On Wednesday 21st June Childnet Digital Leaders were selected from Bristol Free School to speak at the NSPCC ‘How safe are our children?’ Conference.
The Digital Leaders were chosen to speak in the ‘Young Entrepreneurs’ slot, and they spoke about how to make the online world a safer place for young people. They gave examples of their own experiences online and spoke about what it means to be a digital leader. After their presentation, they sat on a panel and answered some tricky questions from members of the audience.
The event was attended by over 400 people who work in various areas of child protection including social work, education, health and criminal justice.
Fiona and Trinity from Bristol free school told us about their time at the conference:
Trinity – Year 7
‘The topic for the 3 of us was about being safe online and we each had a section to talk about. I was talking about how the future is changing and how it is not just kids that need support, advice and guidance, that there are dangers out there for adults too like scams to steal your identity and fraudsters. My favourite part of the conference was talking in front of everyone because it made me feel so proud of myself.
My role as a Digital Leader helped me on the day by giving me some confidence in leadership, public speaking and giving me more tips about how to keep me and my family safer online’
Fiona – Year 10
‘The few slots before ours that we saw included a very interesting talk about Apps For Good, which involved students around our age creating their own apps. We also heard an inspirational talk from Trisha Prabu, an American teenager that has taken an incredible role in preventing cyberbullying.
Then it was our turn. I was really nervous, but our speech was very well received. During the break, several people approached us and said that we had been rather impressive – that more than made up for any nerves we might have had at the start!’
To find out more about the Digital Leaders programme visit the Childnet website.
The Childnet Digital Leaders programme is run as part of Childnet’s work as part of the UK Safer Internet Centre
