BSA virtual day seminar – Online safety for boarders: keeping current and compliant

• Date: November 25, 2022
• Time: 10:30 – 15:30
• Cost: Full Member – £145, Affiliate Member – £215, Non-member – £290
• Audience: Deputy Head, Head of Boarding, House staff, Pastoral and Wellbeing staff.
• Platform: Zoom (online)

Course outline

Once again 2022 has seen a seemingly never-ending stream of online safety related stories in the headlines, from cricketer Ollie Robinson’s nine-year-old tweets, to the Ofsted review into sexual harassment and sexual abuse in schools, which was triggered by the Everyone’s Invited site, the internet and its associated risks have rarely been out of the headlines, recognising the significant role that technology continues to play in all of our lives.

Living and working with young people 24/7, those working in boarding play a crucial role in delivering balanced and meaningful online safety education, something which research suggests schools are often finding it difficult to do as outlined by a 13-year-old pupil: “I have been taught at school (about online safety), but often in not a very effective way, that seemed to insult us, or assume we are dumb about being online. This can cause a bad attitude towards it, and the school/teachers don’t seem to have noticed.”

This seminar will provide an update on the latest challenges that are facing pupils when they go online. It will also focus on the statutory requirements that schools need to consider when creating policy; particularly around the use of mobile devices and internet access. There will be plenty of time for group discussion and debate as well as opportunities to share experiences, learn from others, discuss ideas and hear about different strategies to address the key issues that are facing pupils and schools.

By attending this training, participants will have a good overview of the latest research looking at what is happening online and the impact that COVID has had. Given the acceptance by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child of General Comment 25 which states that children’s rights offline now also apply online, there will be time to consider the implications of this for schools. Participants will be signposted to the latest and best quality resources aimed at fostering debate and discussion amongst pupils and staff around a wide range of online issues.

Training topics will include:

• Overview of the current online safety landscape – a review of the current challenges facing children and young people. This session will consider the latest research and provide information on the latest apps and platforms that pupils are using as well as the risks they face
• Policy and statutory guidance ­- what do schools have to do with regards online safety? How do they know if they are doing everything, and more importantly getting it right?! This session will include a more in depth look at effective filtering and monitoring and will identify what schools need to be doing in order to be compliant
• How to ensure coverage – what are the different aspects of online safety, how do schools know that they are compliant when delivering an online safety curriculum? How do schools tailor this to benefit their pupils?
• Case studies (and possible future developments) – an opportunity to discuss some online safety case studies (participants are invited to share their own if they wish) and a brief glimpse at some of the challenges that are expected in the coming months.

Learning outcomes:

• Increased and up to date knowledge on the latest challenges facing children and young people online
• Good understanding of the statutory requirements placed on boarding schools with regards online safety from a curriculum, pastoral and technical infrastructure perspective
• Awareness of the different aspects of online safety education that need to be delivered by schools
• Signposting to useful and current resources.

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Speaker: Karl Hopwood, independent e-safety expert and Executive Committee member, Sacpa

Karl is an independent esafety expert. He is a member of UKCCIS (UK Council for Child Internet Safety) and sits on the UKCCIS evidence group and education working group as well as on the advisory board for the UK Safer Internet Centre and the education advisory board for CEOP. He also sits on Twitter’s trust and safety council where he represents the Insafe network. Karl has worked for a number of key players in the UK and abroad including CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre), BECTA (British Educational and Communications Technology Agency), the European Commission, the UN and several Local Authorities within the UK and in Europe. As an ex-primary headteacher, he continues to work closely in schools across Europe with children, young people, parents and teachers to develop safer online behaviours and the promotion of digital literacy. Karl has been employed for the last 13 years as an in-house consultant for INSAFE which is the coordinating node of the EU Better Internet for Kids programme where he is responsible for the coordination of safer internet helplines across Europe. He also works with the Boarding Schools’ Association, IAPS and the National Union of Teachers. Karl is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Marie Collins Foundation, a charity which supports young people who have been sexually abused and exploited online, and is also a trustee of Childnet International.