Leeds Online Safety Campaign with NSPCC

Leeds Online Safety Campaign with NSPCC

leeds online safety campaign

The Leeds Online Safety Campaign has been working to support professionals, parents and carers help keep children safe in their online world, to help them feel confident in talking about online safety with the children they know and work with, so that they in turn know that they can always talk to someone about anything that is worrying them. Please see some key information shared by NSPCC about online safety and some local city-wide resources and information. As ambassadors, NSPCC have joined in support of the Child Friendly Leeds 12 wishes and are part of the work group for wish 4.

Your Voice for Online Safety – Enter the Campaign Competition

We want you to design art work, posters or written text to be displayed across the city to raise awareness of online safety. Children and young people have shared that there is a lack of awareness of the types of online platforms and safety messages. Winners will be notified on 15 January 2026. They will receive Crayola arts bundles and will see their entries displayed across the city including Leeds Bus Station in print and digital campaigns.

This competition is open to children and young people in primary and secondary in years 5, 6, 7 and 8. Any poster, art work or text
submission must be completed on an A4 or A3 sheet of paper. Please complete and return it before 9 January 2026 to your school, any Leeds Library for the attention of Children’s Team, Leeds Central Library or email childfriendlyleeds@leeds.gov.uk.

Download the Competition Form & Instructions Here >
Leeds Online Safety Campaign CompetitionDownload

Professionals & Parents – Promote the Campaign

The NSPCC have kindly shared a communications pack to support services in promoting the Leeds Online Safety Campaign. Please follow this link to access the document, containing guidance, images and captions for sharing on social media.

The campaign has organised a series of workshops to help support parents, carers and relevant professionals to feel confident in talking about online safety with the children they know and work with, so that children and young people know that they can always talk to someone about anything that is worrying them. 

NSPCC Workshop Feedback
NSPCC Workshop feedback

If you would like to host an online safety workshop for your school, community group or business please contact yhandnecampaigns@nspcc.org.uk. These can be offered virtually or face to face (with a minimum of 20 attendees for the latter) at a time to suit your group’s needs.

When did Leeds Online Safety Campaign Launch?

In June 2024, NSPCC launched the Leeds Online Safety Campaign at Hamara Leeds. A 12-month multi-agency campaign which aims to provide resources and advice to support parents and professionals help keep children safe in their digital world. It was a chance to hear directly from the Internet Watch Foundation on the growing prevalence of sharing images online and from the Marie Collins Foundation on the impact of technology-assisted child abuse. We also heard from our keynote speaker Deputy Mayor for Policing & Crime, Alison Lowe OBE. You can read all the highlights here.

The campaign will reach thousands of local children, offering safeguarding tips and resources in schools and professional settings, while also helping adults feel better able to support children in exploring the online world safely. Live stage performances of The Net – Sam’s Story will be held at dozens of schools across the city in the first phase of the campaign, with recorded resources also available to schools who want to take on the campaign.

Gail NSPCC Online Safety Launch
Sadiya Leeds NSPCC
Alison Lowe Leeds NSPCC Online Safety
Leeds Online Safety Campaign NSPCC

Top Tips

Children love spending time exploring online. The internet’s a great place for children to learn, create, chat with friends and family, access information or support and explore fun apps, sites and games. But exploring comes with risks, so it’s vital we know how to help keep them safe online.

  • Start a conversation 

An open and honest conversation is often the first step in keeping your child safe online, it also plays an important role in supporting them if something has gone wrong. 

Talk to your child about what has happened, how they feel about it, and what the next steps are for you to take as a family.  

Keeping your child in the loop about what you are going to do to resolve the situation can help them to feel in control of it and can help them to feel like they can come to you with any future problems. 

  • Be curious, not furious 

Remaining calm and asking questions like ‘how did you get to that?’ or ‘what did you click on?’ will help you to understand how the content has appeared in the first place.  

Children will often remember the immediate response from an adult – remaining calm and open will show them that you are someone they can turn to for help. 

  • Try not to place blame 

It may be that your child has clicked on something by mistake or even gone looking for the content on purpose, either way, it is still important to remain calm and be supportive.  

Children are curious and may hear about things from others that they later search for without realising what they will be exposed to. 

