Safer Internet Day 2020: Challenge Pack Launched

Today (11th February 2020) is Safer Internet Day (SID) 2020! Safer Internet Day is celebrated globally in February each year to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology and to inspire a national conversation about using technology responsibly, respectfully, critically, and creatively. Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre the celebration sees hundreds of organisations get involved to promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people.

Each year in the UK, Safer Internet Day explores a new area or theme that is important to the young people we work with every day. This year SID2020 is celebrating with the theme ‘Free to be’ – looking at identity online.  The day will help explore whether children and young people feel free to be themselves online, how they manage their online identity, and how the internet shapes how they think of themselves and others. It should allow us to look at whether the internet allows them to experiment and express themselves, or if they feel limited in who they can be online.

To support educational settings and parents/carers begin conversations with children the Education People's Education Safeguarding Service and Kent Children's University have been working together for the first time to produce a #SID2020 Challenge pack.

The pack contains 10 key challenge activity ideas, as well as useful resources for children, schools and families to access. The challenge will run from today (11/02/20) until the 6 March 2020 so there is plenty of time to get involved!

The activities include:

• Design your own avatar
• What makes a good (online) friend?
• Survey family & friends about their online experiences
• Paint positive Safer Internet messages on rocks
• Review 3 BBC Own It short films
• Create your own "Be A Positive Influence" poster
• Complete an age-appropriate #SID2020 activity*
• Share experiences of technology with an older person
• Write a #FreeToBe short story or create a comic strip 
• Create a Family Online Safety Agreement

The pack and further information about how to take part can be found at: www.kcuchallenges.co.uk  (or download the pack directly  from this page)

By generating conversations around online identity, we hope to inspire children and young people to support each other in being who they want to be, on and offline. The Education People want to help Safer Internet Day 2020 celebrate difference and help us all work towards creating a truly inclusive internet.