Primary school children to be taught internet safety

Children as young as five years old will be taught about internet safety in schools from 2011.

The Click Clever, Click Safe programme is based on the road safety initiative, the Green Cross Code.

But instead of ‘stop, look, listen', children will be taught to ‘zip it, block it, flag it’ and the lessons will form a compulsory part of the curriculum in primary schools.

With the Government estimating that 90 per cent of children aged between eight to 17 have access to the internet, the new internet safety lessons will tackle topics such as cyber-bullying and paedophiles, alongside warnings about giving out personal information.

Launching the plans today, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "The internet provides our children with a world of entertainment, opportunity and knowledge – a world literally at their fingertips.

"But we must ensure that the virtual world is as safe for them as this one. Today we are launching our online version of the Green Cross Code. We hope that 'zip it, block it, flag it' will become as familiar to this generation as did to the last."

The code for the initiative was drawn up the Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), which was set up following the report by Tanya Byron, the child psychologist and broadcaster. She was initially asked by the Government in 2007 to consider how to protect children online.

UKCCIS is a group of 140 organisations including Government departments, charities and companies such as Google and Microsoft.

These organisations have agreed to make it clear on their websites what the rules are for using their site and what children can do if they see something that is offensive or shouldn’t be there.

Social networking sites such as Bebo have already put 'panic buttons' on to their sites

Children will be taught not to share personal details ie zip it. They will also be taught to be wary of contact such as emails from strangers ie block it, and to report suspicious individuals, activities or websites to the relevant authority, whether a parent, teacher, police or industry group - in other words, flag it. Download the strategy from the UKCCIS website.