Internet safety and cyberbullying

Guidance and resources to help you tackle cyberbullying and promote e-safety.

Guidance and information

The current Ofsted framework highlights that safeguarding relates to “broader aspects of care and education, including online safety and related issues” There is emphasis on the safe use of technology and protecting children from online bullying. The following briefing document for inspectors from the 2013 framework still provides very useful guidance on what’s expected from schools.

E-safety briefing document for Ofsted Inspectors (pdf format, 357KB)

Statutory guidance from the DfE (September 2016) 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' emphasises the importance of tackling bullying (including cyberbullying), teaching children to stay safe online, and ensuring they don’t access inappropriate material, are all emphasised. The guidance sates that peer on peer abuse, including 'sexting', should be reflected in the schools’ child protection policies. Referring to resources and guidance on this page will help you to meet these requirements.

For a comprehensive overview of E-safety and cyberbullying and links to all key resources please see:

Sexting/youth-produced sexualised imagery

Oxfordshire County Council, the OSCB and Thames Valley Police all recommend that schools and settings refer to Sexting in Schools and Colleges, guidance from the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (2016) to support them with preventing and managing sexting.

Please see Oxfordshire’s Sexting Resource Pack 2016 (pdf format, 354Kb) for further links and resources to support you with managing sexting.

Oxfordshire sexting survey (secondary schools)

The survey takes about 10 minutes to run and, as with other Oxfordshire surveys, you will be provided with an individual link for your school and a summary report of your results.

Sample link

Oxfordshire cyber-survey

The survey takes about 10 minutes to run and will provide crucial information on the experiences of young people to identify key issues and consult and involve them in ways forward. You will be provided with an individual link for your school and once the survey is completed a summary report of your results, including open ended questions. Your results will also contribute to county results to help inform our county strategy on e-safety and cyberbullying.

Sample links

Instructions for running the online cybersafety survey (pdf format, 24Kb)

If you would like an individual link for your school please contact jo.brown@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Key national guidance and links

The DfE released Cyberbullying guidance in November 2014 along with cyberbullying guidance for parents and carers. There is also some information about dealing with cyberbullying in the general “preventing and tackling bullying” guidance which are all available here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying

Oxfordshire resources 

Assemblies/lessons/group activities

Involving parents and carers

Children and young people could also visit the youth website pages on cyberbullying and staying safe on the internet.

Further links and information to support your online safety work

Oxfordshire

National and international

  • Action Fraud  - for reporting fraud or online scams or viruses to Action Fraud – the UK’s national fraud reporting centre
  • Childnet International - a non-profit organisation working with others to 'help make the internet a great and safe place for children'.
  • Get Safe Online  provides advice on how people can use the internet confidently, safely and securely.
  • In Their Own Words – What Bothers Kids Online? EU Kids Online(2014) EU Kids Online 2014 Research from the London School of Economics
  • Net Children go Mobile Net Children Go Mobile  which surveyed 9 – 16 year olds from 7 EU countries including the UK (2014). 
  • NSPCC - regularly updated guidance from the NSPCC on social networking sites that children and young people are using (for parents/carers and professionals)
  • NSPCC Share Aware  
  • Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is the UK Safer Internet Centre's hotline for reporting three specific types of online criminal content: child sexual abuse content (hosted globally) ; obscene adult content (hosted only in the UK); non-photographic images of child sexual abuse (such as computer-generated images) (hosted only in the UK)
  • Ofcom - Children and parents: media use and attitudes report 2016 (pdf 2.9 Mb) 
  • Online Compass This site provides an e-safety audit tool for youth settings. This site is provided by the Safer Internet Centre 
  • UK council for Child Internet Safety  This is a voluntary organisation that brings together over 200 organisations including the Department for Education, CEOP, Childnet, etc. 
  • UK Safer Internet Centre   provides e-safety tips, advice and resources to help children and young people stay safe on the internet. 
  • UK Safer Internet Centre professional helpline helpline@saferinternet.org.uk 0844 381 4772   Support with all aspects of digital and online issues such as social networking sites, cyber-bullying, sexting, online gaming and child protection online. The helpline aims to resolve issues professionals face about themselves, such as protecting professional identity and reputation, as well as young people in relation to online safety.