Updates
- Safer Internet Day 2026 – free resources.
- School website – free compliance audit tool.
- Resource for secondary schools – misogyny.
- Online Safety Act – Ofcom enforcement.
- Online safety leads course update.
- The periodic table of AI tools in education.
- For parents – protect neurodivergent children from scams in games.
- For parents – gadget gift guide.
Safer Internet Day 2026 – Free Resources
SID 2026 isn’t too far away now on Tues 11th Feb with the theme “Smart tech, safe choices – exploring the safe and responsible use of AI.”
As always the UK Safer Internet Centre have created lots of free resources for all school and colleges covering ages 3 – 18 year olds. The resources include presentation slides, activities and a whole-school assembly.
You can download the resources HERE.
School Website – Free Compliance Audit Tool
The requirements for what should be on a school website can be a little confusing and change. It’s worth checking your school website every now and again, perhaps as part of an annual audit, just to check that everything is in place and links are still working. From an online safety perspective, when I carry out a school audit the first place I visit is the school website to check policies and particularly links for parents. Often I’ll find links that are years out of date or links that just don’t work anymore.
To help check what should be on your website London Grid for Learning have a fantastic (and free) RAG audit tool which you can download HERE.
Resource for Secondary Schools – Misogyny
This new free resource has been shared by the organisation Educate Against Hate and is for Year 9 and above. Quote – drama teacher Morgan Hartley from Byrchall High School reached out to the EAH team to share a remarkable piece of work she had created to unlock the themes of online harms and explore masculinity in relation to the Netflix drama….. – unquote.
There are lesson activities, lesson ideas and lesson plans, all for free download HERE.
Online Safety Act – Ofcom Enforcement
By now you will be very aware that legislation around the world is starting to take effect, particularly in relation to holding tech companies to account for their past failings. In the UK we have the Online Safety Act and it’s very welcome to see Ofcom are taking meaningful action to those companies that now break the law.
Well over 20 companies are now under investigation and Ofcom has fined one so-called ‘nudify’ site £50,000 for failing to introduce robust age checks. The very fact that such a site can exist legally I find abhorrent but at least the regulator is taking action.
You can find further details of all the investigations HERE.
Online Safety Leads – Course Update
Over the last few weeks I’ve had a number of schools asking for a member of staff to take my Online Safety Leads course and unfortunately I’ve had to say no.
Long story short, pre-Covid I used to run a whole day course nationally for current and new Online Safety Leads (e.g. DSL’s, ICT Coordinators etc.). There never was and, to my knowledge still isn’t any course like this. Along came Covid and, responding to schools asking, I made the course available online. It was split into small modules and access was permitted for a year meaning staff could take their time and go through the modules as many times as they wished.
Unfortunately over the last few months the learning management platform which hosts the course has become clunky, expensive and difficult to manage. Therefore towards late December I will be completely removing the online course with a view to finding a new learning platform and completely overhauling the course prior to Easter 2026.
With that said, I am looking to re-introduce the face-to-face course. This was always very popular because I can bring everyone right up to date, we could share best practice, have deep discussions and much more.
The course would often be hosted in school or at a local venue. Because I only charge my day rate (plus the cost for the venue if necessary), the more schools attending the cheaper it is for everyone.
If you think this would be useful for your area please let me know.
The Periodic Table of AI Tools in Education
My good friend Mark Anderson has spent a considerable amount of time updating and refining this fantastic resource to bring together useful AI tools that can make a real difference. My favourite by a large margin – Google NotebookLM. When I speak to older students about the functionality and capability of this tool they are always amazed and it is continually being updated.
You can see the periodic table HERE.
For Parents – Protect Neurodivergent Children from Scams in Games
As we all know, neurodivergent children can be amongst those most vulnerable online, therefore more likely to become victims of things like scams. Those with ADHD, autism or other divergent ways of thinking might not recognise when someone intends to do harm.
Internet Matters have put together a brand new free guide for parents which explores how neurodivergent children’s unique traits can leave them open to scams, particularly in games.
You can download the free guide HERE.
For Parents – Gadget Gift Guide
Christmas can be an exciting time when many children are given new devices and gadgets. Ireland’s online safety charity, CyberSafeKids, have put together a brand new guide for parents and carers covering:
- The benefits and risks of popular smart devices and toys.
- What you can do to make them safer.
- Age recommendations
- And more.
Weekly Update to your Inbox
Online Safety Pro
Staff, parent and governor online safety training.
- Annual staff, parent and governor training (pre-recorded videos).
- Half-termly staff and parents updates (video for staff, PDF newsletter for parents.
- 12 month subscription – 1 single low cost per school (not per person).
- All written and produced by Alan Mackenzie, an online safety specialist for over 17 years.
- Discounts for multi-school or MAT purchases.