OSBOX scheme teaches young children to be safe online

Warwickshire ICT Development Service has been working over the last academic year with local teachers from Early Years settings to develop a series of activities to help teach young children how to stay safe online, as they have more exposure to online content at school and at home.

The scheme, called the OSBOX (Online Safety Box), aims to help children:

• consider how others feel
• make positive choices
• understand what to do if they feel unhappy or worried when they are online.

Activities included in the OSBOX have been mapped to the early learning goals, the Education for a Connected World framework, the Protective Behaviours programme and Ofsted guidance for Inspecting safeguarding in early years, and the Early Years inspection handbook.  They are intended to be activities that would easily fit in with current learning, being a substitute rather than an extra area to cover. Support is also provided in the scheme for staff and parents.  

All activities can be delivered as a standalone activity or as part of other activities already being carried out within the setting.  Only a small amount of technology is used, but it is not essential to the scheme.

Case Studies

Case studies have been carried out with two providers, one at Clapham Terrace Primary School and the other with Tracey Smyth,  a childminder in the north of Warwickshire. A further case study is being developed in a nursery setting.

Read the case studies.

Training and support

To support teachers/practitioners with the delivery of the activities, a number of training solutions have been put together. These include a full day course, delivered termly in Leamington, giving people an opportunity to try out the OSBOX activities and discuss approaches to delivery - attendees also have an OSBOX delivered to their setting the very next day! A condensed version of this is also available as a twilight session, as well as a bespoke on-site training option, which enables smaller settings to share the cost of training.

The beauty of the OSBOX is that all resources are provided in the box along with a booklet of activities, as well as an online version of all of the materials which is kept up-to-date with new activities added as necessary. 

A newsletter is also provided termly to keep OSBOX owners up to date, and there is an OSBOX Facebook page and Twitter @EYFSOSBOX for sharing the latest information.

Further information

For further information about future training dates or to discuss a bespoke session, visit the ICTDS webpage or contact Jane Key:

Email: key.j2@welearn365.com 

Tel: 01926 414100