Online Safety Workshops for Schools, Colleges, Parents and Staff Training
2020 Dreams Online Safety Workshops help children and young people navigate social media, gaming, messaging, AI tools and the wider internet with greater confidence, critical thinking and practical safeguarding skills. Our workshops cover the risks pupils face now – not the internet of ten years ago – including online grooming, sextortion, cyberbullying, scams, deepfakes, harmful content, fake accounts, privacy, digital footprints, misinformation, online misogyny, pornography, persuasive design and AI-generated content.
Also commonly searched for as Internet Safety Workshops, these sessions are designed for schools that want more than a basic lesson about passwords and stranger danger. Young people increasingly move between online and offline life without a clear boundary, so effective online safety education needs to address relationships, identity, influence, money, content, behaviour and wellbeing alongside traditional cyber security.
Our Online Safety Workshops for Schools use realistic scenarios, discussion, decision-making activities and practical safeguarding frameworks. Pupils learn how to pause before acting, question what they see, recognise manipulation, secure accounts, preserve evidence where appropriate and tell a trusted adult when something online has become unsafe.
Programmes can be delivered to primary and secondary schools, sixth forms, colleges, universities, SEND and SEMH settings, PRUs, alternative provision, independent and boarding schools, youth organisations and professional teams. Dedicated Staff Online Safety Training and parent workshops are also available for schools wanting a whole-setting approach.
Core Features of Our Online Safety Workshops
- Online safety and internet safety education updated for the realities of 2026
- Social media, messaging apps, gaming, livestreaming and online communities
- AI, deepfakes, fake images, synthetic media and AI chatbots
- Online grooming, fake identities, catfishing and coercive relationships
- Online blackmail, sextortion and intimate image abuse
- Cyberbullying, trolling, group chats and online harassment
- Scams, phishing, fake giveaways, QR codes and account compromise
- Privacy, location sharing, digital footprints and identity theft
- Algorithms, echo chambers, influencer culture and persuasive design
- Misinformation, fake news and source checking
- Online misogyny, manosphere content and radicalisation pathways
- Pornography, harmful sexual content and age-appropriate response
- Gaming contacts, strangers, in-game purchases and livestreaming
- Password security, multi-factor authentication and account recovery
- Reporting, blocking, evidence preservation and trusted-adult support
- Parent awareness and Staff Online Safety Training
The aim is not to make pupils frightened of the internet. The aim is to help them use technology with more control, question what appears on their screens and recognise when a normal online interaction has crossed into pressure, manipulation, exploitation or harm.
What Is Online Safety?
Online safety is the knowledge, judgement and practical behaviour that helps people use internet-connected technology safely, responsibly and respectfully. It includes protecting personal information and accounts, but it also covers relationships, harmful content, financial risks, online influence, wellbeing, consent, misinformation and knowing when to seek help.
The Department for Education uses the term online safety within current school guidance, while many parents and organisations still search for Internet Safety Workshops. Our programme deliberately covers both meanings: the traditional internet-safety basics and the wider safeguarding issues young people now encounter through apps, social media, games, AI and connected devices.
A modern Online Safety Workshop therefore asks more useful questions than simply “Is this website safe?” Pupils also need to ask: Who is behind this account? Why am I being shown this? What does this person want from me? Could this image be fake? What information am I revealing? Is somebody trying to rush me? What happens if I share this? Who can help if it goes wrong?
Why Online Safety Workshops Matter in 2026
Children are not occasional internet users. Online activity is embedded in entertainment, friendship, schoolwork, identity and communication. Ofcom’s 2026 research found that 99% of 8–17-year-olds were online and 78% had their own mobile phone. Social media and video-sharing use was also widespread, while gaming and AI tools had become routine parts of many children’s digital lives.
The same research shows why Online Safety Workshops must move beyond generic warnings. Children are encountering harmful content through personal feeds, comments, group chats, online games and livestreams. Many are also interacting with people they have never met offline, while AI is becoming part of everyday learning, creativity and even companionship.
Online safety education therefore needs to build transferable judgement. Platforms, apps and trends will change. The protective skill is being able to recognise pressure, deception, manipulation, unsafe contact and unreliable information even when the name of the platform is different next year.
Children Online in 2026: Current UK Evidence
8–17s are online
Ofcom found that almost all children aged 8–17 use the internet.
Use social/video platforms
Ofcom reported that 95% of 8–17s used at least one social-media or video-sharing service measured in its research.
