The pilot’s focus is on 11-year-olds, the typical age when smartphones give children their first unsupervised access to the Internet, and is supported by Gloucestershire Police, Gloucestershire County Council, HRH The Duke of York and Cyber Security Challenge UK
The vision
The launch of the Cyber4Schools® marked an important milestone for the pilot of Cyber4Schools®, the learning programme Professor Richard Benham devised to deliver cyber awareness training to our children and schools in Gloucestershire. Working in partnership with the registered charity The Cyber Trust Cyber4Schools® is working to help children stay safe online.
Professor Richard Benham, founder of The National Cyber Management Centre, TheCyberClub, Cyber4Business, Cyber4Health, Cyber4Sport and Cyber4Schools carried out the first online safety lesson with Year 7 pupils at Chosen Hill School in Gloucestershire. The pilot has now been delivered into Dean Close School, Pittville School and Marling Schools. A full independent report has been complied demonstrating the positive impact this initiative has had on our Year 7 children in these schools.
The Cyber Trust is now looking for funding and donations to help role this successful, important initiative into to all our Gloucestershire schools.
The pilot’s focus is on 11-year-olds, the typical age when smartphones give children their first unsupervised access to the Internet, and is supported by Gloucestershire Police, Gloucestershire County Council, HRH The Duke of York and Cyber Security Challenge UK. The vision is to provide a solution that helps all school children and citizens be cyber safer and help them to better protect themselves and encourage an open and honest culture where they feel comfortable ask for help and support each other.
Technology is the way forward and we must arm our children with the skills to deal with the pitfalls and embrace what is good about technology in a safe and secure way.
The pilot
Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Martin Surl, was the first PCC in the country to make cyber security a police priority. At the start of their lesson, the children were delighted to be presented with a CyberCitizen® for their school by Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire, Chris Brierley. This life-size character created by Cyber4Schools® provides the pupils with an appealing, visual reminder of the importance of being safe online. They then enjoyed a range of interactive activities, quizzes and a discussion about how to use mobile devices safely, with some fun facts and videos about staying safe online. They all received personalised certificates on completion of the course along with merchandise to re-inforce the messaging and learning.
Why online safety education for children is important
The learning experience children enjoy nowadays has evolved rapidly, corresponding with the pace of technological change around them. They’re digitally aware, jumping into the latest social media trends and sharing more personal information online than any previous generation. They take advantage of what the Internet has to offer, using it to build on their knowledge and expand their network of friendships. The recently published Digital Childhood Report highlights a rapid increase in the number of young people between 10 and 12 using digital devices. But has their social maturity evolved at the same pace as the technology around them? And do they have the skills and knowledge to understand how to behave and stay safe online?
More and more people, including children, are falling victim to cyberbullying, cybercrime and exploitation. In its 2016–17 Childline annual review, the NSPCC recorded an increase in children and young people talking to Childline about online safety and abuse. Over the year there were more than 12,200 counselling sessions, up 9 per cent on the previous year.
Baroness Beeban-Kidron’s 5Rights Framework, and the Children’s Commissioner in her recent report, Growing up Digital, identified the societal imperative to protect and safeguard our children online. Cyber4Schools® responds to this need, helping 11-year-olds to become informed cybercitizens, essential for a thriving future society and economy.
The pilot in Gloucestershire is the first step towards achieving this. We’re listening, learning and gathering feedback to shape and improve the programme, which we intend to scale nationally.
The solution - support for the national rollout
Cyber4Schools® needs your help and donations to help continue this great work and are keen to hear from all who can help scale the Cyber4Schools® programme and are keen for schools to register their interest. For further information, please contact them on Professor Cyber professorcyber@outlook.com or angela@thecybertrust.org.
Children all over the country have the latest tech gifts, allowing them to browse the Internet, stream videos, play games, share content and connect with friends more easily than ever before. They are delighted to be rolling out the Cyber4School® pilot with The Cyber Trust at this time, equipping some of these young people with the essential skills they’ll need to keep themselves safe online. Please get involved and help provide a safer world for children.
