Children passed on their digital skills to pensioners at a community internet safety event in Grange-over-Sands.
Year five pupils from Grange Primary School brought along their school iPads to the weekly coffee morning at the town’s Methodist church and were keen to pass on their expertise at the event facilitated by Fibrus Broadband.
They sat down with people at the church’s weekly coffee morning to show how they use online tools and apps at school, including Digimap, which allows them to switch between Ordnance Survey maps going back more than 150 years, revealing how the local area has changed over the decades.
The pupils had also produced posters and lists of tips for staying safe online which ranged from advice about choosing passwords to warnings about catphishing.
One nine-year-old clearly enjoyed explaining what she had learned about in school.
She said: “I spoke with them about the dangers of being on the internet and explained to them what catfishing is and we talked about online bullying too.”
Carol Calveley, 81, was among those benefitting from their advice. “I found it very interesting. The children were very confident and were able to get across a lot of information. “We talked about the need to be careful with passwords,” she said.
Bill Ridgway, 67, said: “They showed us the availability of maps for our area which was really interesting. And we saw the homework which they do online which is very different from our time.”
Teacher John Hornby explained that the children had also got a lot from the event. “We do a lot of work on internet safety, so this event is really relevant to what they do and really deepens their understanding of they have learned in the classroom – by teaching other people they become the experts.”
Cumbria police also supported the event with DC Jon Hill, of the cyber and digital crime unit, taking time to sit with pensioners and other visitors to the coffee morning to talk through their concerns.
“Events like today are hugely important because we can answer people’s questions and give them the confidence to challenge things they see online – whether that’s fraud attempts, phishing emails or being wary of clicking on links.
“I’ve been able to have lots of useful conversations with the people here, giving them better knowledge of the kind of threats and risks out there.”
Douglas Smith, GB sales manager for Fibrus, said: “Everyone has had a fantastic morning and the children have been really impressive. They’ve put a lot of thought into this and seemed very confident in putting their points across to the pensioners.”
“We’re working hard to bring the benefits full fibre broadband to communities like Grange, but we also want to do our bit to ensure that everybody can make the most of being online in a safe way.”
Hazel Edmondson, of Grange Methodist Church, was pleased to have hosted the event. She said: “It has been a lovely morning with different generations coming together for the benefit of the community.”
