Cordwalles School pupils given lessons in how to avoid tripping up onthe net

Pupils at Cordwalles School received lessons in cyber safety last month as the school looked at the positives and negatives of life online.

Members of staff also received specialist training in how to deal with the potential problems of an increasingly online world, with Upper School phase leader Sam Alley-Mohindra in charge of the week's lessons. "With more and more aspects of our lives being online - and that being likely to increase further as our pupils grow up - it's vital that they learn the importance of being safe right from this early age," Ms Alley-Mohindra said.

"We made the lessons appropriate to the different age groups. Year 3 were taught about personal identity issues, and the importance of not sharing this information, whilst Year 4 found out about 'safe surfing' and how to deal with attachments from unknown sources. Year 5 looked at how to deal with unsolicited content and pop-ups, whilst Year 6 focused on more legal things, such as data protection, privacy settings and internet copyright."

With internet enabled devices being so ever-present in modern life, it is hard to control children's access to them, and Ms Alley-Mohindra said that made the variety of topics and themes covered in the school's E-safety week all the more necessary.

"Pupils have different levels of access to this equipment and different levels of existing expertise, so it's the school's duty to make sure we equip them as best we can with the knowledge that they need to make the most of what the cyber world has to offer them, so
they can enjoy it and benefit from it in safety and comfort."