Ofsted's official view on eSafety

Ofsted has recently reviewed eSafety in schools across the UK and (as is their particular skill) they have published a report. The first key finding they list is "In the five schools where provision for e-safety was outstanding, all the staff, including members of the wider workforce, shared responsibility for it. Assemblies, tutorial time, personal, social, health and education lessons, and an age-appropriate curriculum for e-safety all helped pupils to become safe and responsible users of new technologies."

There are many other findings worth reading through if you are the member of the senior management team responsible for eSafety. Their key recommendations for schools are:

• audit the training needs of all staff and provide training to improve their
  knowledge of and expertise in the safe and appropriate use of new
  technologies
  


• work closely with all families to help them ensure that their children use new
  technologies safely and responsibly both at home and at school
  


• use pupils’ and families’ views more often to develop e-safety strategies
  


• manage the transition from locked down systems to more managed systems
  to help pupils understand how to manage risk; to provide them with richer
  learning experiences; and to bridge the gap between systems at school and
  the more open systems outside school
  


• provide an age-related, comprehensive curriculum for e-safety which
  enables pupils to become safe and responsible users of new technologies
  


• work with their partners and other providers to ensure that pupils who
  receive part of their education away from school are e-safe
  


• systematically review and develop their e-safety procedures, including
  training, to ensure that they have a positive impact on pupils’ knowledge
  and understanding.

The full report is available here:
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/content/download/10750/128225/file/The%20safe%20use%20of%20new%20technologies.pdf

You may like to send this link on to the relevant senior manager within your school. If you are a Redbridge school and have questions directly related to your school please get in touch I can link you in with the borough's eSafety Officer.

Alex Rees
alex.rees@redbridge.gov.uk