Communication and promotion
Raising the profile of online safety to reach a wide audience and reinforce the importance of using the internet safely and responsibly.
3. Communication and promotion
Actions and updates
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The Welsh Government will continue to support education stakeholder engagement events which include a focus on online safety.
In February 2024, DRiE hosted a variety of webinars aimed at practitioners within primary and secondary schools across Wales to celebrate Safer Internet Day 2024. Webinars included updates from Estyn, Childnet, SWGfL, North Wales Police and Adobe. In addition, a webinar to provide a walkthrough of all the Keeping Safe Online resources was offered to practitioners.
The Hwb Team hosted a stand at an online gaming event co-hosted by the Welsh Rugby Union to celebrate Safer Internet Day 2024, this was attended by learners and practitioners from colleges and special schools in Wales.
In November 2024, we again brought together experts in online safety to share their latest research, evidence-based insights and emerging issues. This year, the keynote presentation was from the UK Safer Internet Centre followed by a round table discussion with all attendees participating.
The key points raised in the discussion will be used to inform our work programme for 2025 to 26.Action status: Ongoing.
During March 2023 education practitioners and professionals from across Wales attended our national Keeping safe online conferences in Llandudno and Cardiff.
The conferences, hosted by Hwb, heard from leading expert organisations on a range of digital resilience topics. Keynote speeches by the UK Safer Internet Centre, Estyn, Ofcom and the National Cyber Security Centre provided insight into the latest trends in digital technology and online safety, best practice approaches to provision in schools, the upcoming regulatory landscape and why cyber resilience is so important for schools. Practitioners and professionals also had the opportunity to attend breakout sessions with trusted partners of Hwb’s Digital Resilience in Education programme to learn about the strategies, skills, knowledge and resources available to support learners and schools in Wales.
We continue to work closely with key stakeholders including local authorities and the regional consortia to support training session delivered to practitioners across Wales.
Action status: Ongoing.
During 2022, we have continued to work closely with education stakeholders to promote engagement opportunities. We have supported SWGfL to promote events in collaboration with TikTok with a focus on media literacy and digital well-being and continue to promote ‘Online Safety Briefings’ delivered as part of the UK Safer Internet Centre.
Engaging closely with regional consortia and local authorities we have delivered digital resilience training sessions both virtually and in-person across Wales to teachers.
We have also worked collaboratively with stakeholders on digital resilience campaigns for schools on topics including ‘Online reputation and digital footprint’ and ‘phishing’.
Action status: Ongoing.
In order to keep people safe during pandemic no in person events have been held. However we have continued to engage with regional consortia, local authorities and schools virtually to promote digital resilience education opportunities.
We have delivered 5 live webinars for to provide practical guidance and advice in the following areas:
- Responding to harmful or viral online challenges
- Sharing nudes
- Demystifying Cyber - learn the basics of keeping safe and secure
- Online safety trends
- Safer Internet Day
We supported three further ‘Online Safety Briefings’ delivered as part of the UK Safer Internet Centre outreach work providing information on the latest online safety, trends, technologies, issues and research. We support this through promoting the sessions and their availability on the Keeping safe online area of Hwb.
We have engaged with and joined the Hwb EdTech Delivery group and Technical Standardisation Group to explore and present digital resilience opportunities, we will continue to engage with these groups.
We will also continue to work closely with regional consortia to explore opportunities to collaborate on digital resilience campaign for schools.
Action status: Ongoing
In March 2020, we, together with SWGfL, attended two Regional Digital Learning Events in Venue Cymru, Llandudno, and the All Nations Centre, Cardiff. The events, hosted by the regional consortia, replaced the National Digital Learning Event and aim to bring together teachers and those working in education, to share examples and best practice in digital learning taking place across Wales.
We hosted two stands at each event led by the Digital Resilience in Education Branch and SWGfL, raising awareness of the digital resilience activity as part of the Hwb Programme. Two further events scheduled for March were cancelled due to the impact of COVID-19. Through SWGfL we continue to ensure a presence at the regional consortia hosted HwbMeets covering aspects of online safety.
During 2019–20, we supported ten ‘Online Safety Briefings’ delivered as part of the UK Safer Internet Centre outreach work providing information on the latest online safety, trends, technologies, issues and research. We support this through promoting the sessions and their availability on the Keeping safe online area of Hwb.
Action status: Ongoing.
The 2018 National Digital Learning Event took place at Celtic Manor, Newport on Wednesday 20 June 2018. The theme of the event was ‘Sharing digital practices to support an evolving curriculum’ and 229 delegates attended. The event was designed around a ‘Digital Marketplace’. There were 40 stands led by practitioners and experts (and 38 learners) holding short, practical sessions with small groups of delegates. The stands provided innovative examples of how digital practices are being developed in schools across Wales. One stand was dedicated to online safety, and was hosted by Welsh Government officials and SWGfL. The aim of the stand was to raise awareness of our online safety activities, the Online Safety Zone on Hwb and its extensive suite of online safety resources.
From the spring term 2020, four Regional Digital Learning Events, one run by each of the four regional consortia, will take place. These events replace the National Digital Learning Event and enable us to reach a wider education audience across Wales. The events are aimed at teachers and those working in education in Wales, to raise the profile of digital learning, with a view to identifying and sharing exemplars of good practice and expertise in digital learning. Plans are also in place to run similar events aimed at, and with sessions delivered by, learners.
The regional consortia will continue to hold HwbMeets. As part of their remit, HwbMeets include aspects of online safety.
During 2018–19, we supported the 11 ‘Online Safety Briefings’ delivered as part of the UK Safer Internet Centre outreach work promoting the sessions and their availability on the Online Safety Zone on Hwb.
