Parents can use a range of different strategies to help their school-age child stay safe online. Below are some helpful tips for parents on how they can protect children from internet safety risks:

• Create a family media plan. It’s best to create a plan with the child and ask them for suggestions. The plan could cover things like screen-free areas in the house, internet safety rules like not giving out personal information, and programs and apps that are OK for children to use.
• Use child-friendly search engines and content providers like CBeebies and YouTube Kids and KIDOZ, or messaging apps like Messenger Kids.
• Check that games, websites and TV programs are appropriate for your child. 
• Use the internet with your child or make sure you’re close by and aware of what your child is doing online. This way parents can act quickly and reassure their child if they’re concerned or upset by something they’ve seen online.
• Check privacy settings and location services, use parental controls, and use safe search settings on browsers, apps, search engines and YouTube. Parents should limit camera and video functions so their child doesn’t accidentally take photos of themselves or others.
• If you use TV streaming services, set up profiles for different household members so your child is less likely to come across inappropriate programs.
• Block in-app purchases and disable one-click payment options on your devices.
• Encourage all your children, including older siblings, to help each other use the internet safely and responsibly – for example, by watching only age-appropriate programs.

Trust between parents and their child helps to keep children safe online. Calm, open conversations about internet use can help children to feel that parents trust them to be responsible online. And if a child feels trusted, they’re more likely to talk with parents about what they do online and tell them about online content and contacts that worry them.

School-age children like using the internet. They like going online to look at videos, play games and connect with friends and family. They might also be using the internet for schoolwork and homework. They can do this using computers, mobile phones, tablets, TVs and other internet-connected devices, including toys.

As school-age children are starting to be independent online and might go online unsupervised, there are more internet safety risks for them than there are for younger children. There are risks if a child uses the internet to communicate with others – for example, on social media or within games.

By going through the resources in particular the documents Children's Media Use and Attitudes Report and the link titled At the heart of digital life you can find the key risks and how to mitigate the risks by taking some practical internet safety precautions, that can protect children from potentially harmful or inappropriate content and activities.