Netsafe Workshop

Friday, 28th October 2022 at 11:20am

GBHS students are influencing positive changes to help deliver Cyber Safety messages to tamariki and rangatahi.

Year 10 students Carter Ward, Noah Saunders, Cayla Andrews (pictured above) and Jessica Finch were selected to take part in a workshop run by Netsafe and Creative HQ, as part of a Youth Action Squad resource revival, on Tuesday 25 October.

The aim of the workshop was to provide Netsafe with a teen perspective to help them redesign appropriate online safety resources and teaching materials, specifically targeted at students in Years 8 -11, to be used in schools.

The workshop involved thinking about a range of topics and sharing opinions. "We suggested some new and innovative ideas about different resources - whether the information in them was important or relevant to us." says Cayla.

"We helped redefine ideas to see how best to engage our age group, making sure topics are relevant and can be communicated in interactive and engaging ways," says Noah. "And we were asked about what online safety means to us and issues that affect students the most."

"Three Auckland University students from Netsafe's Youth Action Squad were at the workshop, to see how they could use our ideas to promote relevant topics," added Carter.

Youth Action Squads develop and implement school-wide strategies to promote online safety, citizenship and wellbeing within their school communities.

The key messages were setting clear expectations of online behaviour, open communication, understanding and awareness and different approaches parents could take when navigating the online world with their tamariki and rangatahi.