MP awards pupils for online safety

Friday 1st June 2012

Pupils who have learned to become more safety aware online are to receive an award from MP Tim Loughton.

The group from Riversdale Primary School, in Southfields, south-west London, boosted their knowledge by completing online activities.

They will collect their Safe School Award from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Young Families on June 14.

Activities included creating an online profile and image, what to include in a blog, where to share media and who to make friends with on social networks.

The scheme is part of Safe, the certificate in social networking, developed by not-for-profit organisation DigitalMe, based in Leeds, which uses new technology to create engaging learning experiences.

Mr Loughton, the Tory MP for East Worthing and Shoreham and who co-chairs the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), said: "The arrival of new technology almost invariably offers far more opportunity than it does risk, and never has this been more true than it is today in the world of education, it's about how we help young people to benefit from innovation safely.

"The time has come to ensure that children and young people are able to take advantage of the wonders that technology brings, without the dangers."

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