On Tuesday 8th February, Year 6 celebrated Safer Internet Day. With an increased number of children having access to technology, we chose to focus heavily on safe communication and respect when interacting online for this year’s Safer Internet Day.

Our day was started by a fantastic assembly, led by Year 5, who introduced the themes of Safer Internet Day and why it is so important to learn how to stay safe and how to make sure we are always showing respect when online or using technology. Following this, Year 6 did several lessons throughout the day based on discussion and how we should react in different scenarios when using technology. I was really impressed at how the children considered the feelings of others when interacting online and how they considered what was appropriate in face to face communication, and how this should be mirrored when interacting online. We discussed what attributes a bully shows and linked this to how online bullies act – the children were excellent at spotting the signs of online bullying and gave great ideas for what to do if they were to ever be subjected to any online abuse. There were extremely enthusiastic responses in our debate about if communication online should be allowed. It is safe to say that Year 6 feel online communication is valuable, explaining that it is a key form of communication for businesses, communicating with friends and family quickly and from long distances and improving your social life. They were however able to see the downsides of using technology to communicate and came to the conclusion that people need to be taught how to use communication online safely and respectfully, but it overall has many more positives than negatives. 

Well done Year 6 – it was lovely hearing how passionate and enthusiastic you were when debating and discussing scenarios throughout Safer Internet Day.