At the Skylark Federation, we teach online safety using the Project Evolve teaching resources. These resources have been planned in line with National Curriculum expectations and the ‘Education for a Connected World’ framework. This framework describes the digital knowledge and skills that children and young people should have the opportunity to develop at different ages and stages of their lives. It highlights what a child should know in terms of current online technology, its influence on behaviour and development, and what skills they need to be able to navigate it. In 2019, the Department for Education produced non-statutory guidance about teaching online safety in schools. This guidance makes extensive reference to the framework as a tool to support schools in teaching pupils how to be safe online.
The Skylark computing curriculum is designed to meet the individual organisation and needs of each school. Each school has its own bespoke rolling programme which sets out the Teach Computing units that each class should follow as well as the way in which online safety should be taught. Some schools will teach online safety as a six week/half term block unit whereas others will teach it as six lessons that are covered across the year – one at the beginning of each computing unit of work.
The Project Evolve resources are updated and added to frequently so as they are responsive and relevant to the ever-changing landscape of online safety for children and young people. To ensure that online safety lessons at Skylark are similarly meaningful and reflective of the issues and topics that our pupils may encounter, teachers will adopt a ‘cherry pick’ approach to the lessons they teach. This methodology is promoted by Project Evolve who do not map out a scheme of lessons to follow, but encourage teachers to use their professional judgements about what will be most impactful for the children in their class.
To support teachers, subject leaders will signpost which strand and which year group teachers should access resources from however the lessons that are taught within each strand are determined by the teacher. It may be that shorter lessons are combined or longer lessons condensed – this is for the teacher to exercise their professional judgement, informed by their ongoing assessment of pupils, and tailor and tweak teaching materials as appropriate.