Helping to keep families 'CyberSafe'
The Chichester & District Community Wardens are helping parents and children to keep
'CyberSafe'.
An innovative new scheme offering Internet safety advice for parents
at schools' parent evenings has been developed by the team. Following professional
training at the government's CEOP (Child Exploitation Online Protection) academy,
staff developed 'CyberSafe', the first scheme of its kind offering advice to parents
on how to help protect their children online.
Since then, numerous head teachers have responded to the idea and signed up to the scheme. Community Wardens have now spoken to over 500 parents across the district who have welcomed the advice, which included:
- Tell children never to give out personal details to online friends.
- Explain to children what information about them is personal: i.e. email address, mobile number, school name, sports club, arrangements for meeting friends, and any pictures or videos of themselves, their family or friends.
- Make children think carefully about information and pictures they post on their personal profiles. They shouldn't post images or videos on the internet that they wouldn't want their parents to see.
- Advise them not to believe spam, junk mail or texts, and insist they don't open emails from people they don't know.
- Ensure they keep online friends online, making sure children understand that some people lie online and they should never meet up with any strangers.
Councillor Melva Bateman, Portfolio Holder for Housing at Chichester District Council says: "With many children knowing more about the Internet and mobile phones than their parents do, the digital world can be a dangerous as well as wonderful place. Many parents have had no idea they had to set the parental controls themselves, believing all computers come with this facility already set up. We are now highlighting this problem to local retailers, asking them to make this information available to new customers."
Such concerns were held by many parents, regardless of their knowledge of computers. One computer literate parent voiced the thoughts of many, saying: "I'm an IT specialist, but admit I did not have much idea about how vulnerable my children were online. You think they are safe because they are under your roof. I will be putting a safe and secure system into place as soon as possible"
Other parents who took part in the scheme welcomed the innovation, saying: '"This
is excellent -
With online safety and bullying a major feature of National 'Anti-
A Day In The Life of the Chi East & Whyke Wardens.
Not a day goes by without being asked ‘So, what does a Community Warden do?’ This job is so varied; it can take a while to explain the whole range of issues we get involved in, so read on to find out more about a day in the life of your Community Warden….
07.00. There have been concerns from the residents of the Whyke Estate that groups of adults are hanging around the Oval from six o’clock in the morning. The group are often seen drinking alcohol at this early hour, and as a result, we have witnessed an increase in litter (cans and bottles). Parents and children tell us that they feel intimidated by the group, and that they want them stopped; so we start work at seven o’clock and spend a few hours down on the estate.
0845. We leave Whyke and walk to Chi High School, where we carry out a high profile
patrol to deter any anti-
11.00. During recent months, the derelict buildings at Portfield Football Club have been a hot bed for ASB, and we have spent many hours patrolling this area. As soon as we arrive at the site, we find yet more evidence of vandalism. A lot of glass had been broken and our first job is to clear it up. We also found a large quantity of copper piping that had been ripped from the walls in the clubhouse and bar. Clearly, someone had decided to strip the piping and intended to return for it later. We contact the Police and, following their advice, we safely store the three large piles of copper in our van.
Before we leave, we clear up a load of litter from the football pitch and then head off to patrol the cemetery.
1200. We speak regularly with the groundsmen and always deal with anything that may occur. Occasionally, we find people cycling through the cemetery, playing golf and drinking. We even find supermarket trolleys dumped in the Cemetery, and always remove these as quickly as we can.
12.30. We move onto another area and spend nearly two hours talking to residents. Sadly, there had been a bad night of ASB the night before but we know that by liasing with our partners including the District Council, Hyde Martlets and the Police we should be able to resolve the matter effectively.
Despite this previous night’s stupidity, it is great to see the way that ASB has drastically reduced in this area and the residents must be applauded for the way that they now report anything that constitutes ASB.
13.30 After a very quick bacon buttie, we spend the rest of our shift on foot; John heads off to the Fire Station to learn more about what to do in the event of witnessing a road traffic accident and I patrol the Swanfield and Bradshaw estates, dealing with graffiti, abandoned trolleys, litter, and of course talking to as many people as possible. I finish my shift with an impromptu game of football at Swanfield Park with a group of the local kids, and then head back to the office.
15.30 I meet up with Jon where he shows me his photos from the Football in the Community event, where he played football along with 70 children at Florence Park. I show him my photos taken at the Swanfield Fun Day where I helped two local mums and staff from Kelsey Housing keep 45 children entertained with sporting activities.
It’s time to pack up and go home. All in all, another typical, busy day in Chi East.