East Barnet School recognises the contribution it makes in partnership with other local agencies in safeguarding children. All staff, including volunteers, have a full and active part to play in protecting our students from harm and keeping them safe. We believe that our school should provide a caring, positive, safe and stimulating environment which promotes the social, physical and moral development of the individual child. Our emphasis is on prevention and early intervention to minimise any risk to our students. East Barnet School follows the Barnet Local Safeguarding Board procedures and acts on advice taken from the government document, Keeping Children Safe in Education.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as: protecting children from maltreatment; preventing impairment of children’s health or development; ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care; and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
East Barnet School is committed to helping parents keep their children safe online.
Keeping your child safe online does not have to be a daunting task. There is a lot of advice out there, and there are plenty of tutorials explaining how to keep your home PC and your children safe, some of which we have shared on this page.
There are so many things happening on the internet; from social media to cryptocurrencies, scams to upsetting content, and it is difficult to know where to start. National Online Safety have created lots of easy-to-digest posters on different topics to help.
Used appropriately, gaming can be great for mental health.
Horror can be very difficult to identify inside different games.
VR is a great leap in technology, if used correctly.
Loot Boxes have been known to encourage gambling.
eSports is competitive gaming with a spectator element.
Steam is a computer gaming digital distribution platform and storefront.
Call of Duty is a series of games that feature extreme violence with realistic graphics and a political nature.
FIFA 23 is a popular game that features online play and can encourage spending money on better players.
Final Fantasy 14 is a monthly subscription service role-playing game that is played exclusively online.
Fortnite can encourage violence, spending money on better weapons, and talking to strangers.
Helldivers 2 is a third-person shooter with humour and includes voice chat and messages.
Marvel Rivals is a player vs player group shooting game with familiar comic book characters.
Minecraft has elements that are built by users which can mean there is inappropriate content for younger users.
Overwatch 2 is a futuristic shooting game with competitive multiplayer action which can be addictive.
Palworld is focused around exploring, building and violence, with mature themes and online multiplay.
Pokémon Go allows players to capture, train and battle creatures against others in augmented reality.
Rec Room allows users to enter social-hangouts and play different games against each other.
Roblox has elements that are built by users which can mean there is inappropriate content for younger users.
Rocket League is available on all platforms and is a football game but with cars instead of players.
Tekken is a one-on-one fighting game with violent gameplay that can be inappropriate for users.
Township is a popular building game with children and adults, which includes in-game adverts and purchases.
Social Media Networks, Apps and Sites
Safety Tips
Top 10 general safety tips on the use of social media for children and young adults in a modern world.
Amigo
Amigo is a social media network that connects users with other users around the globe.
BeReal
BeReal is a social media network that allows users to share candid everyday photos of their lives.
Bluesky
Bluesky is similar to Twitter, but is said to be safer and more open-minded, but there are still risks.
Chatroulette
Chatroulette is a social media network that connects users with other unknown users across the world.
Clubhouse
Clubhouse is an audio social media network that allows conversation between different users.
Facebook
Facebook is the most popular social media site and allows for interaction between users in many ways.
FB Messenger
Facebook Messenger allows users to interact privately with text or images either one-to-one or in groups.
HiPal
HiPal is a social networking app that turns phones into walkie talkies to talk with friends or strangers.
Hoop
Hoop is a social media app that links to Snapchat to build connections in a Tinder-style swipe left/right way.
Instagram (2025)
Instagram is a social media app that allows users to share images and video with connections.
JustTalk Kids
JustTalk Kids is the child version of the JustTalk app, allowing group video calls and messages.
Not Gonna Lie
NGL allows users to send links to Instagram or Twitter and to receive anonymous feedback on photos or videos.
Only Fans
Only Fans allows users to monetise their content by charging for images, videos and one-to-one chats.
Reddit
Reddit is a social news website that allows users to create content and comment on different stories.
Replika
Replika is an artificial intelligent chatbot companion that can form emotional relationships with users.
Signal
Signal is similar to Whatsapp and allows encrypted conversations between different users.
Snapchat
Shapchat is a social media app that allows users to share photos and videos and to chat with other users.
Sendit
Sendit is a social media app that links to Snapchat that allows users to ask and answer anonymous questions.
Spotify
Spotify is a digital music, podcast and video service which gives access to millions of files.