Following interest from more schools, we are holding another one day hands-on Blogging course on 23rd October for forward thinking schools in the North East!

Please browse the website for testimonials and other schools blogging successfully as a result of this course....

Children in schools are internet savvy - at school they use iPads, PCs and a radio system confidently; meanwhile, at home their phones are their main source of internet.  Thus, education around esafety rather than blocking / limiting access seems the most sensible course.

The first question teachers (and parents) ask about blogging in schools is:

• Is it safe?

I have written here about the esafety features essential for class blogs (leaving comments, pixellating photos), but below are some of the things our school did during Internet Safety Day (Tuesday 11th February 2014) to promote safe internet use.  They have been collated by our year 5 teacher, Matt Patterson, so thanks to him!

Radio Team: Staying Safe Online Radio shows:
February 2014: http://5tanfieldlea.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/safer-internet-radio-show-february-14th-2014.html

Year 6:
http://6tanfieldlea.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/internet-safety-day.html
http://6tanfieldlea.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/esafety-videos.html
http://6tanfieldlea.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/internet-safety-by-cailen.html

Year 5:
http://5tanfieldlea.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/safer-internet-day-11214.html
http://5tanfieldlea.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/rachels-e-safety-poster.html

Year 4:
http://4tanfieldlea.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/stay-safe.html
http://4tanfieldlea.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/safer-internet-day.html

Foundation:
http://fstanfieldlea.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/safer-internet-day.html

We have also got parents involved in esafety and the class blogs in the last week, which will form another blog post in the future!

Following a conversation at the Speed Learning event about esafety, I thought I would recommend Skitch, a free app which allows you to pixellate photos of children in cases where they cannot be identified.

Simply import your photo into Skitch, use the pixellate (blur) button over the area you wish to blur, then put it back on your camera roll!  It is now ready to be 

For more information, on the use of Skitch, click here (courtesy of @MattPEducation, a colleague who has done great work on iPads).

ESafety is a particular concern in the 21st century. 

Whilst some malign social media and its attendant dangers, it is important children are taught safe internet behaviour, instead of being told to stay off it!   We know the potential of blogs in both Primary and Secondary school, yet must be vigilant in keeping children safe.

Each of our class blogs has an ESafety page and teachers and children alike are well aware of the importance of esafety.   There are lots of great Esafety resources out there such as Stories from the Web and ThinkUKnow.co.uk

In primary schools, the main esafety focus need to be:

• Keeping personal details off blogs

(No surnames, children's names cannot be identified from pictures)

After some training, children are particularly aware in this regard, and have often reminded staff / parents to follow the rules!

• Making sure comments are moderated (come via a teacher first to avoid inappropriate comments)

This is usually a case of setting up the blog so that Comments require prior approval before going live.

In school, we have used assemblies to emphasise the importance of keeping ourselves safe online.  Below are a couple of assembly slides we used: