Online Safety Training and Digital Safeguarding

This course covers the risks and benefits of children and young people being online, using the “four Cs” framework: commerce, content, contact and conduct. It looks at how online abuse can take many forms, including cyberbullying, grooming, sexting and radicalisation, and uses a real-world case study to show how grooming can develop and what a young person can do about it.

The course also covers how schools and colleges protect children online in practice: mobile phone policies, filtering and monitoring systems, data protection, and acceptable use agreements. It looks at the growing role of artificial intelligence in daily life, including the risks of deepfakes, misinformation, data privacy and over-reliance on AI chatbots, and how staff and pupils can use AI tools more safely. It closes with clear guidance on how to handle a disclosure and where to report a concern, including CEOP, the Internet Watch Foundation and Action Fraud.

Throughout, the course uses real statistics, scenarios and interactive activities to help staff apply what they've learned, rather than simply reading through policy.

This course must be completed alongside Safeguarding in Education. Staff need both courses to meet the safeguarding training requirements set out in Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE).

Who should take this online safety course?

This course is for anyone working in a school or college, regardless of role, including those who don't work directly with children. This includes:

• Teaching staff
• Teaching assistants and learning support staff
• Admin and office staff
• Catering and kitchen staff
• Site, premises and maintenance staff
• Any other staff working regularly in a school or college setting

What does this online safety training cover?

• The risks and benefits of children and young people being online
• The four Cs of online risk: commerce, content, contact and conduct
• Online abuse, including cyberbullying, grooming and the sharing of nudes and semi-nudes
• How schools protect children online, including mobile phone policies, filtering and monitoring, and data protection
• The risks and safe use of AI, including deepfakes, misinformation and data privacy
• How to recognise a child at risk online, handle a disclosure, and report a concern

Online Safety and Digital Safeguarding Course Certificate and Assessment

After completing this course, learners will be able to download and print a Virtual College certificate, which they can keep for their records.

At the end of this online safety training course, you will need to complete a test that consists of 15 multiple choice questions. Learners are required to achieve a 75% pass mark, and - if necessary - may attempt the test six times at no extra cost. If learners do not achieve the 75% pass mark, further attempts may be given by contacting our support team.

Duration

This online safety training course takes around 1 hour to complete. As it's all online, you can complete it at your own pace, in stages, with your progress recorded throughout and as long as you like spent on each section.

Entry requirements

There are no specific entry requirements for this online safety training course.

What online safeguarding training can I do next?

We offer a wide range of popular CPD approved safeguarding courses, including Level 2 Safeguarding Children, Level 3 Safeguarding Everyone, Safer Recruitment and Safeguarding in Education.

All of these courses are perfect to improve your safeguarding knowledge to help progress your career.