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Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online’ was the theme of this year’s Safer Internet Day, marked by all CET schools. Each school focused on how to protect ourselves online and where to go to for support – with all activities tailored to different ages. There was a winner for each year group, and you can see who won below!
Primary Schools
Early Years children helped Smartie the Penguin make good choices about which games to play and advised him who to tell if he needs help. Petteril Bank School scooped first prize with their beautifully sung song, and the giant model of Smartie was a great addition!
In Key Stage 1, the children recreated the story of a young boy who was struggling to keep himself safe online. The children taught him what to do when pop-ups appeared on screen. The KS1 Platinum Award went to Tebay Primary School for their inclusive video and lots of helpful tips on how to stay safe online!
Meanwhile our Lower Key Stage 2 children engaged in role play and created a pop-up advice surgery. They interviewed a goat and a troll about a series of unfortunate online events! Longtown Primary School devised a fantastic ‘Longtown Learners and their Advice Team’ – a wonderfully scripted broadcast conveying important messages delivered with passion and clarity.
Upper Key Stage 2 busied themselves with quizzes, internet safety speed-dating intelligence and group case study advice and report back sessions, engineered by Jemma Nicholson, Executive Headteacher at Longtown Primary School and Petteril Bank School. Hensingham Primary School won the Platinum award for the engaged participation and real learning displayed – fabulous!
So much learning in such fun ways!
Secondary Schools
In our secondary schools, the day began with assemblies and age-appropriate quizzes in form time.
Computer Science lessons covered the phishing email spotting challenge and exploring AI and Deepfake scams. Dance and Drama lessons enjoyed role play activities on fake romances, job offers and giveaways. In English, students examined the persuasive language techniques used in scams, then created their own scam texts and articles and debated the ethical use of AI in marketing and communication. In Maths, attention was turned to the probability of financial loss due to scams and students calculated the exponential growth of a scammer’s earnings using pyramid schemes.
Safer Internet Day is indeed a landmark event in our Safeguarding calendar and the events in schools have shone a spotlight on the issue of internet safety.
Thank you to Jemma Nicholson, Gill Creighton, Safeguarding Manager, and Craig Redhead, Assistant Headteacher at The Whitehaven Academy, for coordinating activities across the Trust.
