The Online Safety Index for 2022 was published in November 2022, it uses the self-review information from the 13,500 schools in England which are signed up to 360 degree safe from SWGfL (South West Grid for Learning), the tool is free for all schools to use.
‘’The online safety landscape is once again showing us where the strengths and weaknesses lie. Technology is always evolving which means online safety continues to adapt alongside. It is essential that schools prioritise a consistent review of their online safety policies so they can actively show how they are working towards keeping children and young people safe online. The report has now shown where the gaps are, and we encourage all local authorities to continue to work towards improvement and ensure online safety remains a high priority.’’
David Wright (CEO of SWGfL)
The rankings are made up of a 21 aspects of online safety, which collectively show a picture of performance and engagement for online safety.
Norfolk’s ranking
In 2022 as in 2021 North Somerset was ranked at the top of the index. Norfolk out of the 141 ranked authorities was at 73, an improvement from 2021 (rank 96) and 2020 where it was ranked 103.
The full table is below and these are areas that NGN will be covering in a new Online Safety governance signposting page, the key point for governors and all those in school leadership and those supporting is that we all need to work together to improve online safety for children and young people in Norfolk.
It is important to note that this is not a reflection of online safety in every school in Norfolk, so this should be viewed with caution. However, it is useful to understand the areas that are covered by the 360 audits and reflect on the practice in our own schools.
| Area | Score |
|---|---|
| Overall Index | 57.2% |
| Performance | 53.5% |
| Engagement | 21.7% |
| Acceptable Use | 68.5% |
| Agencies | 31.0% |
| Contribution of Young People | 42.4% |
| Data Security | 52.9% |
| Digital and Video Images | 66.1% |
| Families | 52.7% |
| Filtering | 70.7% |
| Governors | 39.3% |
| Impact of Online Safety Policy & Practice | 40.5% |
| Mobile Technology | 57.3% |
| Monitoring | 66.0% |
| Online Publishing | 57.7% |
| Online Safety Education Programme | 60.1% |
| Online Safety Group | 30.4% |
| Online Safety Policy | 69.7% |
| Online Safety Responsibilities | 52.8% |
| Professional Standards | 62.4% |
| Reporting and Responding | 49.7% |
| Social Media | 57.7% |
| Staff | 41.1% |
| Technical Security | 54.1% |
Governance Conversation
Join us on 2nd February 17:00 – 19:00 online via Zoom at our Governance Conversation on Online Safety, RSHE & Data Protection, free for all governors, trustees and governance professionals.
