Welcome to our weekly newsletter!

Online Safety

To help you keep your child safe while they are online please visit parentsafe.lgfl.net. This is a one-stop location for support and advice. If your child is receiving an electronic device remember:

• Controls are easier to put on a device at the start before you give it to a child

• Smart devices are no safer than traditional ones and are often given to youngest children - here's a great guide from Common Sense Media

These step by step parental control guides by Internet Matters will help you set up the right controls and privacy settings on the networks, gadgets, apps, and sites they use for a safer online experience.

LGFL's digital family agreement can help manage expectations and clarify what is allowed...or not, how much time you can spend on devices, and ground rules like no phones at the table or in bedrooms at night.

Setting Up Devices

With Xmas fast approaching some children will be getting new or upgraded devices, older devices may be handed to younger children. This is an ideal time to get information out to parents about the importance of setting up devices with parental controls in relation to the age of the child. Internet Matters covers all devices with very simple, easy-to-understand parental guides which you can find HERE.

There are also some good console buying advice and tips HERE.

Playstation Safety.

Sony Playstation and Internet Matters have got together and created a wonderful interactive quiz for children and parents to learn together how to make the most of Playstation settings for safer gaming. This is a great idea to get conversations going and for parents to learn more about the games which their children play.

You can access the interactive quiz HERE.

Advice by age:

Younger children need different advice and guidance than older children. Older children need different advice and guidance than teens. It can be really difficult keeping up with everything that is online and what risks and issues may affect children of different ages, so on these pages there is some age-related advice and guidance for parents and carers:

Pre-school - https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/0-5/

6 - 10 year olds - https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/6-10/

Safety/privacy settings on social media:

With many children and young people using social media it is important to understand what features are available to you to help protect your children. This is also important because for the most part, all privacy settings are default off when a new account is created, but also because some social media providers change their features quite frequently, e.g. TikTok.

Take a look at this link to see what is available to you and how to set up your child's social media. We would also advise doing this with your child so that you can discuss the features together.

https://www.internetmatters.org/parental-controls/social-media/

Useful new features on YouTube and YouTube Kids

YouTube is hugely popular with all age groups but historically parents haven't had a lot of control over what their children can/cannot watch. But things have changed and YouTube now gives parents a greater degree of control. It isn't perfect but it is a step in the right direction. Take a look at the page below where you will see a few short videos of newer features that can help you on YouTube and YouTube Kids.

https://www.esafety-adviser.com/youtube-parental-restrictions/

Gaming

Finding good games, as well as knowing what is appropriate for the age of the child isn't easy, particularly when there can be lots of peer pressure to play the more popular games which are not always appropriate. Taming Gaming is a great resource for parents to find new games for children as well as lots of advice about content, suitability etc.

https://www.taminggaming.com/

Keep up to date with all the news, events & opportunities from across @LEOacademies. You can now follow us at: