Online Safety Policy 

Who this policy is for

Everyone working with or taking part in Make (Good) Trouble activities – staff, volunteers, children, young people, and families – must follow this policy. It supports our Safeguarding Policy.

Why this policy matters

We do creative work with young people and families – like workshops, research, and media projects. 

We want everyone to be safe when using the internet, phones, and social media.

This policy helps us:

  • Keep children and young people safe online
  • Give clear guidance to staff and volunteers
  • Use online tools in a responsible and legal way.

What we believe 

  • All children and young people should be protected from online harm. 
  • The internet is useful for learning and connection but needs safety rules.
  • We all share responsibility for keeping each other safe online.
  • Everyone, no matter who they are, deserves the same protection.

How we keep children safe online 

✅ We have an Online Safety Lead

Andrew Wright and Tayler Cresswell are our Online Safety Leads and Designated Safeguarding Leads.

✅ We train our team

Everyone is given clear rules on how to behave online and how to respond if something goes wrong.

✅ We support young people and families

We help you use the internet in a safe and respectful way.

✅ We protect your personal information

We store it securely and only share it with permission and when necessary (see our Data Protection policy)

✅ We only use images/videos with permission

We’ll never post photos, videos or audio of you without your consent (You can see a copy of our consent form here).

✅ We use safe systems

We keep our IT systems secure and make sure passwords and logins are protected.

✅ We give support if something goes wrong online

If there’s online abuse, bullying or anything unsafe, we’ll respond and make a plan to deal with it.

Social media and your safety

We use social media to share our work. It’s managed by a trained team with professional experience (including managing BBC social media).

We will always:

  • Get your permission before sharing your image, video or voice.
  • Report any safeguarding issues to our Safeguarding Lead.
  • Risk-check new platforms before we use them.

Online sessions: How we keep them safe

If we run a virtual session (like on Zoom or Teams), we follow these rules: 

  • We use safe, approved platforms.
  • Parents/carers must know the session is happening.
  • Two adults must be present – this could be a Make (Good) Trouble staff member, school staff or a parent/carer.
  • Meeting links are only shared with attendees.
  • No one is recorded unless they’ve agreed beforehand.
  • Young people are told the rules at the start.
  • We set clear behaviour guidelines for everyone.

If someone is harmed or abused online

We’ll take it seriously. We will:

  • Follow our safeguarding procedures.
  • Support the person who’s been affected.
  • Train our team to spot and deal with online abuse, including:
    • Bullying and cyberbullying  
    • Emotional abuse
    • Sexting
    • Sexual abuse or exploitation
  • Review our response to make sure the issue doesn’t happen again.

Make (Good) Trouble is an associate member of the Anti-Bullying Alliance.

For more support staying safe online

❤️ Please see our Help page on Social Media and Devices 

If you ever feel unsafe or have questions, talk to Tayler or a team member.
You deserve to feel safe online, always.

Related policies and procedures 

This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies and procedures which can be found here.

Please read our Data Protection policy for information on how we store your information and keep your data secure.

Contact details 

Safeguarding Leads: Andrew Wright and Tayler Cresswell. You can contact Andrew or Tayler via this link.

NSPCC Helpline: 0808 800 5000 

Policy review

We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually. 

This policy was last reviewed: September 2025
It will next be reviewed: September 2026