Have used AI
More than half of 8–17-year-olds said they had used AI, rising to 66% among 16–17-year-olds.
Recalled harmful content
When prompted, 73% of 11–17s recalled at least one type of designated harmful content during a four-week period.
Ofcom also found that more than half of children who game online said they sometimes play with people they have never met in real life, while one in five reported doing so frequently. This does not mean online friendships are inherently dangerous, but it does show why identity, boundaries and stranger contact remain essential parts of Online Safety Workshops for Schools.
The Online Risk Map: CONTENT → CONTACT → CONDUCT → COMMERCE
One of the unique elements within our Online Safety Workshops is the Online Risk Map. Rather than teaching a disconnected list of apps and dangers, pupils sort online risk into four areas that can be applied across almost any platform.
CONTENT
What am I seeing, hearing or being shown?
Examples include pornography, violence, hate, self-harm material, misinformation, deepfakes, extremist content and harmful influencer material.
CONTACT
Who is interacting with me and what do they want?
Examples include grooming, fake identities, strangers in games, sextortion, unwanted messages, coercion and manipulative relationships.
CONDUCT
What am I doing, sharing or contributing?
Examples include cyberbullying, sharing images, forwarding rumours, abusive comments, oversharing, impersonation and unsafe livestreaming.
COMMERCE
Where is money, data or persuasion involved?
Examples include scams, phishing, fake giveaways, in-game purchases, influencer advertising, subscription traps and identity theft.
A single incident can sit in more than one area. A fake account might begin as CONTACT, move into sexual CONTENT and become COMMERCE when a perpetrator demands money. This is why modern internet safety education needs to teach patterns rather than isolated warnings.
Would You Click It? The Digital Decision Lab
Our Digital Decision Lab gives pupils realistic online scenarios and asks them to make decisions before being shown the possible consequences. It creates a more useful learning experience than simply telling young people what they should have done after something goes wrong.
The Free Gift
A message says a pupil has won an expensive phone and must log in through a link within ten minutes to claim it.
Decision point: What is the sender using – excitement, urgency, authority or fear of missing out?
The Perfect Profile
A new online friend appears to have the same age, music taste, school interests and problems at home.
Decision point: Which details prove identity and which details could simply have been copied from the pupil’s own posts?
The Viral Video
A shocking clip is spreading quickly and thousands of comments insist it proves a major event has happened.
Decision point: Does popularity prove authenticity, and what would you check before sharing it?
The Threat
Somebody claims to have an embarrassing or intimate image and demands money or more content.
Decision point: What should be preserved, who should be told, and why can paying increase rather than end the pressure?
The 2020 Dreams PAUSE Online Safety Framework
The PAUSE Framework gives young people a practical response when something online feels wrong. It can be applied to suspicious messages, harmful content, social pressure, fake information, account compromise or unwanted contact.
Urgency is a common manipulation tactic. A few seconds of delay can prevent an impulsive decision.
Look at the sender, request, content, pressure, link, account and possible consequences.
Is somebody trying to get attention, information, money, images, access, influence or control?
Block, change passwords, use multi-factor authentication, adjust privacy settings or preserve relevant messages where appropriate.
Use platform reporting tools and involve a trusted adult, DSL, parent, professional or emergency service when needed.
The Online Influence Funnel: SEE → ENGAGE → REPEAT → NORMALISE → ACT
Online content rarely influences every user in the same way, and seeing harmful material does not automatically cause harmful behaviour. However, recommendation systems and repeated exposure can affect what appears normal, popular or credible.
SEE
A piece of content enters the feed, search result, group chat or recommendation list.
ENGAGE
Watching, liking, commenting, searching or pausing can signal interest.
REPEAT
Similar themes may appear again through recommendations, creators or communities.
NORMALISE
Repeated ideas can begin to feel more common, accepted or widely believed than they really are.
ACT
Online influence can affect sharing, purchases, relationships, language or offline behaviour.
The funnel is not inevitable. Pupils learn how to interrupt it by using “not interested”, unfollowing, muting, diversifying sources, questioning creators and consciously changing what they engage with.
Who Are You Really Talking To? Online Identity and Grooming
A profile can contain a real photograph, a convincing biography and mutual interests without proving who controls the account. Online Safety Workshops help pupils understand that identity online is evidence-based, not appearance-based.
