Best for
Years 4-9 health, digital citizenship, pastoral care, and any class using shared devices, online research, or communication platforms.
Digital wellbeing • Years 4-9 • Safe participation and help-seeking
Internet Safety
Help ākonga stay safe online without turning digital learning into fear. This handout teaches what to keep private, how to notice risk, how to respond to pressure or harm, and when to move quickly to a trusted adult, school pathway, or reporting tool.
Free safety scaffold, premium school-localising path
This public handout already includes privacy checks, stop-block-tell prompts, reporting pathways, and scenario practice. Te Wānanga becomes useful when you want the same page rebuilt around your school's devices, apps, reporting systems, or age-specific risk examples.
- Swap in your school's actual reporting route and digital agreements.
- Generate a simpler junior version or a senior social-media version.
- Save a localised copy in My Kete and reopen it in Creation Studio.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 20-35 minutes for explicit teaching before a device-based task or as a digital wellbeing lesson.
- Grouping: Whole-class modelling first, then paired scenario work.
- Prep: Decide which local platforms, apps, or device issues to reference.
- Teaching move: Keep the safety message clear: students do not have to solve online harm alone. The right next step is often to pause and tell an adult quickly.
Resources already provided
- Online risk signal cards
- Stop, block, tell flow
- Privacy checklist table
- Scenario practice with write-on response space
- Trusted-adult and school-pathway map
- Teacher-only curriculum companion
If the sequence mentions red flags, reporting, or privacy examples, those resources are already included on this page.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning to identify online situations that are safe, unsafe, or uncertain.
- We are learning to protect personal information and respond safely to pressure or harm online.
- We are learning to use trusted help pathways when something feels wrong.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can name information that should stay private online.
- I can explain a safe next step in an online risk scenario.
- I can identify who to tell at home, school, or online if something harmful happens.
Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment
Use the curriculum companion to link this page to health, oral language, and digital-text learning. The strongest classroom use keeps online safety connected to help-seeking, respectful communication, and responsible use of digital spaces.
Online safety is part of hauora
Digital spaces are part of real life. Messages, images, rumours, pressure, scams, or unwanted contact can affect taha hinengaro, taha whānau, and students' sense of safety at school. Good internet safety teaching does not rely on fear. It helps students pause, notice risk, and move quickly to help.
Online red flags
Pressure to keep secrets
If someone says "Don't tell anyone" or pressures you to move off a safe platform, that is a warning sign.
Requests for personal details
Never share your full name, address, school, passwords, or live location with strangers or unsafe contacts.
Mean or threatening messages
Cyberbullying, humiliation, threats, or repeated unwanted contact should be saved, blocked, and reported.
Links or offers that feel wrong
Unexpected prizes, suspicious links, or fake login requests can be scams. Pause and check before clicking.
Stop, block, tell
-
1
Stop Do not reply when a message, request, or image feels unsafe, pushy, or harmful.
-
2
Block or leave Use the safety settings, leave the chat, or close the site or app.
-
3
Tell Show a trusted adult, teacher, dean, or caregiver exactly what happened as soon as possible.
-
4
Save evidence if needed Keep screenshots or message details if the harm needs to be reported.
What stays private?
| Type of information | Keep private? | What is safer? |
|---|---|---|
| Full name, address, school, phone number | Yes | |
| Passwords or account details | Yes | |
| Photos showing private locations or uniforms | Usually yes |
Scenario practice
Scenario 1
A person you do not know asks which school you go to and says they are "just being friendly".
Scenario 2
You see mean comments under a classmate's photo in a shared online space.
Scenario 3
A pop-up says you have won a prize and asks you to log in immediately.
My trusted help map
Adults or staff I could tell
Apps, tools, or school systems that help
If your class already has a named reporting pathway, write it here.
Different pathways
Support
Use one scenario and the stop-block-tell ladder with a partner or teacher support.
Core
Complete the privacy table, one scenario response, and the trusted-help map.
Stretch
Draft a short class reminder or infographic about one key internet safety principle.
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi
Level 3–4: Investigate social, cultural, environmental, and economic questions; gather and evaluate evidence from diverse sources; communicate findings and reasoning clearly for different audiences and purposes.
English — Communication
Level 3–4: Read, interpret, and evaluate information texts; write clearly and purposefully for specific audiences; apply critical thinking skills to evaluate sources and construct well-reasoned responses.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
This resource sits within a kaupapa that recognises mātauranga Māori as a living knowledge system with its own frameworks, values, and ways of understanding the world. The New Zealand Curriculum calls for learning that reflects the bicultural partnership of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which means every subject area has an obligation to engage authentically with Māori perspectives — not as cultural decoration but as substantive contributions to how we understand our topics. The concepts of manaakitanga (care for others), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), whanaungatanga (relationship and belonging), and tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) provide a values framework applicable across all learning areas, and all are relevant to the work in this handout.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. Related resources from the same unit are linked in the unit planner. All resources are provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
Curriculum alignment
- Digital Technologies — Progress Outcome: Students understand how digital systems store, represent, and transmit data and consider the ethical implications of digital technologies on society.
- Digital Technologies — Progress Outcome: Students can identify and describe the key components of digital systems and how they interact.