1 million leaflets and counting! 06 January 2004

Childnet, the children’s Internet charity, announced this week the printing of its 1 millionth Internet Safety “Kidsmart” leaflet.

Developed as part of the wider Kidsmart resources for teachers, parents and children these leaflets outline Childnet’s SMART rules for online safety in a simple acronym. To date over 3000 schools have helped distribute ordered the resources.

Kidsmart is funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DFES) Cable and Wireless, and the Lloyds TSB Foundation. This funding enables Childnet to distribute the leaflets free of charge to schools in England to promote Internet safety and awareness.

Mary Louise Morris, the Kidsmart project manager said “The Internet has become such an integral part of young people’s lives and it is vital that they are given the awareness to keep themselves safe. We are delighted that so many children and parents have seen our materials, and we are endeavouring to ensure that more will benefit from them and our other resources.”

Linda Garret, a teacher, said ”The leaflets were very well received. The language is not at all patronising and they are endorsed by Ant and Dec which is great - especially for the kids. The cartoons are really fantastic and the text is stimulating with a really important message. We used the resources in a class lesson and they were good for literacy too. I couldn’t recommend them enough.”

Working with the E-learning Foundation, Childnet has also translated the Kidsmart leaflets into Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu with close consultation with communities in Slough. These will be piloted in the next few months.

Kidsmart also supplies free lesson plans, posters, a drama script and runs activity days in schools along with seminars for parents.

Notes to Editor

More information about the Kidsmart project and resources can be found at www.kidsmart.org.uk.

To order resources, run an activity day or for more information please contact:

Helen Penn
Childnet International
Tel: +44 (0) 20 76396967
Email: Helen@childnet-int.org

About Childnet

Childnet International is a registered charity, set up in 1995 - with the mission to work in partnership with others around the world to help make the Internet a great and safe place for children.

The vision of the organisation is to ensure that all those involved in developing, producing, controlling, using and regulating international telecommunications (current and future), recognise and implement policies and programmes which prioritise the rights of children so that their interests are both promoted and protected. For more information about Childnet International, go to www.childnet-int.org.