15 Sep 2020
Child Protection Week focussed on eSafety last week, with more than 3500 students tuning into a webinar conducted by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner.
Students took away several interesting facts regarding safety generally, as well as specific issues that have arisen as a result of the Covid-19 situation.
There has been a 56% increase in internet use due to an increase in working and learning from home. This has also led to an increase in scams and inappropriate online behaviours, with a large number of students that attended last week’s webinar reporting being approached by a stranger online to either connect or share images.
The webinar prompted students to ask themselves three questions regarding an approach to connect:
- Who are they?
- How do they know you?
- Why do they want to be friends?
Students were also reminded of warning signs that a request to connect is unsafe:
- Information provided not fitting their profile
- Asking to meet up
- Comments that suggest the person is spying
Year 6 students from Weetangera Primary school - Archie, Bridget, Joshua and Gemma - were surprised that so many of their fellow students had been approached by strangers.
Even though all of them are immersed in online learning and interactions they were reminded of the need to understand the different safety and security mechanisms on various devices and apps.
If you need to know more help is at hand.
The Education Directorate is working in collaboration with the Office eSafety Commissioner and the Australian Federal Police and will be hosting a live webinar for families on Wednesday 16 September 2020 from 7:00pm – 8:15pm. You can register for the webinar via a dedicated website 
.
This webinar is suitable for adults and will provide an overview of:
- The role and function of the Office of the eSafety Commissioner and the AFP
- Prevention tips and how to support your child to be a responsible digital citizen
- How to report inappropriate and harmful content
- Hard to have conversations and resources to support families
Other information about eSafety is available through the Office of the eSafety Commissioner’s website .