Leonie Smith And The Northern Beaches Local Area Command
Teachers: How would you like to have LESS issues around cyber bullying and cyber safety to deal with in 2014?
Parent supervision and lack of cyber safety education is one of the weakest links in keeping your students safe online. With many BYOD programs starting in both primary and high school in 2014, it’s NOW more important than ever to get your parent community up to speed with online security and cyber safety. You DON’T want your students bringing unsuitable adult content into your school on their devices. And cyber safety issues are escalating exponentially amongst school students. Parent’s unwillingness to get up to speed with cyber safety issues and lack of educated supervision is a huge problem!
Free Cyber Safety Talks
In 2013 through the efforts of the Northern Beaches Business Education Network, Leonie Started working with the Northern Beaches Police and local schools to bring free cyber safety talks for parents on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. The initiative is growing in demand with most bookings coming in later in 2013 as word of the talks grew.
What’s Different About These Talks?
Leonie Smith is a cyber savvy, geek and a mum. She presents the talks from the perspective of someone who loves the internet, social media and gaming but wants us all to use it safely. As a mum of 4 kids aged 14-30 yrs, she’s already done and is still doing the hard yards at the coal face of bringing up digital native children. Starting her business online in the mid 90’s gives her a unique (sometimes hilarious) perspective on the internet both as a user/player and as a parent. Find Out More About Her Here!
Having the support of the police at these talks also gives another perspective in regards to what is really going on behind the scenes of our children’s online world. This cyber safety presentation along with her manual “Keeping Kids Safe Online” available in hard copy at the talks for $20.00, provide parents with actual practical advice and tools, to help parents communicate with their kids about their online world better and to help keep them safe online.
What Do Parents Learn?
Parents feedback after the talks is often “I thought I was cyber savvy, but I learned things about apps and the internet I know will be incredibly helpful and important” “How did I not know this stuff!” Many parents have reported that they not only learned about what their kids were up to online, but also learned vital information about how to protect their own social media accounts that they could then pass on to their children.
The end result is parents who leave the talks with enough information to make some real positive changes to how they supervise and protect their kids online.
Which Schools May Apply?
Any school in the Manly, Warringah and Pittwater council area can apply to host one of these free talks. Leonie normally charges a fee for her presentations to parents, but because these talks are kindly sponsored by Rotary, Warringah Council, and Dee Why RSL we are able to provide these amazing talks absolutely free to all Northern Beaches Schools, both public and Independent.
Presented By Leonie Smith, With Input From Your Local Police
Leonie and representatives from the Northern Beaches Local Area Command attend the talks together. Representing the police is Senior Constable Robyn Jennings a Youth Liaison Officer.
The The benefit of holding these type of talks is that parents and teachers get to hear from both Leonie and the police. The police explain how they are responding to cyber safety issues in their dealings with students on the Northern Beaches, and what trends they are noticing as far as matters of a criminal nature, like sexting blackmail, online predatory behaviour, and issues of stalking and cyber bullying.
Leonie usually invites the head teacher or principle of the host school to also discuss what their school is experiencing in regards to cyber safety and how they are implementing cyber safety education in the school.
Parents then get a very clear and balanced overview of the issues that might be facing their children.
Who Can Attend?
These talks are for adults only. Robyn Jennings offers introductory cyber safety talks to primary school children. Leonie also holds talks or workshops for younger students and teens. See Here For Teen/Junior Talks and Workshops
School Clusters
Most of these sponsored talks are advertised to clusters of schools, this helps increase the numbers of attendees at the talks. Talk attendance has grown over the year that this arrangement has been in place. We’ve had as many as 200 parents and as little as 50 parents attending. Attendance is very much dependent on the school parent culture, the willingness of the school to advertise the talks effectively and feedback from other parents who have already attended one of these talks.
Cyber Safety Is A Community Issue!
Bookings Are Already Being Secured For 2104
If you would like to hold a talk at your school in the Manly, Warringah, Pittwater area contact Leonie Smith. We are already taking bookings for 2014. Many schools that have already held the talks in 2013 have re-booked for repeat talks early in 2014.
Schools That Held These Talks In 2013
- Freshwater Senior Campus
- St Rose Collaroy Plateau
- Christian Covenant Belrose
- Mona Vale Public School
- Galstaun School Ingleside
- The Forest High
- Narraweena Public School
I’m sure if you contact any of the above schools they will gladly give you some idea of the success of these talks.
You can find out where we will be holding talks in 2014 from this website. Click the Subscribe button in the top right column of this website or by liking the Cyber Safety Lady Facebook Page. Where I’ll be advertising the public talks.
