Internet Safety Training - The 'ThinkUKnow' training scheme.

The Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre (CEOP) have established a co-ordinated and effective approach to raising awareness of the importance of safe Internet use in Schools.

Think u know is the name of CEOP’s resources for young people. They have been created as part of its Harm Reduction strategy. These resources draw attention to what young people know about the risks they may encounter whilst using the internet. The programme uses three themes to focus on key messages:

ï‚· How to have fun online

ï‚· How to stay in control online

ï‚· How to report online

As part of this, there is an interactive presentation which CEOP aims to deliver to all secondary age children between the ages of 11-16. This is part of a package which includes films, leaflets, posters, and a training pack for all Child protection professionals in the UK. The programme will eventually also be rolled out to primary age children as well.

Background to the presentation:

The ‘think u know’ presentation was built on the lessons learned from another similar programme called ‘Getting To Know It All’. This programme was successfully piloted in November 2005 to 40,000 children in the UK by schools liaison officers alongside industry partners. This programme was evaluated by The University of Bristol and following from their report CEOP developed ‘think u know’.

The Website:

As part of the wider education programme the thinkuknow website (www.thinkuknow.co.uk) has been designed especially for young people. It aims to encourage young people to share what they know and do not know about the internet. The website includes games, information on emerging technology, chatting, gaming, blogging and.ultimately how to report anything they think is suspicious. CEOP is also aiming to provide advice and guidance for parents and care givers on the use of the internet enabling them to understand how people use the web on a daily basis.

In line with Becta recommendations, Schools are encouraged to appoint an e-Safety representative, who would be responsible for dealing with e-Safety issues that arise at their school.

Who to appoint as e-Safety representative at the school?

When choosing a schools’ e-Safety representative, there are a number of potential candidates:

• Child Protection Officer
• ICT co-ordinator
• Subject Teacher
• Head of Year
• Senior Management Team member

The person who is appointed does not need to have vast technical knowledge, however it would be helpful if they had some basic knowledge of ICT. The school Child Protection Officer will need to be aware of each training session and available should any child wish to disclose information regarding an online incident. Therefore it may be an idea to elect them as e-Safety representative. However, this does not have to be the case as another member of staff may be preferred and as long as the child protection officer is made aware of every training session.

For more information on the thinkUKnow training scheme, visitChild Exploitation & Online Protection Centre (CEOP) or

ThinkUKnow