During the Spring Term, 2024, Carcroft Change Makers worked collaboratively to develop the ‘Carcroft Pledge’. We can’t wait to share this with whole school during our Summer Term!
Online Safety
Our pupils are growing up in a world of ever-changing technology. While we feel that the use of technology is a largely positive aspect of modern life, we cannot ignore the risks that can be associated.
Throughout school we aim to teach children:
- about the impact of cyber-bullying and what to do if they have been affected.
- to be vigilant when communicating online recognising that people may not always be who they say they are and to be sensible about what they share.
- to tell an adult they trust if something is upsetting them.
- to question the reliability of information given through a web based source.
- to search responsibly for information while using internet browsers.
We understand that much of our pupil’s use of the internet will occur at home, away from the school filters.
Below are a list of useful websites, advice and resources that you may find helpful when navigating the issue of online safety with your child. At the bottom of this page are resources that your child can directly access as well to help them learn about online safety.
Useful resources and links
Thinkuknow http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk
Thinkuknow is an education programme from the National Crime Agency’s CEOP Command. Since 2006, it aims to ensure that everyone has access to this practical information – children, young people, their parents and carers and the professionals who work with them.
Internet Matters https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/esafety-leaflets-resources/
A comprehensive web resource with a wide array of tips and advice on how to navigate the online world with your child. Some of their guidance we attach below but you can find even more by visiting the link.
National Online Safety https://nationalonlinesafety.com/resources/platform-guides/
National Online Safety’s mission is to make the internet a safer place for children. They aim to do this by equipping school staff, parents and children with the knowledge they need to understand online dangers and how best to react should an incident arise. The link above provides up to date information about a wide variety of social media apps and platforms your child might be using.
NSPCC http://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/share-aware/
The NSPCC are the first to admit that the internet is amazing. Children can play, learn, create and connect – opening up a whole world of exciting possibilities. But with the digital world changing all the time, how can you make sure your child’s staying safe? That’s where the NSPCC come in. Whether you’re an online expert or you’re not sure where to start, their tools and advice will help you keep your child safe.
Childnet http://www.childnet.com/parents-and-carers
Childnet International is a registered UK charity that aims to make the internet a safe place for children and young people. Packed with resources it is a great resource for parents.
CEOP http://ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/
Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) is part of the National Crime Agency and their website can be used to report if you are worried about online abuse or the way someone is communicating online.
BBC https://www.bbc.com/ownit
The BBC have a website and app called Own It. The website has a lot of content for children to help them navigate their online lives, and the free smartphone app comes with a special keyboard which can intervene with help and support in the moments that children need it the most.
SafetoNet https://safetonet.com/
SafeToNet is technology that educates children “in-the-moment” as they use their device. It is a safeguarding assistant that helps them become responsible and safe digital citizens. Its power lies in a smart keyboard that detects risks in real-time. It steers children away from trouble by filtering harmful outgoing messages before they can be sent and any damage can be done.
A guide to Apps & Social Media
The number of apps and social media channels your child could be exposed to grow all the time, as does an app’s functionality. We recommend you visit Net Aware to read the latest and most current advice on over 70 apps to ensure you know what they do, how you can limit their features as well as recommended age restrictions.
The apps included are:
- Fortnite
- Snapchat
- YouTube
- Minecraft
- Clash of Clans & Clash Royale
- Kik
- Friv
- Dubsmash
- Wink
- YOLO
- TikTok
- And many, many more
Resources for children to use
Below are some links that children themselves can access for help when navigating the tricky subject of online safety,
Reception – Year 2
Below are a number of links that are tailored for children in the younger year groups.
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/5_7/
https://www.netsmartzkids.org/
https://www.childnet.com/resources/smartie-the-penguin
Year 3 – Year 6
Below are links more suitable for older children.
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/8_10/
https://www.nsteens.org/
Money Money Money
Before starting our money unit in maths, we had the opportunity to play with the money so we’d feel more confident recognising the coins. While working with our partner, we gave them an amount of money and they had to count how much they had. This encouraged us to count in multiples of 1,2,5,10,20 and 50 supporting our understanding of place value.
