The following article comes from Emma Carralon, Head of Digital Learning and the Online Safety Lead at The British School of Paris.
After distributing iPads back in 2012, it quickly became clear that ‘Online Safety’ had to be taught alongside our digital curriculum. Even more so now, in 2025, as many primary school pupils not only have a device for school but also a telephone and multiple gaming devices.
In 2022, the whole school took part in an online safety INSET day, supported by webinars from the National Online Safety platform. That same year, we also achieved an online safety accreditation through a rigorous self-review and assessment with South West Grid for Learning. It was an extremely rewarding process, as the whole school was involved, and different groups of the school community took part in interviews with the assessors. I was truly amazed by some of the comments from our parents. At times, I worried that I might be annoying them with my constant online safety reminders, but their feedback was quite the opposite. They were genuinely impressed with how the school has helped shape their children’s positive attitudes towards the internet. The pupils interviewed were extremely knowledgeable, once again demonstrating the success of our online safety education.
There is a huge range of materials online that can support teachers in creating policies for online safety and helping them with the online safety curriculum. South West Grid for Learning can provide templates at a small cost for schools. However, most UK websites have their safeguarding and online safety policies online, so looking at different schools’ websites is a good starting point.
With regards to the curriculum, An Education for a Connected World Framework is a must for schools in the UK, and I feel that the objectives in this document are also extremely valuable for international schools. As the framework does not provide actual lesson plans or resources, Project Evolve is the perfect additional resource to ensure that teachers effectively teach the online safety objectives.
Project Evolve is a platform also provided by South West Grid for Learning. You will need to create an account for their resources, which include lesson plans, PowerPoints, and links to video resources. This is such a time-saver for teachers, as you can teach straight from the PowerPoint. There are even notes and explanations for different concepts, which help support teachers’ own digital knowledge. Lessons are provided for children from Reception to Year 13. The Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 objectives are essential for older students, who use the internet for both their personal and academic lives.
Both the Welsh and Northern Irish governments provide excellent resources to help develop a digital curriculum, which includes digital citizenship. The Hwb curriculum for Wales provides very thorough progression steps for all areas of digital literacy. The Northern Irish Pathways framework also provides teachers with objectives and progression steps.
The European Union provides some outstanding material, which is all in English and extremely useful for international schools wherever they may be. Like in the UK, they have European Union Digital Competencies for teaching digital literacy and technology. They are excellent at providing training for teachers, which is usually free and in the form of online courses. They also have a digital competency document for educators to enhance their own skills. Each year, European Schoolnet offers a huge range of online courses and webinars that teachers can participate in. If teachers have a particular interest in online safety, I would recommend the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) platform. I have worked on a teacher consultation panel with BIK for their evaluation of the BIK European strategy. Their philosophy is to use student agency when teaching online safety, and students help to shape their online safety conferences and resources.
You cannot talk about online safety and digital literacy these days without mentioning AI. If you are based in Europe, teachers must now ensure they understand the risks of using AI apps and platforms, and schools will have to show that they comply to the EU AI Act. If your school is looking for whole-school AI training, Kompass Education can offer tailor-made courses to suit your school’s needs, along with an AI Governance Officer course.
One last takeaway: I cannot stress enough how important online safety is in society today. It is essential that it is taught in a meaningful way, right through the school, from Nursery to Year 13.