During 2019–20, the UK Safer Internet Centre will deliver ten ‘Online Safety Briefings’ in Wales giving up-to-date information on the latest online safety, trends, technologies, issues and research, as well as signposting delegates to resources and advice. We will continue to provide communications support to raise awareness of this offering from the UK Safer Internet Centre.
Action status: Ongoing.
There are a range of digital stakeholder events that take place across Wales. These include:
- the annual National Digital Learning Event – a national flagship event, aimed at teachers and those working in education in Wales, to raise the profile of digital learning, with a view to identifying and sharing exemplars of good practice and expertise in digital learning
- HwbMeets – face-to-face teacher networking sessions that facilitate the sharing of best practice and enable teachers to learn from others; these are delivered in conjunction with regional consortia
Online Safety Briefing Sessions – SWGfL, as part of the UK Safer Internet Centre, will deliver Online Safety Briefing sessions in Wales.
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The Welsh Government will continue to provide a dynamic online safety area on Hwb, for sources of online safety news, events and resources for children, young people, education professionals, governors, parents and carers.
During 2024 we published a series of informative videos on Keeping safe online, to support education practitioners to develop their understanding of:
- emerging and high priority digital resilience issues for schools (support for social media, sharing nude images and parental engagement)
- current trends in the online behaviour of children and young people
- where they can find further sources of support through the Keeping Safe Online area of Hwb and use this practically when dealing with issues
In April 2024 we added 2 new topic pages to the Keeping Safe Online home page on ‘sextortion’ and ‘web scraping’, to raise awareness of these growing threats and ensure that schools can support and safeguard learners appropriately.
In June 2024 we added a new topic page on ‘Generative AI’, which hosts resources, training and guidance to support schools and the wider school community with the opportunities and challenges presented by generative AI tools.
We have continued to expand our ‘Views from the Experts’ feature, with the following articles from
- ICO work to promote sharing data to safeguard children
- Artificial Intelligence implications for children and young people
- Video gaming & esports: the differences and distinctions in detail
Action status: Ongoing.
During 2023 we have continued to develop the Keeping safe online area of Hwb to provide the latest information, guidance and support on online safety and cyber security issues.
We have continued to expand our ‘Views from the Experts’ feature, with the following articles published so far during the 2022/23 academic year:
- Extremism and Radicalisation - Faith McCreedy, National Strategic Lead, Wales Police Schools Programme (WPSP)
- Teaching fact checking in schools - Joseph O’Leary, Training Manager, Full Fact
- A review of harmful content online - Jim Gamble QPM, Chief Executive Officer of the INEQE Safeguarding Group
- Keeping safe online youth group - Carys-Megan James, Member of the Welsh Government’s ‘Keeping safe online’ youth group
During 2022/23 we also continued to raise awareness of some important online safety issues, including:
The area of Keeping safe online specifically for children and young people, online issues and worries, has continued to evolve with a full content review and new guidance being published in June 2023.
The app guides for families have also evolved, with 6 monthly content reviews and an additional 15 new guides being published during the 2022/23 academic year. We will continue reviewing the guides every 6 months and will add new guides for apps that are increasing in popularity among children and young people, as and when appropriate.
We also added new online training modules to support education practitioners with important online safety issues, including:
Action status: Ongoing.
We continue to develop and evolve the Keeping safe online area of Hwb to ensure that we are providing the latest information, guidance and support on digital resilience issues.
During 2021-22 we have continued to expand our ‘Views from the Experts’ feature publishing the following articles on topical digital resilience issues:
- Online sexual harassment amongst young people: The thing that is happening online but nobody talks about - Will Gardner OBE, CEO Childnet International
- The impact of social media on self esteem and how to help - Stephanie Hoffman, Head of Social Action at ProMo-Cymru
- Treating children differently in a digital world - Helen Thomas, Senior Policy Officer (Wales) at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
- The complexity of being a digital citizen - Helen King, Director at Praesidio Safeguarding
- Online grooming: Let's close the door to online child sexual abusers - Susie Hargreaves, OBE, CEO of Internet Watch Foundation
- Online child sexual grooming: Abuse and manipulation through communication - Professor Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, Applied Linguistics, Swansea University
- TikTok Videos targeting teachers - Support from Professionals Online Safety Helpline - Carmel Glassbrook, Project Lead for Professionals Online Safety Helpline at SWGfL
- What are dangerous online hoaxes and challenges and what should we be doing about them? - Dr Zoe Hilton, Director at Praesidio Safeguarding
- Children’s Gaming4Good. Yes, really - Tim Mitchell, Content Director at GetSafeOnline
We will continue to publish regular articles from expert organisations throughout 2022.
In 2021-22 we continued with our campaigns to raise awareness of some important online safety issues following the publication of our ‘Stop the spread of Misinformation’ campaign we published:
- ‘Stay true to yourself online’ was launched in June 2021, to raise awareness of issues around self-esteem and social media. The campaign included information about the benefits and risks of using social media, the role of social media influencers, the pressure to fit in online and top tips for keeping your social media experience positive.
- ‘Don’t let spending be the game’ was launched in December 2021 to help parents and carers understand more about in-game purchases and how to avoid extra costs.
- Banter or bullying? was launched in March 2022, this campaign aimed to increase the understanding of when bantering behaviour crosses the line into bullying and the impact of this.
In August 2021 the ‘Keeping safe online’ area of Hwb was refreshed following engagement with stakeholders. The newly designed homepage features a ‘Topics’ area ensuring that users are able to find the digital resilience information, resources and supporting guidance tailored to their needs.
The homepage now includes the latest news, information programmes and events on digital resilience including Safer Internet Day and the Cyberfirst programmes and direct links to tools and features such as 360 safe Cymru and ‘Views from the experts’.
During 2022 we have continued to develop and evolve the Keeping safe online area of Hwb to provide the latest information, guidance and support on online safety and cyber security issues.
We have continued to expand our ‘Views from the Experts’ feature, with the following articles published during 2022:
- What is the Metaverse? - Jim Gamble QPM, Chief Executive Officer of the INEQE Safeguarding Group
- Managing your digital footprint and reputation - Richard Wall and Elaina Brutto, Careers Wales
- Online issues and worries from the perspective of young people - Andrew Collins, ProMo-Cymru
- Children's Rights in the digital world - Sally Holland, Children’s Commissioner for Wales
- Why cyber resilience within schools is a concern for the senior leadership team, not the IT department - Symon Kendall, Detective Sergeant at Tarian Regional Cyber Crime Unit
In 2022 we also continued to raise awareness of some important online safety issues, including:
- Banter or bullying? Understanding when behaviour crosses the line.
- Online reputation and digital footprint – Encouraging children and young people to consider the impact of their digital footprint.
A new area was launched on Keeping safe online in 2022, specifically for children and young people. This area includes advice on a range of topics including sharing nudes, online hate and online gaming. The advice has been created to help them keep their online experiences positive and understand how they can report problems and get support if they need it.
We have continued to evolve the app guides for families in 2022. We have updated the existing 24 guides to reflect any new features and privacy settings now available within the apps. We also added 5 new guides for apps that are increasing in popularity among children and young people. In early 2023, the guides will be reviewed and updated once again and an additional 10 new guides will be added to the series.
Action status: Ongoing
We continue to develop and evolve the Keeping safe online area of Hwb to ensure that we are providing the latest information, guidance and support on digital resilience issues.
In January 2021, we launched a new feature ‘Views from the experts’ publishing regular articles on digital resilience from expert organisations highlighting expert opinion on a range of relevant topics. The following articles have been published:
- Sharing nudes - David Wright, UK Safer Internet Centre Director
- It was never a dress: the importance of diversity in cyber security - Clare Johnson, Partnerships and Outreach Manager (Digital and STEM), University of South Wales
- Learning in an age of misinformation - Kelly Mendoza, Sr. Director of Education Programs, Common Sense Education
In April 2021, we developed a campaign ‘Stop the spread of Misinformation’ recognising the increasing reliance of online platforms and social media in consuming news. The campaign sought to highlight the importance checking sources before sharing false or misleading information.
Action status: Ongoing
In May 2020, the Online Safety Zone on Hwb was renamed Keeping safe online to reflect the expanding remit of the area. The Keeping safe online area supports children and young people, parents and carers, practitioners and governors with online safety, cyber security and data protection, providing an extensive range of resources, guidance and links to further sources of support.
During summer term 2020, we undertook a review of the Keeping safe online area and examined how to enhance the user experience. Following this review, a redesigned Keeping safe online area was launched in September 2020.
Since the launch of the Online Safety Zone in 2017, we have now published over 150 resources that includes 112 playlist resources, 4 Safer Internet Day education packs, in addition to 16 practitioner guides and 19 guides for parents and carers.
The Keeping safe online area has received over 307,000 page views during 2019–20, reaching over 770,000 page views to date.
During 2020–21, the Keeping safe online area will continue to host all online safety, cyber security and data protection news, resources, guidance and information for schools in Wales.
Action status: Ongoing.
Hwb, the digital learning platform for Wales, provides education stakeholders with access to a wide range of centrally-funded bilingual digital tools and resources to support the transformation of education practices. Hwb has evolved to become the single strategic digital channel for education in Wales, hosting Curriculum for Wales, professional development for staff and digital infrastructure support. Hwb is regularly used by over 96 per cent of schools in Wales.
The Online Safety Zone on Hwb continues to be the one-stop-shop for bilingual online safety resources. Since its launch in 2017, we have published over 105 resources that includes 66 playlist resources, three Safer Internet Day education packs, in addition to 10 teacher guides and 10 guides for parents and carers.
The Online Safety Zone has received over 50,000 page views during 2018–19 reaching over 366,000 page views to date.
During 2019–20, we will continue to create, host all online safety news, resources, guidance and information relating to the online safety in education programme in Wales. We will also undertake a review of the Online Safety Zone and will look at ways to enhance the current user experience.
Action status: Ongoing.
Hwb, the digital learning platform for Wales, provides education stakeholders with access to a wide range of centrally-funded bilingual digital tools and resources to support the transformation of education practices.
The Online Safety Zone was launched on Hwb on Safer Internet Day on 6 February 2017. The zone is the dedicated area on Hwb designed and developed to support exemplary online safety practice in education across Wales.
The Online Safety Zone hosts a range of teaching resources on various online safety topics to help keep learners safe online. It provides access to sources of guidance and advice to learners, education practitioners, education professionals, governors, parents and carers, schools and further expert support. The zone also hosts a training events calendar to enable practitioners to sign up to online safety training sessions.
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The Welsh Government will support Safer Internet Day in Wales annually to raise the profile and importance of online safety across Wales.
To celebrate Safer Internet Day in February 2024, Welsh Government ran a series of online events for schools and learners to promote online safety.
Schools were invited to tell us what they were doing. Contributions were moderated and then published on our ‘Safer Internet Day celebration 2024’ page.
In preparation for Safer Internet Day 2025, the Welsh Government supported a UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC) stakeholder engagement event for Wales in November 2024. This event was an opportunity to engage with schools and internet safety partners to share the theme for the next Safer Internet Day, and to encourage stakeholders to run and participate in Safer Internet Day activities.
UKSIC produces education activity packs each year for Safer Internet Day. The production of bilingual packs for Welsh schools is supported each year by the Welsh Government, and the bilingual packs are hosted and promoted on Hwb.The education packs for 2025 were published on Hwb in November 2024.
The Welsh Government has been working with schools across Wales to create digital content to encourage children and young people to protect themselves and others from online scams. This will be published on Hwb in January 2025 in preparation for Safer Internet Day 2025.
Action status: Ongoing.
To celebrate Safer Internet Day 2023, we ran a competition for children and young people, calling on them to create a short film that communicates their views, opinions or stories of using social media, gaming or apps. The focus of this year’s competition was children’s voice.
The competition finalists were invited to a celebration event on Safer Internet Day in the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, where they had the opportunity to take part in Safer Internet Day themed activities and where the winners were announced.
We also worked with Childnet to localise and translate the UK Safer Internet Centre Safer Internet Day education packs, which provided a range of resources for schools to use as part of their Safer Internet Day celebrations.
We will continue to support Safer Internet Day annually to raise the profile and importance of online safety across Wales.
Action status: Ongoing.
Safer Internet Day 2022
In preparation for Safer Internet Day (SID) 2022, we, in partnership with the UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC), a virtual stakeholder engagement event was held in November 2021. The purpose of the event was to provide an overview of SID 2022 activities and information for schools, organisations and businesses on how they can get involved.
Working with Childnet, we funded translation of the UKSIC SID Education packs. The bilingual packs, which provide a range of resources for schools to deliver sessions to children and young people across the age ranges, are available on the Keeping safe online area on Hwb.
In addition to this, we pulled together lesson plans, activities, worksheets and games from our trusted partners that can also be used as part of your Safer Internet Day celebrations.
To celebrate SID 2022, the Welsh Government invited children and young people across Wales to take part in the Safer Internet Day Film Competition - ‘Respect me. My internet, my rights’.
The competition challenged children and young people to create a film which highlights the importance of being respectful of others online. The competition winners were announced by the by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles MS on Safer Internet Day 8 February 2022.
Safer Internet Day 2023
In preparation for Safer Internet Day (SID) 2023, we worked with the UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC) to hold a virtual stakeholder engagement event on 24 November 2022. The purpose of the event is to provide an overview of SID 2023 activities and information for schools, organisations and businesses in Wales on how they can get involved.
We are also working with Childnet to localise and translate the UKSIC SID education packs, which provide a range of resources for schools to deliver as part of their Safer Internet Day celebrations.
We have also partnered with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) to launch a Safer Internet Day 2023 Film Competition. We are inviting children and young people to create a short film that communicates their views, opinions or stories of using social media, gaming or apps. The focus of this year’s competition is children’s voice.
Finalists of the competition will be invited to a celebration event on Safer Internet Day in the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, where they will have the opportunity to take part in SID themed activities and the winners will be announced.
Action status: Ongoing
In preparation for Safer Internet Day (SID) 2021, we, in partnership with the UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC), led a campaign to encourage children and young people, school staff, parents and carers, and businesses in Wales to get involved and take part in Safer Internet Day.
We held a virtual SID information event in partnership with the UKSIC in November 2020. The purpose of the event was to provide an overview of SID 2021 activities and information for schools, organisations and businesses on how they can get involved.
Working with Childnet, we funded translation of the UKSIC SID Education packs. The bilingual packs, which provide a range of resources for schools to deliver sessions to children and young people across the age ranges, are available on the Keeping safe online area on Hwb.
The theme for Safer Internet Day 2021 was ‘An internet we trust: exploring reliability in the online world.’
We ran a competition which challenged children and young people to use their creativity either through film, a written story or by recording an audio clip to explain what misinformation is, why it might be a problem, how we can recognise it and what we can do to protect ourselves and stop its spread.
The competition closed in January 2021 and the judging panel included representatives from a range of organisations including the BBC, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), Britannica Digital Learning, The Wales Co-operative Centre, Motion Pictures, the writer Jasper Fforde, SWGfL and yourselves. The winners of the competition were announced at a virtual event that took place on Safer Internet Day.
The winner in the early years category was Ysgol Y Ddwylan, with their film provided an important message for young learners to follow when checking information online.
The winners in the primary category were Ysgol Dyffryn Cledlyn with their film offering an insight into how misinformation can quickly evolve using a popular children's game and Ysgol Bro Pedr with their audio entry providing a range of humorous examples of misinformation and outlines practical steps we can take to fact check information.
The winner in the secondary category was Ysgol Syr Hugh Owen with and acrostic poem delivering an important and powerful message about misinformation.
Planning for SID 2022, which will be held on Tuesday 9 February 2022, is underway and campaign updates will be available on the dedicated Safer Internet Day page on Hwb.
Action status: Ongoing
In preparation for Safer Internet Day (SID) 2020, we, in partnership with the UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC), led a campaign to encourage children and young people, school staff, parents and carers, and businesses in Wales to get involved and take part in Safer Internet Day.
We held a SID information event in partnership with the UKSIC in November 2019. The purpose of the event was to provide an overview of SID 2020 activities and information for schools, organisations and businesses on how they can get involved. Over 60 organisations attended the event.
Working with Childnet, we funded translation of the UKSIC SID Education packs. The bilingual packs, which provide a range of resources for schools to deliver sessions to children and young people across the age ranges, are available on the Keeping safe online area on Hwb and to date received almost 6,000 views.
We ran a competition which challenged children and young people to create a public announcement-style advertisement aimed at friends and family. The theme was ‘A better internet: how to look after yourself and others’.
The competition closed in December 2019 and the judging panel included representatives from a range of organisations, including the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, the NSPCC, the BBC, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), IntoFilm, SWGfL, the Home Office and us. Ten schools (five primary and five secondary) were announced as finalists on 15 January 2020 and invited to attend a screening of the films and the awards ceremony in Cardiff on SID (11 February 2020).
The Minister for Education, Kirsty Williams MS, presented the awards at the event and the winning films were shared on Hwb.
The winner in the secondary category was Ysgol Nantgwyn, with their film which explores the impact of sharing images without consent.
The winner in the primary category was Ysgol Bro Pedr with their film outlining the importance of keeping your passwords private and protecting your data online.
