Our online lives: How do I decide who to trust online?
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Why this why now
In Year 4, pupils may increasingly engage with online communities through games and messaging. Building on previous online safety learning, this unit extends to evaluating the trustworthiness of people online and navigating online relationships safely. This is timely as pupils face complex online interactions and may encounter strangers or deceptive people. By exploring these concepts now, pupils develop critical thinking skills to assess who to trust online, recognise warning signs, apply offline safety principles online, and seek help when needed.
Prior knowledge requirements
- Pupils should know that people online may not always be who they say they are and that some people online may try to trick or harm others.
- Pupils should understand from earlier learning that personal information such as name, address, school, photos and videos should be kept private online.
- Pupils should be familiar with trusted adults such as parents, carers and teachers who can help them if they feel worried or uncomfortable about something online.
- Pupils should know from Key Stage 1 that the same principles of kindness, respect and safety that apply in person also apply to online interactions.
- Pupils should understand from earlier learning that they should report concerns about the online world to a trusted adult if something feels unsafe.
Threads
Why this why now
In Year 4, pupils may increasingly engage with online communities through games and messaging. Building on previous online safety learning, this unit extends to evaluating the trustworthiness of people online and navigating online relationships safely. This is timely as pupils face complex online interactions and may encounter strangers or deceptive people. By exploring these concepts now, pupils develop critical thinking skills to assess who to trust online, recognise warning signs, apply offline safety principles online, and seek help when needed.
Prior knowledge requirements
- Pupils should know that people online may not always be who they say they are and that some people online may try to trick or harm others.
- Pupils should understand from earlier learning that personal information such as name, address, school, photos and videos should be kept private online.
- Pupils should be familiar with trusted adults such as parents, carers and teachers who can help them if they feel worried or uncomfortable about something online.
- Pupils should know from Key Stage 1 that the same principles of kindness, respect and safety that apply in person also apply to online interactions.
- Pupils should understand from earlier learning that they should report concerns about the online world to a trusted adult if something feels unsafe.
Our online lives: How do I decide who to trust online?
This unit teaches pupils about assessing trustworthiness online, understanding different types of internet users, recognising risks with strangers, responding safely to unknown people and communicating safely online. Pupils develop critical thinking to evaluate who to trust and when to seek help.
4 lessons in unit
slide decks, worksheet PDFs, quizzes and lesson overviews. You can select individual lessons from the Our online lives: How do I decide who to trust online? unit and download the resources you need, or download the entire unit now. See every unit listed in our primary rshe (pshe) curriculum and discover more of our teaching resources for primary rshe (pshe) programmes.