Mechanisms
Today, Crew Hamill began looking at mechanisms. We began our lesson by testing our sticky knowledge and recapping previous learning. Following this, Miss Hamill introduced us to some new vocabulary that we would need to understand in order to access our lesson. We then had to look at pictures of different objects and decide which mechanism was being used with each one (E.g. a pulley for a flag pole). We then watched some informative videos about pulleys, lever and gears, making notes on big pieces of chotting paper in mini crews as we did so. Once we’d gathered all of our information, we inputted this onto a Padlet to keep a record of what we had learned.
Case Study reflection
Before starting our next case study, we reflected on what we had learned during history. We used padlet to collate our facts and thoughts while working in pairs. We were given some headings where we could put our facts. We then put all of this on an anchor chart which we used to help us answer the guiding question.
When leftovers could belong to both clauses
Today, we looked at what happens when you are building single-sentence clauses but you have ‘leftovers’ that could belong to either clause you are creating. We followed our script to identify verbs and subjects, then labelled the leftovers that were easier to identify (the leftover at the end belonging to the second clause). We then looked at how the leftover in the middle could belong to either clause. It could be the ending of the first clause, adding extra information, or it could be used at the beginning of the second clause with a comma being used after it. We had a go at doing this in pairs and playing around with the structure of our clauses before completing our exit ticket to illustrate what we had learned.
Single Clause sentences – punctuation
We continued our grammar lessons by identifying where we would place a full stop and capital letter. This was modelled on the board and then we watched a video. It was lovely to hear the children talking along with the video.
Activating our inference skills
Today, we continued to activate our inference skills by looking at a poem. We were introduced to the poem yesterday and worked hard to pull the text apart, identifying key vocabulary and labelling the text with key information and notes that we felt were helpful in our mission to understand poetry and what they poem was actually about. We then used these notes today to delve deeper into inferring the feelings of the characters. We began by working as a crew to identify the key points in the text for the first character, Chloe, and discussed how we thought she was feeling at each of these points. We used evidence from the text to support our ideas (E.g. she was happy at the beginning because she was looking out into space with open eyes). We then created a line graph to detail our findings. Following this, we worked in pairs to do the same for the second character, Max. Once we’d done this, we brought both graphs together to compare their feelings throughout the poem. We identified that Max was a much happier, more positive character, whilst Chloe was much less positive as she worried a lot and was scared by the idea of adventure.
Investigating Water Reisistance
We moved on from air resistance to start looking at another type of friction – water resistance. We built our background knowledge by watching a few informative videos and reading some key information to help us understand that water resistance is a type of force that uses friction to slow things down that are moving through water. Once we’d learned that the shape of an object in water can impact on the amount of water resistance, we tested our hypothesis that thinner, more streamlined shapes, would travel quicker through the water than wider shapes with a larger surface area. We worked in pairs to create two different shapes using plasticine and then conducted an experiment in which we dropped each shape, at the same time, into a jar that contained the same amount of water. We tested these shapes a few times before recording our results and concluding whether or not our hypothesis was correct. We were pleased to discover that we were correct!
Building single clause sentences
In grammar, we started to build single clause sentences with the understanding that a single clause sentence has a subject and a verb. In addition to this, we also had some pronouns which replaced the noun. This avoids repetition. We were encouraged to use the script, what’s the first verb? Who or what is doing? This gives us focus when we are completing the activities.
Find a friend who…
On our return from half term, our first crew session was to use the time to get to know others. We had to find someone in our crew who liked swimming or who liked pizza for example. This allowed us to use our speaking and listening skills as we had to ask questions and listen to their responses. We then did a quick hands up at the end to see who else liked a particular thing.
Identifying ‘leftovers’
We continued to identify leftovers (parts of our clause that are not a subject or a verb) during our grammar lesson on Monday. However, we discussed how the sequence we had been spotting during the last few lessons (subject, verb, leftovers) doesn’t always apply and it will not be like that in every single clause we write. As such, we looked at a few examples of where the positioning of these differed. We made sure we followed our script which required us to identify the verb first, then the subject, then the leftovers in order to label these accurately.