Children Enjoy Learning to Keep Safe On-line: eCadets

Case study: Colin Marks - Orton Wistow School, Peterborough

I signed the school up to eCadets at the E2BN e-safety conference held in Peterborough this year. I met Henry, who created the scheme, and after listening to him explain how it works and the successes he had seen in other schools I felt it was the next step for us.

Once I had investigated the website and looked through the resources, including videos, on how to get started I told all the children about eCadets in assembly and started the recruitment process. All children who wanted to be an eCadet (lots!) completed a short application form just saying why they wanted to be an eCadet and what strengths they could bring to the role.

I then chose 20 from across Years 2-6 to design an e-safety poster and I spoke to them in groups. I then selected 2 children from each year group to become the first eCadets team. This was announced in an assembly where they received their badge and I created a display in a central area of the school which included their photos and some of their posters.

ecadets display

I worked alongside them during the Spring term to design and deliver two e-safety sessions to all classes about how we can use the internet to connect with other people and we created, with involvement from across the school, a set of rules for how we should behave when we are on-line. These were tasks set by Henry and the eCadets team and they supplied videos and other resources for us to use.

Each time we completed a task I uploaded some evidence to the site (usually just a few photos) for Henry and the team to assess and then each time the task was completed successfully the team was promoted. ecadets photo 2

eCadets has worked brilliantly for us. It has given some children the chance to lead within their year groups and allowed all children to participate and enjoy learning about how to behave and keep safe when on-line.

The teachers have also appreciated eCadets as the pupil-led sessions in class cover the Computing curriculum requirements for e-Safety.

Teachers have referred back to the messages discussed by eCadets whenever children are using technology in school or at home.

Colin Marks is Deputy Head at Orton Wistow Primary School, Peterborough and is responsible for Computing and Safeguarding

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