Safer Internet Day 2022
Safer Internet Day is a global campaign which calls upon people to join together to make the internet a safer and better place for all, especially for children and young people. This week, the Council’s Online Safety Officer, Robert Quigley, is hosting engagement sessions with parents to discuss online safety.
Mr. Quigley said: “As more children across Highland access the online world for learning and personal use, it is essential that we provide them with the tools they need, to do so as safely as possible. Highland schools are being supported to provide these tools not only to the pupils, but to school staff and to parents and families. Highland Council's approach to online safety has been recognised nationally and lead the way forward by taking a proactive and positive approach to both embracing digital learning and ensuring our children are digitally safe.”
An engagement session with parents and carers at Kinmylies Primary School is scheduled to take place tonight. The session will include an overview of online safety and also discuss the unique challenges and issues that arise from gaming. This will include looking at the increasingly accepted link between gaming and gambling through the in-app purchases of items such as ‘Loot Boxes’.
Looking forward to the session, Krista Munro, a teacher at the school said: “We are delighted to be highlighting Safer Internet Day 2022 with a virtual information event for our school community. Working together with Robert Quigley, our school team and our families, it is more important than ever to create confident, safe and independent young people using online platforms responsibly. This is an ever-changing picture and we are grateful for the support and current knowledge that Robert will share. We have received such a positive response regarding this and with the increased use of technology in our daily lives, keeping our school community safe and knowledgeable is more important than ever.”
Education Chair, Cllr John Finlayson said: "Safer Internet Day is a very important day and we all have responsibility to make the internet a safer and better place for all, especially for children and young people. The council takes this responsibility very seriously and I would like to thank the Council’s Online Safety Officer, Robert Quigley, for all the work he does with schools and parents and also thank school staff for working daily to keep our children safe online."
Highland school communities can access helpful advice and resources from the Highland school’s Online Safety Centre. The Highland Online Safety Centre was created last year to help empower parents, carers, staff, and pupils to better understand digital spaces.
The Highland Online Safety Centre is available online at https://bit.ly/HighlandOnlineSafetyCentre.