PC Pellett popped in to Kirkcolm on Thursday to speak to the P3-5 and P6-7 classes about online safety. We chatted about the different types of social media (Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram to name a few) and how to stay safe – having a strong password; not sharing personal information or pictures, including ones of us in our school uniform as this can give people clues about where we live; only accepting friends online who we actually know and trust; and having our security settings set to private so only friends can access our posts.

We also discussed cyber-bullying, with many pupils not realising that this is actually a criminal offence.

Finally, we watched a clip from the ‘Think U Know’ website called Jigsaw, which highlighted that it is just as important to stay safe online as it is to stay safe in the real world. The clip posed lots of thought-provoking questions to help us think about this – would you leave your front door open? Would you leave your pictures in a public place? Would you tell strangers where you live? Would you speak to a stranger as if they were your best friend?

Pupils were encouraged to explore the Think U Know website at home, as there is lots of educational games to play regarding internet safety.