Ysgol Gymraeg Rhydaman pupils visted Ysgol Bro Banw to learn about online saftey

Year five and six pupils from Ysgol Bro Banw became teachers for the day on Friday, February 3 to teach a lesson on e-safety to year three pupils from Ysgol Gymraeg Rhydaman.

E-safety is an important initiative at Ysgol Bro Banw and pupils have been taught how to protect themselves from the potential dangers of being online as part of their curriculum.

The safety lessons came to light after members of staff were made aware that a number of pupils are playing games both online and offline that are unsuitable for their ages with high PEGI ratings such as 16 and 18 and often contain graphic and sexualised content.

Ahead of their visit from nearby Ysgol Gymraeg Rhydaman pupils, the children spent several weeks researching the PEGI ratings of popular games and discussing the negative effects of playing games above their age.

They planned a lesson using the Digital teaching tool, Nearpod, which helped them deliver the content through an iPad.

The content of the lesson helped teach pupils how to recognise if a game is suitable for them by identifying the age rating which is normally displayed on the cover.

Mrs Lucy Lock, Digital Competence lead at Ysgol Bro Banw said: “I believe approaching this important issue by using children to teach and deliver the message will create a lasting impression on fellow pupils and ultimately will go some way in preventing those playing unsuitable games in future.

“I would like to say a huge thank you to Ysgol Gymraeg pupils for being well behaved during the visit and for listening exceptionally well.

“During a reflection session after the visit, all pupils said they were now considering teaching.”

The role reversal for pupils doesn’t stop there. Following their collaboration with the neighbouring welsh school they will be spending the next few weeks evaluating the success of their lesson before visiting Ysgol Bro Banw infant department to teach year two pupils about online safety.