Child Safeguarding Statement

Some resources and activities may prompt a child to remember and potentially share an experience of harm. Make sure you’re familiar with your school's safeguarding policies and procedures so you can confidently report safety and well-being concerns.

Prepare students for the session by discussing: their right to be safe and respected; what to do if discussing online safety makes them feel uncomfortable or unsafe; and how to seek help if they feel or have felt unsafe. Use this resource available on the website.

Risk area

Contact

Navigating online interactions safely by setting boundaries, adjusting privacy settings, and practising safe and respectful communication.

Before you start

(Optional) Introduce the eSmart Digital Licence quest

Ensure you’ve selected a lesson plan for this risk area.

Lesson plans are contained in the resource pack, or can be browsed on the lesson plans page.

Watch video

Explore Contact Island

~1 minutes

Digi meets Astra, who lives on Contact Island. Astra helps to explain the kinds of human (and inhuman) contact that might pop-up online, and how to stay safe by keeping our personal information private.

Download video

Download transcript

Optional

Discussion starters

Each of the lessons in this risk area contain their own specific framing activities. However, if you feel like your learners need more of an introduction to the subject, try our optional warm-up discussions before stepping into your chosen lesson.

Lower primary prompts (4-6 years old)

“What is ‘personal information’?"

“What sorts of things should we keep private and not tell strangers?”

“When we go online to play games or watch videos, who are strangers and who are friends?”

Middle primary prompts (7-9 years old)

"Is it always okay to talk to people online if they seem friendly? Why or why not?"

"If someone asks for your name online and says they are a friend, how could you decide whether to tell them?"

"Should you always share things you like with others online, or are there times when it might not be a good idea?"

Upper primary prompts (10-12 years old)

“How would you explain the difference between online strangers and online friends to a younger child?”

"If a stranger says they know someone you know, should you talk to them or ignore them? What could happen either way?"

"If everyone else in your class is talking to someone online that you don’t know, should you join in or make a different choice? Why?"

Run lesson

Run your chosen risk area lesson

All lessons are in your resource pack. You can also view each of the Contact lesson plans on the lesson plans page.

Familiarising yourself with the lesson prior to running it in your class is highly recommended.

Ensure your learners meet the exit pass criteria as set out in the lesson plan. If you have learners that need extra help, consider adding a second session and running a top-up activity or consult the ‘Adjustments & Modifications’ section in the lesson plan.

It’s likely you’ll need to run at least two sessions to cover the lesson itself and the celebration and colour-in activities below.

Printables

Hand out the completion worksheet

Award the learners their risk area island map, which includes the completion badge referenced in the video. Personalise this map in class, or, send this to complete at home.

Visit the materials prep page for more ideas on how to get the most out of the maps.