🔹 Fake accounts and impersonation
🔹 Catfishing and age deception
🔹 Grooming through social media and gaming
🔹 Moving conversations from public spaces into private messaging
🔹 Requests for secrecy
🔹 Gifts, gaming currency or money used to build obligation
🔹 Gradual sexualisation of conversation
🔹 Emotional dependence and manipulation
🔹 Requests to meet offline
🔹 Telling a trusted adult without feeling responsible for the groomer’s behaviour
Schools needing a deeper safeguarding programme can combine this content with our dedicated Online Grooming Workshops.
Online Blackmail and Sextortion
Sextortion involves somebody using sexual or intimate material, or the threat of such material, to demand money, more images, sexual acts or another form of compliance. A perpetrator may use a fake identity, stolen content, manipulated images or information gathered from public profiles.
Our Online Safety Workshops teach a clear response: do not panic, do not keep paying, preserve useful evidence without redistributing intimate content, stop engagement where safe, secure accounts, report and tell a trusted adult or professional.
For schools dealing with this issue specifically, see our Online Blackmail and Sextortion Workshop.
AI, Deepfakes and Synthetic Media
AI has changed online safety. Pupils now need to consider whether a photograph, voice recording, message, video or account may have been generated or manipulated rather than simply whether a website looks trustworthy.
Ofcom’s 2026 research found that 56% of 8–17-year-olds had used AI, rising to two-thirds of 16–17-year-olds. AI is therefore not a specialist future topic; it is already part of children’s digital environment.
🔹 AI-generated images and videos
🔹 Voice cloning
🔹 Deepfake pornography and intimate-image abuse
🔹 Fake evidence and impersonation
🔹 AI hallucinations and confident misinformation
🔹 AI chatbots and emotional attachment
🔹 Checking sources rather than trusting presentation quality
🔹 Recognising that “looks real” is no longer sufficient verification
For extended teaching on synthetic media, see our specialist AI & Deepfake Workshops.
Fake News, Misinformation and Source Checking
Young people increasingly encounter news, health claims, political content, influencer advice and breaking events through feeds rather than through a single traditional source. Online Safety Workshops therefore include practical media-literacy skills.
Who originally made the claim, and can the original source actually be found?
Is there independent evidence, or are multiple accounts simply repeating the same unsupported claim?
Has an image, quote or statistic been removed from the situation in which it originally appeared?
Is the creator trying to inform, entertain, persuade, sell, provoke anger, gain followers or manipulate?
For deeper critical-media education, see our Fake News & Misinformation Workshop.
Cyberbullying, Trolling and Group Chat Behaviour
Online conflict can continue beyond the school day, involve a much larger audience and remain visible long after the original incident. Pupils explore both victim and bystander behaviour rather than treating cyberbullying as something only “bad people” do.
🔹 Repeated messages and targeted harassment
🔹 Group chat exclusion
🔹 Dogpiling and mass commenting
🔹 Fake accounts and impersonation
🔹 Sharing embarrassing images
🔹 Trolling for attention or reaction
🔹 Blocking, reporting and evidence
🔹 Bystanders, forwarding and “just watching”
🔹 Moving conflict offline
Schools can extend this topic with our Online Trolling and Cyber Bullying Workshop.
Privacy, Location Sharing and Digital Footprints
Privacy is not simply about whether an account is set to “private”. A pupil may unintentionally reveal their school, home area, routines, friends, date of birth, phone number, travel patterns or live location across multiple posts and accounts.
Our Internet Safety Workshops help pupils see how small pieces of information can be combined.
Digital Footprint Reality Check: POSTED → COPIED → SHARED → SEARCHABLE
POSTED
You choose to publish or send something.
COPIED
Another person can screenshot, download or record it.
SHARED
The audience may become much larger than intended.
SEARCHABLE
Copies, comments or references may remain discoverable later.
For a dedicated privacy programme, see our Privacy and Identity Theft Workshop.
Scams, Phishing, Fake Giveaways and Account Security
Online scams increasingly resemble normal messages, adverts, delivery notifications, school communications, gaming offers and social-media posts. Pupils need to recognise the psychological tactics behind scams rather than rely on spotting poor spelling.
🔹 Urgency – “Act now”
🔹 Authority – “Your account will be closed”
🔹 Reward – “You have won”
🔹 Fear – “Someone has accessed your account”
🔹 Curiosity – “Is this you in this video?”
