Local guidance and resources
- Oxfordshire Cyberbullying Guidance for Educational Settings (pdf format, 222Kb)
- Oxfordshire Cyberbullying Guidance for Parents and Carers (pdf format, 94Kb)
- Oxfordshire Cyberbullying Guidance for Children and Young People (pdf format, 92Kb)
- Thames Valley Police (TVP) Talking Heads video on cyberbullying for parents/carers (February 2021)
- TVP cyberbullying advice sheet for parents/carers (pdf format, 700Kb)
- TVP cyberbullying advice sheet for young people (pdf format, 2Mb)
To access our extensive e-safety resources library to support your work in preventing the recurrence of cyberbullying.
National guidance and resources
The DfE provides general advice on preventing and tackling bullying alongside specific cyberbullying guidance for schools and parents/carers. To access these publications, click on the links below:
- Safeguarding and remote education during coronavirus (COVID-19)
- Guidance on remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Preventing and Tackling Bullying (July 2017)
- Cyberbullying: Advice for Headteachers and School Staff (2014)
- Advice for Parents and Carers on Cyberbullying (2014)
- Teaching Online Safety in School (June 2019)
Ofsted
To access the latest Ofsted School Inspection Handbook,
Ofsted will be judging all settings on the extent to which:
- Relationships among learners and staff reflect a positive and respectful culture;
- Leaders, teachers and learners create an environment where bullying, peer-on-peer abuse of discrimination are not tolerated; and
- Staff deal with issues quickly and effectively, and do not allow them to spread.
Source: Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (Updated July 2021)
Safeguarding
As well as understanding Ofsted’s inspecting guidance, schools should be familiar with relevant, including statutory, guidance on safeguarding when working to prevent and tackle cyberbullying:
- Keeping Children Safe in Education: Statutory Guidance for Schools and Colleges (September 2021)
- Working Together to Safeguard Children (July 2018)
Keeping Children Safe in Education emphasises the importance of effectively tackling bullying (including cyberbullying), teaching children to stay safe online, and ensuring they don’t access inappropriate material. It also states that peer on peer abuse, including 'sexting', should be reflected in the schools’ child protection policies and that sexual violence and sexual harassment should not be passed off as ‘banter’ or ‘part of growing up’ or ‘having a laugh’. Schools should be aware that children with SEND are more likely to be bullied and may not show this in their behaviour.
Referring to resources and guidance on this page will help you to meet these requirements.
Online Bullying
Online bullying in England and Wales: year ending March 2020
On 16 November 2020, the Office for National Statistics published estimates of the prevalence and nature of online bullying among children using data from the 10- to 15-year-olds’ Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).
For more information, go to: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/onlinebullyinginenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2020
Information and support
There is a wealth of information available to support schools, colleges and parents to keep children safe online. The following list is not exhaustive but should provide a useful starting point:
Organisation/Resource | What it does/provides | |
---|---|---|
thinkuknow | CEOP resources tailored to different age groups and for parents/carers. | |
disrespectnobody | Home Office advice on healthy relationships, including sexting and pornography. | |
UK Safer Internet Centre | UK Safer Internet Centre Professional helpline 0844 381 4772. | |
SWGfL | Includes a template for setting out online safety policies: | |
Internet Matters | Help for parents on how to keep their children safe online. | |
ParentZone | Help for parents on how to keep their children safe online. | |
Childnet Cyberbullying | Guidance for schools on cyberbullying. | |
UKCIS | The UK Council for Internet Safety’s website provides:
|
|
NSPCC advice for schools and colleges. | ||
net-aware | NSPCC advice for parents. | |
commonsensemedia | Independent reviews, age ratings, & other information about all types of media for children and their parents. | |
Searching screening and confiscation | Guidance to schools on searching children in schools and confiscating items such as mobile phones. | |
LGfL | Advice and resources from the London Grid for Learning.> | |
Anti-Bullying Alliance | Resources are also available from the Anti-Bullying Alliance. |
Oxfordshire Schools’ Anti-Bullying Survey
For more information on how to access the latest survey.
Safer Internet Day - 8 February 2022
The theme for Safer Internet Day 2022 is: All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online.
To access more information and resources,
See below for links to new and useful resources to support your work keep children safe online:
- Mental Wellbeing Resource from Public Health England for UKS2 and above
- Body Image & Advertising Resources for KS3 from MediaSmart
- 'Talk it Over' Online Hate Resource from Childnet for 13-17yrs
- Tackling Fake News Resource for Parents/Carers from Internet Matters
- Top Tips for Under 11s for Parents/Carers from UK Safer Internet Centre
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.
- Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment between Children in Schools and Colleges (May 2018)
- Sexting in schools and colleges - UKCCIS 2017
- Overview of Sexting Guidance – A one-page summary of the above guidance containing important information for all staff working with children and young people.
Please see Oxfordshire’s Sexting Resource Pack 2019 (pdf format, 354Kb) for further links and resources to support you with managing sexting.
Further links and information to support your online safety work:
Oxfordshire:
- OSCB digital safeguarding training - OSCB digital safeguarding training can be found at http://training.oscb.org.uk/ under themed courses for further details and to book a place.
- Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board
- Oxfordshire Safeguarding Adults Board
- OXME - Oxfordshire's youth website
- Junior Citizen Trust - Teaching children in Year 6 (Age 10 or 11) about how to keep safe in everyday life.
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.
- 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)
- 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.
Additional Oxfordshire resources
Assemblies/lessons/group activities:
- Secondary age assembly/group session (pptx format, 4Mb)
- Secondary age assembly/group session notes (pdf format, 97Kb)
- Supporting positive behaviour online secondary age group activity ( format, 1.3Mb)
- Secondary age cyberbullying lesson presentation (ppt format, 2.9Mb)
- Secondary age cyberbullying lesson notes (pdf format, 32Kb)
- Age 9 – 11 assembly/group session (pptx format, 4Mb)
- Age 9 – 11 assembly/group session notes (pdf format, 110Kb)
- The Anti-Bullying Gang online age 9 – 11 age group activity ( format, Kb)
- Primary age (9-11) cyberbullying lesson presentation (ppt format, 3Mb)
- Primary age (9-11) cyberbullying lesson notes (pdf format, 32Kb)
- Involving parents and carers
- Parent/Carer presentation (pptx format, 3.7Mb)
- Parent/carer presentation notes (pdf format, 174Kb)
- Ideas for involving parents and carers in keeping their children safe online (pdf format, 87Kb)
- Young person led parent/carer presentation primary version (ppt format, 7.5Mb)
- Link to Oxfordshire County Council Internet Safety pages for parents and carers
- Children and young people could also visit the youth website pages on cyberbullying and staying safe on the internet.