Children are growing up in a digital world where they use mobile devices at school for learning, communicating with friends, gaming, watching films, shopping and researching on search engines.  

The internet offers numerous opportunities for creativity and communication. It is easily accessible to most children, who often have their own mobile devices by the time they are 13 or often much younger (IWF Internet Watch Foundation 2025). 

This online safety course enables school staff to understand the digital world, in much the same way that children access and play in a playground every day. 

The course explores: 

• cyberbullying
• AI
• social media
• gaming
• live streaming
• influencers
• AI-generated content
• deepfakes
• encrypted messaging apps and disappearing messages
• augmented reality (AR)
• the online metaverse. 

It will provide an overview of the skills needed to foster a safe and secure culture and a whole-school approach. 

We will explore the UK safeguarding standards outlined in Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE) and the 4 Cs structure (content, contact, conduct and commerce), which provide a framework and support compliance with data protection and legislation. International schools may not have legislation or local guidance about online safety but they can use the UK standards to incorporate them into policies and practices within their school. 

Aims and outcomes 

• Understand our duty of care in safeguarding children from online risks.
• Equip teaching staff with the confidence and knowledge to understand online risks.
• Explain the legislation and expectations based on UK safeguarding standards (e.g. Keeping Children Safe in Education), the Children’s Code (Age-appropriate Design Code) and an international context (e.g. UNICEF and EU Digital Services Act).
• Know how to recognise, respond, report, record and refer to the designated safeguarding lead. 

Author: Ann Marie Christian