Planning for SID 2021, which will be held on Tuesday 9 February 2021, is underway and campaign updates will be available on the dedicated Safer Internet Day page on Hwb. Plans include a virtual stakeholder planning event in the autumn term and running a digital storytelling competition, which will be open to schools, education and youth settings in Wales, on the theme ‘Tackling misinformation’.
Action status: Ongoing.
Safer Internet Day (SID) 2019 took place on Tuesday 5 February 2019. The Global theme for the day was ‘SID together for a better internet’ and the UK theme was ‘Our internet, our choice: Understanding consent in a digital world’.
On Thursday 8 November 2018 the UK Safer Internet Centre held the Safer Internet Day Stakeholder Planning Event at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. This event, attended by a range of stakeholders, provided an opportunity to hear directly from the UK Safer Internet Centre about what the SID 2019 campaign will involve, how they can support it and to exchange ideas about how they can get involved.
Bilingual Safer Internet Day 2019: Education Packs were published on the Hwb Online Safety Zone, which includes a specially commissioned Safer Internet Day 2019: Supplementary education pack for schools, and information for parents and carers.
The Minister for Education, Kirsty Williams MS, filmed a message of support for the day and issued a written statement to provide an update on online safety work being taken forward across Wales.
Safer Internet Day (SID) 2020 will be held on Tuesday 11 February 2020. The global theme for the day is ‘Safer Internet Day: Together for a better internet’.
Planning for Safer Internet Day 2020 has started already and campaign updates will be available on the dedicated Safer Internet Day page on Hwb.
We, in partnership with the UK Safer Internet Centre, will hold an event on 13 November 2019 to introduce plans for the SID campaign and help schools and organisations get involved. The event will focus on what Safer Internet Day can do for your organisation, your employees or your school. More details are available on the Online Safety Zone on Hwb.
Action status: Ongoing.
Safer Internet Day (SID) is celebrated globally in February each year to promote the safe and positive use of digital technology for children and young people, and to inspire a national conversation. We will continue to support this day annually. Safer Internet Day 2019 was held on 5 February 2019.
Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, the celebration sees hundreds of organisations unite to raise awareness of online safety issues and run events and activities right across the UK.
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The Welsh Government will use social media platforms to communicate and raise awareness of the extensive range of online safety activities taking place across Wales.
We continue to communicate and raise awareness of the extensive range of online safety opportunities and resources through our communications channels, newsletters and social media platforms.
Action status: Ongoing.
We continue to use a number of communications and social media platforms to raise awareness of online safety, cyber security and data protection opportunities and resources.
Our latest news articles are published on the Keeping safe online area on Hwb, including half termly round-up news article which summarise the opportunities and resources from each half term.
In addition, online safety, cyber security and data protection opportunities and resources have been promoted through the following channels.
- Our education newsletter Dysg
- @HwbNews Twitter account
- @WG_Education Twitter account
- @Addysg_Cymraeg Twitter account
- @edubeginsathome Twitter account
- Education Wales Facebook page
- Education Begins At Home Facebook page
We will continue to communicate and raise awareness of the extensive range of opportunities and resources through our communications channels, newsletters and social media platforms.
Action status: Ongoing
We continue to use a number of communications and social media platforms to raise awareness of online safety, cyber security and data protection opportunities and resources.
Our latest news articles are published on the Keeping safe online area on Hwb, including half termly round-up news article which summarise the opportunities and resources from each half term.
In addition, online safety, cyber security and data protection opportunities and resources have been promoted through the following channels.
- Our education newsletter Dysg
- @HwbNews Twitter account
- @WG_Education Twitter account
- @wgmin_education Twitter account
- @edubeginsathome Twitter account
- Education Wales Facebook page
- Education Begins At Home Facebook page
During 2021, we will continue to communicate and raise awareness of the extensive range of opportunities and resources through our communications channels, newsletters and social media platforms.
Action status: Ongoing
In 2019–20, we used a number of communications and social media platforms to raise awareness of online safety, cyber security and data protection opportunities and resources.
Over 200 news articles have been published on the Keeping safe online area on Hwb, including half termly round-up news articles which summarise the opportunities and resources from each half term.
In addition, online safety, cyber security and data protection opportunities and resources have been promoted through the following channels.
- Our education newsletter Dysg
- @HwbNews Twitter account
- @WG_Education Twitter account
- @wgmin_education Twitter account
- @edubeginsathome Twitter account
- Education Wales Facebook page
- Education Begins At Home Facebook page
- The online safety newsletter for Wales
During 2020–21, we will continue to communicate and raise awareness of the extensive range of opportunities and resources through our communications channels, newsletters and social media platforms.
Action status: Ongoing.
In 2018–19, we used a number of communications and social media platforms to raise awareness of online safety including the following.
Online Safety Zone on Hwb
Over 145 news articles have been published on the Online Safety Zone on Hwb to promote and highlight the online safety activities available.Dysg
The education newsletter Dysg has promoted online safety events and resources, including Safer Internet Day, with an audience reach of over 23,000 across all editions.Social media
We have used the @HwbNews twitter account extensively to raise awareness of the online safety activity. Items have also been shared on twitter via our education channel @WG_Education and the Education Wales Facebook page. The Minister for Education’s channel @wgmin_education has also promoted activity in relation to online safety on occasion.The parental engagement channel, Education begins at home @edubeginsathome and the Education begins at home Facebook page, has also highlighted online safety issues.
To engage further, during 2019 to 2020 the gov.wales website will feature the developments and resources on our online safety activities.
During 2019 to 2020, we will continue to communicate and raise awareness of the extensive range of resources and various online safety events through our communications channels, newsletters and social media platforms.
Action status: Ongoing.
Our @HwbNews twitter feed is extensively used to promote online safety activities. This includes information about upcoming online safety events and details of resources that have been published via the Keeping safe online area of Hwb.
