An online safety audit is a critical element of safeguarding, especially considering the significant amount of time pupils spend online.
Planning
To streamline and save time, link your online safety audit into your overall Section 175/157 Local Authority (LA) safeguarding audit. Use the filtering and monitoring sections to fulfil the requirement in the DfE standards for an ‘annual filtering and monitoring review’.
Although there’s still a strong tendency to leave it to the ‘tech-experts’, key stakeholders must get involved, and collaboration is key. The audit should be led by the DSL – they have ‘lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection, including online safety and understanding…filtering and monitoring…’ (DfE, KCSIE, 2024).
The DSL should then be supported by the SLT, curriculum leads and governors, using feedback from all staff and pupils.
Scope
An audit needs to be thorough and take a holistic view of all components of online safety within the school including: the curriculum, staff development, policies, parental support, safe systems and tech, recording and reporting.
It should be continuous, too. With the rapid, ever-changing use of digital media and the accompanying associated harms, the audit needs to evolve to keep up and keep pupils safe.
Documentation
So instead of one-off events to celebrate Safer Internet Day, and a tick-box annual report, make use of free, simple, downloadable audits. The online safety audits created by edtech charity LGfL offer comprehensive questions and advice on:
- curriculum
- general approach and communication
- safe school systems.
These audits use a simple red-amber-green (RAG) rating system and include space for annotated evidence and actions.
Carrying out an online safety audit like this will help to actually keep pupils safe, supporting them to become literate users of digital media.
Alex Dave is the safeguarding education officer at LGfL – the National Grid for Learning.
