On Tuesday the 7th of February we had our termly Online Safety Day. There was a hive of activity throughout both the BD3 & BD7 site, with all pupils interacting with technology and learning how to be safe online. 

The Rockets Pathway Rockets were engaging in online information on lots of different devices.  They were working on their communication skills to be able to communicate ‘no’ or to ask for ‘help’ whilst engaging with some super exciting software. Other pupils grouped behaviours which make others happy and which might make others sad online, learning how to be a good friend online. 

The Galaxies Pathway pupils were video calling between classes, seeing if pupils could recognise familiar staff from around school. It was great to see the promotion technology has on encouraging our pupils to vocalise more! Pupils also spent the day interacting with lots of irresistibly engaging cause and effect toys & software, communicating whether they wanted ‘more’. Using the Eye Gaze was a massive hit too, with pupils independently interacting with technology!

The Meteors Pathway were working using video calls to play a game of hide and seek around school, guessing where their friends were with the clues given in the video call. Pupils were engaging with online information through ipads and the class interactive whiteboard, navigating the internet with growing independence. Another activity pupils in the Meteors pathways loved getting involved in was encouraging communicating ‘no’ to trying different tangy foods.

Pupils in the Comets Pathway practiced identifying kind and unkind messages. Once they had separated the kind messages from the unkind, they passed them around school to see how they cheered people up – learning that by saying kind things on the internet, you make people happy! Some pupils then worked on writing their own kind emails to our Headteacher Emma, Matt our Deputy Headteacher and even Richard our DSL too! Pupils really enjoyed waiting for an email back answering their questions!

Pupils in The Astronauts Pathway moved around the different class bases at BD7, joining in with a variety of different activities teaching us how to stay safe online. 

In one class they were working to find out the legitimacy of information, working together to find out if the information was true or false. This made us aware that not all the information we read online might be true. In another class they worked on brushing up their skills using search engines to answer questions – do you know what the fastest animal is? We now do!

We have 3 Online Safety Days a year, making sure we are always working on our skills to make us safer online. Remember, if you see something you don’t want to see or your video/gaming is interrupted, Stop, Close & Tell!