Mental health leads should promote and support mental health and wellbeing in schools. It’s important they work closely with the child protection team to bring an additional layer of support to children who may be vulnerable to online harms, many of which can impact their confidence and self-esteem or social and emotional health.
Our annual online safety training for mental health leads provides you with the core content you need to ensure you are delivering a comprehensive approach to online safety.
Split into bite-sized modules, the training has been designed to provide maximum learning potential in the leanest, most cost-effective and most time-efficient manner. It has been produced in high-quality remote video CPD format which is accessible on any device, any time, anywhere.
Developed by international safeguarding expert Robin Watts, and mental health and wellbeing expert Anna Bateman, the course has been divided into ten easy-to-digest modules. The course consists of learning through video modules, completion of tasks, further reading and viewing external resources. Please consider this when planning and allocating your time. To successfully understand and achieve the objectives of the course, learners are expected to engage in all aspects of the learning process and complete all relevant activities to ensure they can successfully apply the knowledge and skills they have gained in their own setting.
Learning Outcomes
- Understanding the nature of the online world today, how children’s online usage develops with age and what online risks they may be exposed to.
- Recognising the different roles and responsibilities of educators around online safety and developing robust and rigorous online safety policies to help mitigate risk.
- Identifying the importance of policy development, having an awareness of online safety reporting procedures and building digital resilience.
- Understanding the need to maintain a professional presence online and adhering to and educating others on acceptable use policies.
- Recognising online risks, the impact they can have on children and understanding how your role can support an effective approach to online safety.
Modules
Module 1: Why is online safety important?
Module 1 will discuss why online safety is so important and explore some of the main risks that children are facing today.
Module 2: Delivering a whole-school community approach
Module 2 will cover the importance of developing and implementing a whole school approach to online safety and explore the different roles and responsibilities of different staff.
Module 3: Staff roles and school policies
Module 3 will look at ways in which you can understand your responsibilities around online safety, the importance of policy development and recognising basic reporting procedures.
Module 4: Online safety and building digital resilience
Module 4 will explore what online safety actually means, how risks are traditionally categorised and how you can support children to build their digital resilience.
Module 5: Maintaining a professional online presence
Module 5 will discuss the importance of protecting your online presence, always maintaining professionalism and how to behave online.
Module 6: Understanding acceptable use policies (AUPs)
In module 6 you will understand the need for acceptable use policies, what purpose they serve and look at examples of what might be included for different age groups.
Module 7: Recognising unsafe communication
Module 7 will cover the risks associated with communicating with others and sharing information online, particularly photos and/or videos of children.
Module 8: Managing online information
In module 8 you will explore the importance of protecting your information online and understand the difference between the surface and dark web.
Module 9: Effects to health, wellbeing and lifestyle
Module 9 will look at the potential impact on mental health, wellbeing and lifestyle as a result of internet use and what children may be viewing online.
Module 10: Your role as a mental health lead
In the final module we will explore your role in keeping children safe online and contributing towards a whole school approach to online safety.
