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
Congratulations to the staff at Teddy Bear Corner
Congratulations to the staff at Teddy Bear Corner in Alcester who recently received ‘Outstanding’ judgements across all of the four inspection areas - leadership and management; quality of teaching, learning and assessment; personal development, behaviour and welfare; and outcomes for children.
Ofsted stated:
'They are highly successful in supporting their staff team and in continually improving the service they provide’.
'Strong reflective practice identifies areas they can improve even further.'
'Staff's professional development is given high priority’.
'Children make extremely strong progress in relation to their starting points. The sharply focused planning ensures that gaps in children's learning are identified without delay.'
'Children relish the superb range of experiences on offer that capture their natural curiosity as learners.'
'Children receive a huge amount of support from staff, who appropriately reduce their support as individual children's confidence and abilities build and flourish.'
'Partnerships with parents are exceptionally good. Managers place a huge emphasis on working together with parents to ensure the best outcomes for all children who attend.'
The full report is available to read here.