🔹 Familiarity – compromised accounts messaging friends
🔹 QR codes and shortened links
🔹 Fake login pages
🔹 Multi-factor authentication
🔹 Strong unique passwords and account recovery
The workshop focuses on habits that remain useful even as scam formats change: pause, verify through a separate route, avoid logging in through unexpected links and secure the account quickly if credentials may have been exposed.
Apps, Social Media, Gaming and Livestreaming
Social platforms and online games increasingly share similar features: messaging, livestreaming, profiles, purchases, followers, public comments and contact with people outside a child’s offline friendship group.
Ofcom found that 72% of 8–17-year-olds game online and 71% had viewed livestream content. More than half of children who game online said they interact with people they have not met in real life at least some of the time.
🔹 Stranger contact in games
🔹 Voice chat and private messaging
🔹 Livestream audiences
🔹 Recording and resharing livestreams
🔹 Gifts and in-app spending
🔹 Moving from a game into another messaging app
🔹 Pressure from online-only friends
🔹 Privacy and location information
🔹 Blocking and reporting tools
For a specialist programme, see our Apps, Social Media and Gaming Workshops.
Pornography, Sexual Content and Online Boundaries
Secondary-age online safety education may need to address pornography, sexualised content, unsolicited images and the way online material can affect expectations around relationships, consent and body image.
Content is handled without showing explicit material. The aim is to build digital judgement, explain that pornography is not a reliable model for real relationships and ensure pupils know how to respond to unwanted sexual content.
Where pornography is a significant concern, schools can use our dedicated Pornography Workshops for more detailed, non-explicit education.
Online Misogyny, Manosphere Content and Influencer Culture
Online safety is also about the ideas young people are repeatedly exposed to. Influencers and online communities can offer useful advice, entertainment and motivation, but some spaces monetise insecurity, grievance or hostility.
Students learn to distinguish positive self-improvement from manipulation, gender stereotypes, sexual entitlement, misogyny and increasingly extreme “us versus them” narratives.
🔹 Influencer business models
🔹 Parasocial trust
🔹 Algorithmic repetition
🔹 Misogynistic memes and “banter”
🔹 Manosphere communities
🔹 Grievance and blame
🔹 Positive masculinity and healthier role models
🔹 Knowing when content becomes a safeguarding concern
For settings requiring deeper work, see our Manosphere Workshops and Misogyny Workshops.
Online Radicalisation, Echo Chambers and Harmful Narratives
Online radicalisation can use many of the same mechanics as other forms of digital manipulation: belonging, grievance, repeated messaging, private communities, emotional hooks and gradual movement towards more extreme material.
Our Online Safety Workshops introduce critical thinking and reporting without treating controversial opinions as automatically extremist. Where there is a specific Prevent need, the topic should be delivered in greater depth through specialist training.
See our dedicated Radicalisation Workshops.
Screen Time, Persuasive Design and Digital Wellbeing
Online safety is not only about criminal behaviour or harmful content. Young people also need skills for managing attention and recognising when platform design is encouraging them to stay longer than intended.
Ofcom reported that 37% of 8–17-year-olds felt their screen time was too high. Children and parents also identified features such as infinite scroll, autoplay and streaks as factors that can affect how long people remain online.
🔹 Infinite scroll
🔹 Autoplay
🔹 Notifications
🔹 Streaks
🔹 Fear of missing out
🔹 Sleep and devices
🔹 Attention and concentration
🔹 Choosing when technology is useful and when it is taking control
For a deeper behavioural programme, this can be combined with our Digital Resilience Workshops.
Online Safety Workshop Overview
Online Safety in Schools: 2026 Guidance, RSHE, KCSIE and Mobile Phones
Online safety is part of wider safeguarding. The Department for Education’s teaching online safety guidance positions online safety across Relationships Education, RSE, Health Education, Citizenship and Computing rather than as a one-off annual lesson.
KCSIE 2026 comes into force on 1 September 2026. Until 31 August 2026 schools and colleges continue to use KCSIE 2025. Online safety remains part of the safeguarding responsibilities of schools and colleges, including appropriate filtering and monitoring arrangements.
The revised statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education guidance is for introduction from 1 September 2026. It strengthens education around online risks and newer technologies, including AI and deepfakes, online behaviour, harmful content, sexual material, consent, misinformation and harmful online influence.
Mobile phone guidance became statutory on 29 June 2026, with schools expected to begin following it from 1 September 2026. The guidance supports school-day restrictions on mobile-phone use while also making clear that schools should remain vigilant to online-safety risks and allow pupils to raise concerns about online incidents.
