when necessary.
“I’ve sent out the National Online Safety #WakeUpWednesday guides each week to parents,” Mrs Lovett revealed.
“Someone might not have an issue with Fortnite, it might be with Minecraft. So, they know where they can find that information and it’s been really good for the parents to deal with it in real time.
“Any issues which are raised are dealt with there and then and in an effective manner.”
A range of high-quality online safety training
Staff have benefitted immensely too, with experts from the world of online safety helping to shape our breadth of resources, such as courses and webinars.
Mrs Lovett explained: “It’s been good for the training too – for the staff training and sending things across to parents.
“We often get messages from parents asking about a certain issue and what to do. That’s when I can tell them to go on National Online Safety, sign up, join the Shebbear College community and find lots of information.
“It’s been really good to refer to, because previously I’d find things and send them on, whereas now they can go and find information which is bespoke to their problem.
“The CPD for staff has been fantastic! The platform has also been really good to record the CPD which the staff have completed.”