So how can we help children to not only know what to do to keep themselves safe, but actually internalise and act on that knowledge?

• Teaching
• Examples
• Role play

The following describes one tried and tested method of teaching about safety issues in a way that children internalise and retain:

EngageLive and EngageDirect

An excellent and award-winning Internet Safety activity which has also been praised by the Home Office is run by Engage Development and consists of live online activities.

During an activity:

• The children work in groups at computers online
• They receive messages every five minutes or so
• A story unfolds in real time - a child is in difficulty - the problem is a result of e‑safety issues
• As the story unfolds the children are caught up in the emotion of the situation
• They internalise the issues as they try to help
• During the activity the children exchange messages with experts who are live online
• The experts are trained professionals – police, teachers, safety experts.
• The experts are all CBO checked
• At the end of the activity, the problem has been resolved and the children have come face to face with several e-safety issues

Following an Engage activity the children not only know how to keep themselves safe but have been involved in the consequences when safety breaks down.

This is real learning, a far cry from just being told how to behave online and having the risks explained.