Ofcom’s protection-of-children duties under the Online Safety Act came into force on 25 July 2025 for relevant online services. Platforms likely to be accessed by children have duties to assess risk and put proportionate protections in place.
The government has also announced plans for further restrictions on under-16 social-media access and additional protections for 16- and 17-year-olds. As of August 2026, those future social-media restrictions are not yet in force; regulations are planned, with implementation expected in spring 2027.
Workshop role: an external Online Safety Workshop can strengthen curriculum delivery and safeguarding awareness, but it does not replace the school’s statutory curriculum, DSL decision-making, filtering and monitoring duties or safeguarding procedures.
Staff Online Safety Training for Schools and Professionals
Staff Online Safety Training is available for teachers, DSLs, pastoral teams, senior leaders, colleges, youth workers, charities and other professionals working with children and young people.
Staff training can cover:
🔹 Current 2026 online-safety risks
🔹 KCSIE and safeguarding responsibilities
🔹 Filtering and monitoring awareness
🔹 AI, deepfakes and synthetic media
🔹 Sextortion and online blackmail
🔹 Online grooming and fake identities
🔹 Cyberbullying, trolling and group chats
🔹 Online misogyny and harmful influencer content
🔹 Radicalisation and online grievance communities
🔹 Scams, phishing and account compromise
🔹 Pornography and sexual content
🔹 Smartphone and social-media concerns
🔹 Responding to disclosures
🔹 Communicating online safety with parents
Training can be delivered as standalone CPD/INSET or incorporated into a wider Staff Online Safety Training programme.
Online Safety Workshops for Parents and Carers
Parents are often expected to supervise a digital environment that changes faster than any single adult can track. Our Online Safety Parent Workshops therefore focus on principles and conversations rather than trying to teach a list of every current app.
🔹 Age restrictions and realistic family expectations
🔹 Privacy settings and location sharing
🔹 Grooming and fake accounts
🔹 Sextortion and intimate images
🔹 Gaming and online-only contacts
🔹 AI and deepfakes
🔹 Cyberbullying and group chats
🔹 Scams and account security
🔹 Screen time and persuasive design
🔹 Responding without immediately removing the child’s only route to evidence or support
🔹 When to involve the school or safeguarding professionals
The goal is to help parents create communication strong enough that a child will still come to them when something online goes wrong.
Online Safety Workshops by Age Group
Online Safety Workshops for Primary Schools
Primary content focuses on trusted adults, safe sharing, passwords, kind online behaviour, age-appropriate gaming, pop-ups, fake identities, privacy, upsetting content and what to do when something feels wrong.
Aims: establish protective habits before independent online use increases.
Online Safety Workshops for Secondary Schools, KS3 and KS4
Secondary sessions explore social media, AI, deepfakes, sextortion, grooming, cyberbullying, scams, privacy, pornography, algorithms, harmful influencers, misinformation, gaming and online relationships.
Aims: stronger judgement, safer relationships, critical digital literacy and confident help-seeking.
Online Safety Workshops for Sixth Forms and Colleges
Post-16 programmes can explore financial scams, sexual content, dating apps, deepfakes, AI, online reputation, nightlife, location sharing, coercion, gambling-style features, digital identity and professional consequences.
Aims: independent adult decision making and practical management of more complex online risks.
Online Safety Workshops for Universities and Adult Learners
University content can include digital consent, intimate-image abuse, scams, AI, online reputation, professional identity, dating, cyber harassment and safeguarding responsibilities.
Aims: informed adult use of technology alongside stronger digital and professional resilience.
Online Safety Workshops for SEND, SEMH, PRUs and Alternative Provision
Online Safety Workshops can be adapted for SEND, SEMH, PRUs and alternative provision through clearer language, visual decision prompts, repetition, smaller-group discussion and concrete examples.
Some learners may benefit from explicit teaching around literal versus deceptive communication, fake identities, online friendship, private information, emotional manipulation, money requests, sexual pressure and how to identify a trusted adult.
Where a school is managing a live safeguarding incident, content can be planned with the DSL so the workshop supports prevention without identifying an individual pupil or interfering with ongoing safeguarding work.
Benefits of Online Safety Workshops for Schools and Colleges
Covers AI, deepfakes, sextortion, algorithms and persuasive design alongside established internet-safety topics.
Frameworks work across different platforms rather than depending on pupils remembering rules for one app.