Local Offers:

The NSPCC offers free online safety workshops, Keeping Children Safe Online, both virtually and face to face for groups. Our Keeping Children Safe Online workshop will:

  • Help you understand how children and young people experience the online world
  • Show you resources and tools that could help keep them safe
  • Empower you to guide them on their journey

To find out more please visit:  https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/free-online-safety-group-workshops/

Talk PANTS!

Talk PANTS helps children aged 3- 11 understand that their body belongs to them, and they should tell someone they trust if anything makes them feel upset or worried. There are professional resources including lesson plans available via https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/schools/pants-teaching

Talk Relationships

This e-learning course supports secondary education settings to be places that foster healthy relationships and help keep young people safe from abuse. Talk Relationships offers 14 lessons plans developed in partnership with the PSHE Association and a dedicated helpline, where NSPCC experts will offer help and advice to any teacher with a question or safeguarding concern.

Leeds Safeguarding Children’s Partnership

The internet and all it can offer, is a wonderful tool for keeping in touch with friends and family, however parents and carers need to be aware that it is possible for people who are unknown to children and young people to communicate with them via the internet. Here are some things to consider if your child has access to a mobile, tablet, laptop or games console: https://www.leedsscp.org.uk/families/teenagers/online-safety

Further online safety e-learning – Do you know your TikTok from your Snapchat? Whether you’re a teacher, social worker or volunteer, you need to feel confident in knowing how to keep children safe online and respond appropriately if a child comes to you with a concern. NSPCC Learning can offer an online safety course which, developed in association with NCA-CEOP Education, the child protection unit of the National Crime Agency, will help you learn about topics including new and emerging online harms, sex and relationships online and online bullying. Please note there is a cost for this course.

Helpful Information:

What are the key risks?

• Who they’re talking to

– This includes grooming and cyberbullying

• What they’re seeing

– Innocent searches can lead to not so innocent results

– Children are often a few clicks away from inappropriate/harmful content

• What they’re ‘oversharing’

– Personal information, location and nude images/videos

– Remember that when young people share online, it may never be fully private

What are the signs of online abuse?

• Children may not know what’s happening to them, so the signs may not always be obvious

• Sudden, unexplained changes are usually an indication that something’s wrong

• Consider what’s age-appropriate for your child

How to talk about difficult topics 

  • Plan what you want to say in advance and seek support and information if needed so that you feel prepared. 
  • Choose a moment when there are no other distractions, and you are not rushed for time but acknowledge that they might not feel ready to speak straight away. 
  • Consider the best approach to anticipate how your child might react. You might want to directly explain the concerns that led to the conversation or feel that asking some broader questions might be more suitable in the first instance. 
  • Give your child time to process what you are saying and share their thoughts, without interruption or blame. Listen carefully to any confusion or concerns. 
  • Share your own experiences if you can. Were you ever in a similar situation and how was it resolved? 
  • Reassure them you are always there to help and even if you don’t know the answers, you can find these out together. 
  • Get support quickly if they need it. This might be from family, friends, your child’s school or other agencies. 

My child has said something worrying – what do I do? 

  • Let them explain in their own words what has happened. 
  • Remain composed. If you are feeling shocked, angry, or worried, it’s likely that your child is feeling worse, but reacting that way may close down the conversation and lead your child to believe that they are to blame. 
  • Acknowledge the challenges they have overcome and let them know that they’ve done the right thing by telling you. 
  • Be honest. It’s okay if you are unsure what to do next, the important thing is to let your child know you are there for them. There is a lot of further support out there to help you decide on your next steps.  
  • Save the evidence wherever possible. You may be able to report what has happened to the online service being used when the incident occurred. Evidence may include screen shots taken on a laptop or mobile device, emails, texts, or online conversation histories. 
  • Make a report as soon as possible. Knowing who to report to is a useful step to resolving many issues, so try to familiarise yourself with the reporting, blocking or moderating settings available on the services your child is using. Depending on what has happened, it might be necessary to let your child’s school know too, or other agencies such as the police.  

Signposting

 Reporting sites

  • If you believe a child is immediate risk of harm then call 999

 

Blog Stats

  • 289,767 hits

Ambassador Area

Sign up as an ambassador and get invited to our the official CFL network page.

©  2025 . Built using WordPress and the Mesmerize Theme