Digital Lions – Katie Piggott, Graveney School

The project, named Digital Lions, involves the creation  of presentations surrounding the dangers of online usage. They will include warnings surrounding online predators and the threats of contacting unfamiliar people online. 

The dispensing of this information and knowledge will be received by primary school children, aged nine to eleven, in school years five and six, in Tooting Primary School and Franciscan Primary School. 

The secondary school pupils have worked with the heads of the primary schools and the Graveney safeguarding team in order to create an informative and educational workshop. This will involve scenarios regarding the options you have when faced with situations of cyber danger. Following this engaging workshop, a quiz will be given to engrain the principles of the activities. 

In preparation for this workshop, the older students have participated in a two day workshop themselves to prepare the presentation which will take place in May of this year. 

The decision for students only a few years older than themselves to allow the spread of knowledge is intentional. It is believed that primary school children are more likely to accept This information if it is coming from tennagers tahn from their teachers. 

It has been proven that a large number of tennagers are passionate about this issue and are keen to educate those younger than them through the extortionate number of pupils who have signed up for the project. With over thirty applicants, the students have got into smaller groups, each focusing on a different area of cyber security to address the spread of the problem. 

Lara Whiteley and Manasi Ramachandran, passionate secondary school students, said, “we strive for children to be protected from the dangers of online predators by raising awareness about this topic. We want to preserve children’s wellbeing while still allowing them to enjoy social media.”

The project has allowed the students to develop their leadership and confidence skills. They have learnt to interact with other areas of the community that they are not usually exposed to and spread their essential knowledge. 

The protection of young children in an ever increasing, online dominated planet is essential. Especially following Covid-19 as the reliance and usage of technology has increased meaning this demand for protection is more essential than ever.