Pupils learn when blocking is enough and when an adult, DSL or professional needs to become involved.
Shows how digital events can affect relationships, school behaviour, money, sexual safety and physical risk.
Complements RSHE, Health Education, Computing, Citizenship and whole-school safeguarding.
Pupil workshops can be combined with staff training and parent sessions for more consistent messages.
How We Deliver Online Safety Workshops
CONTENT → CONTACT → CONDUCT → COMMERCE gives pupils a simple structure for understanding different categories of online risk.
Realistic scenarios involve suspicious links, fake accounts, viral content, sextortion, gaming and social pressure.
PAUSE → ASSESS → UNDERSTAND → SECURE → ESCALATE gives pupils a practical response when something online feels unsafe.
SEE → ENGAGE → REPEAT → NORMALISE → ACT helps pupils understand how repeated content can influence attitudes without suggesting influence is automatic.
We do not label every game, social-media service or AI tool as dangerous. The focus is on behaviour, features and risk patterns.
Primary content is substantially different from secondary and post-16 content, particularly around sexual material and exploitation.
Face-to-face delivery is available across the UK with virtual options for UK and international organisations.
Related Online Safety and Digital Safeguarding Workshops
Online Safety Workshops can act as an umbrella programme or be combined with specialist sessions where a school needs greater depth around one particular risk.
AI & Deepfake Workshops
Synthetic media, fake images, voice cloning, verification, deepfake abuse and AI literacy.
Online Grooming Workshops
Fake identities, trust building, manipulation, secrecy, exploitation and safeguarding.
Online Blackmail and Sextortion Workshop
Online blackmail, fake identities, intimate images, threats, evidence and reporting.
Online Trolling and Cyber Bullying Workshop
Trolling, harassment, group chats, reporting, blocking, bystanders and online conflict.
Apps, Social Media and Gaming Workshops
Online communities, gaming contacts, social platforms, messaging, privacy and digital behaviour.
Fake News & Misinformation Workshop
Source checking, bias, misinformation, manipulated content and critical thinking.
Privacy and Identity Theft Workshop
Personal information, location sharing, identity fraud, online reputation and account protection.
Digital Resilience Workshops
Coping online, digital wellbeing, boundaries, screen habits and healthy technology use.
Manosphere Workshops
Online influencers, misogyny, algorithms, grievance, masculinity and harmful communities.
Online Safety Workshops FAQ
Book Online Safety Workshops for Your School, College or Organisation
Bring Online Safety Workshops to your school, college, university, youth service or organisation. Tell us the age group, number of participants, location, preferred dates and the online risks or safeguarding concerns you would most like the programme to address.
We can deliver a broad Online Safety Workshop, an Internet Safety Workshop focused on core digital-safety skills, parent awareness, Online Safety Staff Training or a specialist programme on AI and Deepfakes, Grooming, Sextortion, Cyberbullying, Social Media, Gaming, Privacy or Misinformation.
Online Safety, Internet Safety and Digital Safeguarding References
Our Online Safety Workshops draw on current Department for Education guidance, Ofcom research and UK online-safety regulation:
- Department for Education – Teaching Online Safety in Schools – curriculum and whole-school guidance covering safe and respectful use of technology.
- Department for Education – Keeping Children Safe in Education – KCSIE 2025 remains in force until 31 August 2026 and KCSIE 2026 comes into force on 1 September 2026.
- Department for Education – Relationships Education, RSE and Health Education – revised statutory guidance for introduction on 1 September 2026.
- Department for Education – Mobile Phones in Schools – statutory guidance from 29 June 2026, for schools to begin following from 1 September 2026.
- Ofcom – Children’s Online Experiences Research Report 2026 – current evidence on children’s internet use, AI, gaming, harmful content, age assurance and safety tools.
- Ofcom – Protection of Children Duties Under the Online Safety Act – current duties for regulated online services likely to be accessed by children.
- Ofcom – Use of Age Assurance Report 2026 – current assessment of age-checking systems across regulated services.
- Department for Education – Filtering and Monitoring Core Standard – current expectations for safe school and college online environments.
- UK Government – New Rules to Protect Children Online – future social-media and online-feature restrictions announced in 2026; these are not yet fully in force.
These sources support an approach to online safety that is current, practical and proportionate: teach children how technology works, how harm can develop, how to challenge manipulation and how to seek help without presenting the online world as inherently dangerous.