MINEHEAD First School has been given a coveted award in recognition of good practice and thorough policies which help to ensure pupils stay safe when they go online.

The school is only the third in Somerset to receive an E-Safety Mark from internet-based assessors 360 Degree Safe.

In order to achieve the award, the school had to reach a number of benchmarks after completing an online self review and being visited by an e-learning advisor from Somerset e-Learning and Information Management Services.

The school had to show it provided a high standard of e-safety education and awareness for all staff and pupils as well as parents and carers, to ensure all users were safe online.

Julia Briggs, who carried out the e-safety inspection, praised the work carried out at the school.

In her report, she said: "Exciting opportunities have been provided to build the engagement and understanding of e-safety issues with all ages, including leaflets created to take home to inform parents, posters to remind others in the school about concerns and activities, such as the year three using Hotmail to make decisions about which emails should be ignored."

Pictured with the award are pupils Ella-Mai Jackson, Grace Lewis, Reuben Watts, Ellis Eglese, Noah Costello and Isobella Wilson.

Photo: Steve Guscott