Highlight of the Week

An Internet We Trust

On Tuesday, our pupils, along with over 1,700 schools and organisations worldwide, celebrated Safer Internet Day 2021.
This special day is coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre and gives us the opportunity here in school to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for children and young people.

This year, we aimed to celebrate the amazing range of information and opportunities online, and how working digitally has the potential to inform, connect and inspire us, whilst also looking at how young people can separate fact from fiction. We focused on how we can decide what to trust online, by supporting each other to question, challenge and change the online world for the better. We explored how influence, persuasion and manipulation can impact young people’s decisions, opinions and what they share online.

The morning began with two separate introductory assemblies. The Infant assembly was led by Mrs Price in which she told the tale of Detective Digiduck – an enthusiastic user of technology who learned the hard way about the importance of not always believing everything he sees online. Mr Reardon hosted the Junior assembly, in which the pupils were asked to consider whether they should trust or check the information in various online scenarios. Throughout the morning, the pupils completed a variety of age-appropriate activities that aimed to re-enforce the theme of Exploring Reliability in the Online World.
In the Senior Section, tutor time focused on discussions about ‘fake news’, manipulation of online content and the importance of understanding the motivation behind the message.

Through the interactive nature of the activities that were delivered live by class teachers either in school or from home, engaging discussions took place about the emotional impact navigating a misleading online world can have on young people and why it is important to create a supportive, critical and questioning culture online that encourages debate and discussion. We hope the morning helped our pupils develop the skills to support one another, and the strategies to spot and speak out against harmful and misleading content online.

It was also wonderful to hear from two Old Llandavian cyber professionals, Holly Lidbury (2005-2010) and Nye Prior (2006-2009) who shared their top tips for staying safe online and offered advice for those considering a career in the industry. The Q&A can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/CSLOldLlandavians/posts/801577360571523