The STAR Toolkit is an extension of an original project launched in 2014 and has been developed in partnership with SEN educators and supported by the European Commission. 

The guidance aims to equip, enable and empower educators with the relevant knowledge they need to support young people who have special educational needs when they are online.

The STAR toolkit is made up of four key sections, which reflect current online safety risks and experiences of young people: 

• Safe sharing: keep personal information about yourself and others safe online.
• Trust: not everything online is true.
• Action: always tell someone if something worries or upsets you online.
• Respect: be kind online.

All sections feature the concept of friendship and have an onus on making sensible choices online and offline.

Under each of the four sections, there are starting point discussions to explore key language and concepts, along with teaching activities that offer three ways of approaching the topic, in order to give educators maximum flexibility with the resource and allowing for a more tailored lesson delivery.

This resource is being developed and launched in stages in order to obtain and build upon feedback while working with educators and specialist organisations.

The first instalment of this new look toolkit covers 'S is for safe sharing'. This section has been developed to help generate discussions about safe and responsible sharing online, considering what personal information is and how to keep it safe.

Download the full 'Safe sharing' pack here.

First published 25 November 2019