Additionally, the education newsletter 'Dysg' is also extensively used to promote online safety activities.
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The Welsh Government will continue to work with SWGfL to provide a monthly bilingual online safety newsletter.
During 2021, we continued to publish a monthly bilingual online safety newsletter on Hwb. The newsletter produced by SGWfL provided a summary of the latest online safety news, resources and events, in addition to updates on Safer Internet Day and other online safety activities.
In March 2021, our contract with SWGfL came to an end, we will continue to provide a bilingual half termly update providing a summary of the latest digital resilience news, resources and events which will be published on the Keeping safe online area of Hwb.
We will continue to provide digital resilience updates on the Keeping safe online area of Hwb, please see action 3.11.
Action status: Closed.
In 2019–20, we have published a monthly monthly bilingual online safety newsletter on Hwb. The newsletter provides a summary of the latest online safety news, resources and events, in addition to updates on Safer Internet Day and other online safety activities.
The newsletter is provided by SWGfL who are currently contracted by us until March 2020 to run the online safety awareness-raising project in Wales.
During 2020–21, we will continue to work with SWGfL to provide a monthly bilingual online safety newsletter and publish on the Keeping safe online area of Hwb.
Register to receive the newsletter
Action status: Ongoing.
In 2018–19, we published a monthly bilingual online safety newsletter on the Online Safety Zone on Hwb. The newsletter provides a summary of the latest online safety news, resources and events, in addition to updates on Safer Internet Day and other online safety activities.
The newsletter is provided by SWGfL who are currently contracted by us to run the online safety awareness-raising project in Wales.
During 2019–20, we will continue to work with SWGfL to provide a monthly bilingual online safety newsletter and publish on the Online Safety Zone on Hwb.
Action status: Ongoing.
On a monthly basis SWGfL will continue to provide a bilingual online safety newsletter which is published on Hwb.
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Building on the ‘This is Not Love. This is Control’ campaign, the Welsh Government is rolling-out a campaign to highlight the issue of coercive control in relationships specifically aimed at young people.
The Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (VAWDASV) communication campaign ‘This is not love. This is control’ featured a designated phase, ‘This is not OK’, and was aimed at coercive control within young people’s relationships. ‘This is not OK’ launched to coincide with university Fresher’s week’s and those aged 19 to 21 before further sharing targeted messages at those in 16 to 18 age range. Messages for parents and carers and concerned others were also developed, raising awareness and knowledge of signs they can look out for.
The campaign saw over three million impressions through digital advertising and more than 200,000 views of the campaign videos.
Recognising the potential for an increase in violence and abuse as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we launched our ‘Home shouldn’t be a place of fear’ campaign in May 2020. We aim to ensure that all victims know that services are still operating, and to encourage bystanders and concerned others to access help and information.
‘Home shouldn’t be a place of fear’ is a multi-media campaign and has been shared across television, radio, national and local news and press, online, and through community networks such as pharmacies, local supermarkets and police forces, reaching the widest and most vulnerable.
Action status: Delivered (see action 3.10).
The ‘This is Not Love. This is Control’ campaign is part of our long-standing commitment to raising awareness of and challenging attitudes to Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (VAWDASV) in Wales.
Our campaign ‘This is Not Love. This is Control’ aims to help people identify coercive control behaviours. Coercive control is a form of abuse – it can be subtle, making it difficult to identify and to recognise as wrong and abusive. Those experiencing it are often left feeling belittled and isolated. The campaign encourages those experiencing coercive control, who are in an unhealthy relationship, as well as concerned others to contact the Live Fear Free 24/7 helpline and online chat for advice and support.
The campaign aims to:
- highlight what healthy relationships looks like by promoting/focusing on healthy and unhealthy controlling behaviours
- help young people recognise controlling behaviours as wrong and abusive
- empower perpetrators to change behaviour and seek help
- shift the focus from victim blaming and shaming
- help bystanders to identify these behaviours, recognise them as abuse and take appropriate action if they suspect it is taking place
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The Welsh Government will engage with the youth work sector to ensure appropriate online safety resources are available and publicised.
The Interim Youth Work Board’s final report, published in September 2021, included 14 recommendations to achieve a sustainable delivery model for youth work services. The Youth Work Strategy Implementation Board, appointed in autumn 2022, is advising on the development of these recommendations, which include a recommendation to establish a youth information exchange to enable young people to more easily find out what is available to them in their local area, and a recommendation to develop a young person’s entitlement scheme.
A Youth Information and Digital Implementation Participation Group, with representation from a range of partners, continues to provide advice, expertise and challenge and work alongside the Board on these recommendations. Online safety is a key consideration within this work, as well as the role of digital youth work within proposals in development to strengthen the legislative framework for youth work.
In addition to this longer-term developmental work, we have continued to share and promote sources of information and support on online safety via social media channels and the termly Youth Work newsletter for youth work practitioners and other interested parties to raise awareness of the importance of online safety within youth work.
Action status: Ongoing.
The Interim Youth Work Board’s final report, published in September 2021, included 14 recommendations to achieve a sustainable delivery model for youth work services. The Youth Work Strategy Implementation Board, appointed in autumn 2022, is advising on the development of these recommendations, which include a recommendation to establish a youth information exchange to enable young people to more easily find out what is available to them in their local area, and a recommendation to develop a young person’s entitlement scheme.
A Youth Information and Digital Implementation Participation Group, with representation from a range of partners, has been established to provide advice, expertise and challenge and work alongside the Board on these recommendations. Online safety is a key consideration within this work.
In addition to this longer-term developmental work, we have continued to share and promote sources of information and support on online safety via social media channels and the termly Youth Work newsletter for youth work practitioners and other interested parties to raise awareness of the importance of online safety within youth work.
Action status: Ongoing.
Throughout the pandemic work through the digital and marketing groups continued but with a focus on supporting practitioners and young people. Working together we published bulletins on issues such as safeguarding, participation, youth information. The bulletin highlighted additional, sector led, resources which were made available through a free online site, and key issues such as those raised around Black Lives Matter were covered in the Bulletin including a special guest-edited edition written by the Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team (EYST) Wales. The safeguarding edition of the bulletin included tips for working safely online, in accordance with Wales Safeguarding Procedures.
In addition, we continued to promote the appropriate links to all of our COVID-19 pages, the ‘safeguarding and supporting vulnerable young people’ links, and the resources freely available to all through Hwb.
Our Youth Engagement Branch participated in the safeguarding and vulnerable children and young people workstream, and led and co-ordinated the work of the subsidiary post-16 group for safeguarding and vulnerable children and young people.
We continued to work alongside the sector to develop guidance to support youth work services expand or reopen their services safely as Covid restrictions eased off and ended.
The Interim Youth Work Board’s final report, which was published in September 2021, contained 14 recommendations to achieve a sustainable delivery model for youth work services. This included recommendations to establish a youth information exchange to enable young people to more easily find out what is available to them in their local area; and develop a youth entitlement scheme, which would provide proof of ID/age, access to learning opportunities and a range of discounts across Wales, for example travel, leisure and retail providers.
The Minister responded to the report on 20 December 2021 acknowledging that these recommendations stretched beyond youth work and a cross-government approach would be needed to help us better understand what is already in train and what we can build on. The Minister advised that work on this will continue in the new year, and this was backed by a commitment to establish a new Youth Work Strategy Implementation Board (to replace the Interim Board) to help drive that work forward.
A Chair for the Implementation Board was appointed in June and Board members were subsequently appointed. The Minister announced the membership of the Board on 24 October. The Board has met twice and will engage with the wider youth work sector in December to outline their intentions to maintain a participatory approach to engagement with the sector, which will include considerations around youth information and digital youth work. The lifetime of Young Persons Committee, which was established to support the Interim Board in the development of their final report, has been extended to support work of the Implementation Board. This will ensure that young people are central to discussions around what they would like to see in the future for youth work – reflecting on important learning from their experiences of youth work during lockdowns, particularly in relation to digital issues, will be pertinent in this context.
Action status: Ongoing
Throughout the pandemic work through the digital and marketing groups continued but with a focus on supporting practitioners and young people. Working together we published bulletins on issues such as safeguarding, participation, youth information. The bulletin highlighted additional, sector led, resources which were made available through a free online site, and key issues such as those raised around Black Lives Matter were covered in the Bulletin including a special guest-edited edition written by the Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team (EYST) Wales. The safeguarding edition of the bulletin included tips for working safely online, in accordance with Wales Safeguarding Procedures.
In addition, we have continued to promote the appropriate links to all of our COVID-19 pages, the ‘safeguarding and supporting vulnerable young people’ links, and the resources freely available to all through Hwb.
Our Youth Engagement Branch has participated in the safeguarding and vulnerable children and young people workstream, and has led and co-ordinated the work of the subsidiary post-16 group for safeguarding and vulnerable children and young people.
We continue to work alongside the sector to develop guidance to support youth work services expand or reopen their services safely.
The Interim Youth Work Board re-started their work in the later part of 2020 and produced an interim report which was published in January 2021. A Young People’s Committee was established to support the Board in the development of their final report, which was published in September 2021. The final report includes recommendations to establish a youth information exchange to enable young people to more easily find out what is available to them in their local area; and develop a youth entitlement scheme, which would provide proof of ID/age, access to learning opportunities and a range of discounts across Wales, for example travel, leisure and retail providers. Consideration of these recommendations is underway and the Minister will formally respond to the report in December.
The Interim Youth Work Board also met with groups of young people to identify what they would like to see in the future for youth work, and that included listening to their views on what worked well during the lockdown, what they would like to see more of and what they would like to be done differently. This will feed into the ongoing work of the Accessible and Inclusive SPG.
All Strategy Participation Groups (SPG) also restarted their work in 2020 and reconsidered their work plans given the considerable lessons learnt about remote and digital working during the pandemic.
Action status: Ongoing
Following on from the publication of the Youth Work Strategy for Wales in 2019, we worked with the Interim Youth Work Board and published an implementation document setting out how the high-level vision would be achieved. A range of subgroups to the Interim Youth Work Board, Strategy Participation Groups (SPG), were set up and produced work plans setting out how that specific strand of work would contribute to the overall goals.
However, in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic started, work across the SPG’s was largely halted. This enabled frontline workers to focus on supporting young people and some members of these groups were furloughed from their normal places of work.
Throughout this year, our Digital Group and our Marketing Group continued to operate and worked with us to publish bulletins on issues such as safeguarding, participation, youth information. This information on resources was available through the Digital Group’s work via the Notion website, as well as a special guest-edited edition written by the Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team (EYST) Wales. The safeguarding edition of the bulletin included tips for working safely online, in accordance with Wales Safeguarding Procedures.
In addition, we have continued to promote the appropriate links to all of our COVID-19 pages, the ‘safeguarding and supporting vulnerable young people’ links, and the resources freely available to all through Hwb. Our Youth Engagement Branch has participated in the safeguarding and vulnerable children and young people workstream, and has led and co-ordinated the work of the subsidiary post-16 group for safeguarding and vulnerable children and young people.
We continue to work alongside the sector to develop guidance to support youth work services expand or reopen their services. Current guidance was published in August 2020.
As lockdown measures are eased, the work of the Interim Youth Work Board is returning to the implementation of the Youth Work Strategy. All SPG’s will be asked to reconsider their work plans given the considerable lessons learnt about remote and digital working during the pandemic.
The Interim Youth Work Board has also met with groups of young people to identify what they would like to see in the future for youth work, and that has included listening to their views on what worked well during the lockdown, what they would like to see more of and what they would like to be done differently. This will feed into the ongoing work of the Accessible and Inclusive Group.Given the delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic it has been agreed that the Interim Youth Work Board will continue its work into 2021. It will provide an initial report to the Minister for Education in December 2020, with the final report later in 2021.
Action status: Ongoing.
In June 2019 we launched the Youth Work Strategy for Wales, which will be underpinned by an implementation plan that will be published in October 2019. One of the strategy’s aims is to ensure youth work is accessible and inclusive, including through both physical and online services and provision. We will, as part of a combined action from the Youth Work Strategy and this action plan, ensure that those working in the sector are both aware of the online safety resources that are currently freely available to them and consider any additional resources that could be needed.
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The Welsh Government will work with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to support and develop education activities to be included in the CYBERUK 2021 Programme.
Cyber UK 2022 took place on 10 and 11 May 2022 in the Celtic Manor resort in Newport. As part of the Cyber UK 2022 we worked with the NCSC and other partners including Thales on the development of a schools outreach programme. Learners were invited to attend the event and provided with a tour of the Cyber UK 2022 exhibition hall and visited stands including AWS, CyberFirst, Palo Alto, Siemens and Fortinet. The learners were also able to take part in a series of cyber game activities including an escape room, cryptography puzzle, digital forensics and coding challenge. The learners also had the opportunity to hear from a panel which featured apprentices from Thales discussing their journey into a cyber security career.
Action status: Delivered.
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic CYBERUK was held as a virtual event in 2021.
We will continue to work with the NCSC to support the planning and development of education outreach activities for CYBER UK in 2022.
Action status: Ongoing
CYBERUK is the UK Government’s flagship cyber security event that features world-leading cyber security experts and organisations demonstrating the latest solutions and opportunities in the cyber security industry.
Due to take place in May 2020, the two-day event was rescheduled for 2021 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We will engage with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and partners to support the development of the educational outreach activities as part of CYBERUK to promote and encourage Welsh learners and schools to get involved. We will work with the NCSC to host a fringe event specifically for education practitioners to explore cyber security and resilience in education.
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The Welsh Government will develop a campaign to promote and raise awareness of the risk of phishing to support education stakeholders in Wales.
In October 2022 we published the ‘don’t be the catch’ phishing campaign for practitioners, learners and their families. We will continue to promote this throughout 2022 and 2023, through our communications channels.
Action status: Delivered.
During 2021-22 we have continued to promote and raise awareness of our phishing training. The training has been received over 7000 views on Hwb.
Action status: Ongoing
During 2020, we worked with Tarian to develop online training aimed at raising the awareness of phishing and the threat posed to sensitive data on schools and organisations systems. The training provides education practitioners and professionals with an overview of phishing, techniques used, and support and guidance to protect themselves and their organisations.
We will continue to promote the training to schools in Wales and will explore opportunities to develop a phishing campaign to further raise awareness across education settings in Wales.
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The Welsh Government will continue to build and develop the ‘This is Not Love. This is Control’ campaign.
We continued to build and develop the ‘Home shouldn’t be a place of Fear’, ‘Don’t be a Bystander’ and ‘This is Not Love. This is Control’ campaigns, over the last 18 months. Recognising the potential for an increase in violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence (VAWDASV) as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic, we launched the campaign, so victims would know that services were still operating and offering support, and to encourage bystanders and concerned others to access help and Information.
Throughout the campaign so far, Digital channels (Facebook, Twitter, Google, Snapchat, LinkedIn) delivered almost 19,000,000 impressions. National media (TV, Radio and print media) delivered a potential reach of over 24,200,000 impressions. There has been over 20,800 visits to the Live Fear Free website during the campaign.
‘Home shouldn’t be a place of fear’ is a multi-media campaign and has been shared across television, radio, national and local news and press, online, and through community networks such as pharmacies, local supermarkets and police forces.
Action status: Delivered.
We will continue to build and develop the ‘This is Not Love. This is Control’ campaign and share communication and campaign messages to highlight the issue of coercive control and unhealthy relationships specifically aimed at young people.
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The Welsh Government will publish half termly updates on the latest digital resilience news, resources and events.
During 2024 we have published termly updates on the Keeping safe online area of Hwb to support practitioners and professionals with the latest digital resilience news, resources and events. These are available in the news area of Hwb.
Keeping Safe Online end of term round-up – March 2024
Keeping Safe Online end of term round-up - July 2024
Keeping safe online end-of-term round-up: December 2024
Action status: Ongoing.
During 2023 we have published half termly updates on the Keeping safe online area of Hwb to support practitioners and professionals with the latest digital resilience news, resources and events. These are available in the news area of Hwb.
Keeping Safe Online half term round-up – January 2023
Keeping Safe Online half term round-up – February 2023
Keeping Safe Online half term round-up – April 2023
Keeping Safe Online half term round-up – June 2023
Keeping Safe Online end of term round-up – July 2023
Keeping Safe Online end of term round-up – December 2023
Action status: Ongoing.
During 2021-22 we have published half termly updates on the Keeping safe online area of Hwb to support practitioners and professionals with the latest digital resilience news, resources and events. This are available in the news area of Hwb.
Keeping Safe Online half term round-up – January 2022
Keeping Safe Online half term round-up - February 2022
Keeping Safe Online half term round-up – April 2022
Keeping Safe Online half term round-up – June 2022
Keeping safe online 2021/22 round up
Keeping Safe Online half term round-up – October 2022
Action status: Ongoing
To support practitioners, professionals and key stakeholders we will publish half termly updates on the latest digital resilience news, resources and events on the Keeping safe online area of Hwb. The updates will provide a summary of the activity undertaken taken during the previous half term and a look forward to the next. This will include key publication of guidance and resources in addition to highlighting Safer Internet Day.