Privacy, digital footprint and reporting
Everything you post leaves a trail. Knowing what to share, what to keep private and how to report problems keeps you in control.
Part of your national curriculum
- Creativity and digital literacy: Understand a range of ways to use technology safely, respectfully, responsibly and securely, including protecting online identity and privacy
- Creativity and digital literacy: Recognise inappropriate content, contact and conduct, and know how to report concerns
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Understand a range of ways to use technology safely, respectfully, responsibly and securely, including protecting online identity and privacy
Key learning points
- • Your footprint lasts
- • Keep it private
- • Content, contact, conduct
- • How to report
This lesson at a glance
- 20 minutes
- 18 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Introduction
Part 1 of 18
Visual introductionPicture this
Privacy, digital footprint and reporting
Everything you post leaves a trail. Knowing what to share, what to keep private and how to report problems keeps you in control.
In a nutshell
Understand a range of ways to use technology safely, respectfully, responsibly and securely, including protecting online identity and privacy
What you already know
Part 2 of 18
Before we start
What you already know
You know how to make a strong password.
Key words
Part 3 of 18
Key words
Words you'll need today
- digital footprint
- The trail of information you leave online, including posts, likes and photos.
- personal information
- Details that identify you: full name, school, address, phone number, location.
- privacy settings
- Controls that choose who can see your posts and contact you.
- report
- Telling the app or a trusted adult about harmful content or contact.
Learning cycle
Part 4 of 18
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1: What to keep private
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 18
Learn
Your footprint lasts
Screenshots mean even 'disappearing' posts can be saved. Before posting, ask: would I be happy for a teacher, a grandparent or a future employer to see this?
Explore the idea
Part 6 of 18
Learn
Keep it private
Don't share your school, address, phone number or live location publicly. Photos can give these away too, like a school badge or a street sign. Set accounts to private.
Quick check
Part 7 of 18
Quick check
Which is personal information?
Reset break
Part 8 of 18
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 9 of 18
Quick check
Can 'disappearing' messages be saved?
Learning cycle
Part 10 of 18
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2: Content, contact and conduct
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 18
Learn
Content, contact, conduct
Content: things you see that upset you. Contact: people you don't know messaging you, or someone asking for photos or to keep a secret. Conduct: how people behave, including unkind comments. All three can be reported.
Explore the idea
Part 12 of 18
Learn
How to report
Block and report in the app, screenshot the evidence, and tell a trusted adult. If an adult is contacting you in a worrying way, report to CEOP (ceop.police.uk). Childline (0800 1111) is free and confidential.
Quick check
Part 13 of 18
Quick check
A stranger asks you to keep your chats secret. This is a:
Quick check
Part 14 of 18
Quick check
A good question before posting is:
Common mix-ups
Part 15 of 18
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- Someone being friendly online doesn't mean they are who they say.
- Reporting isn't 'snitching'. It keeps you and others safe.
Challenge round
Part 16 of 18
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Mastery quiz
Part 17 of 18
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Privacy, digital footprint and reporting
3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Where can a worrying adult contact be reported?
2. Childline's number is:
3. A school badge in a photo might reveal:
Lesson round-up
Part 18 of 18
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
How a supermarket checkout knows the price
When a barcode is scanned, the checkout does not store the price itself. It sends the barcode number to a database and reads back a record: product name, price, whether it needs an age check. The record is the single place the price lives, so changing one row changes every till in the shop at once.
Problems come from bad data, not bad scanners. If two products share a barcode, or a price update reaches the shop overnight but the till holds an old copy in its cache, customers are charged the wrong amount. Shops check this with test transactions: scan a known item, expect a known price, record what actually happened.
Good systems also log every scan. If a customer complains, the log shows exactly which record was used and when.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Write in your own words what the checkout sends and what it receives back.
- Explain one way bad data could cause a wrong price, and how logging helps find it.
- Design a test table with four tests for a new checkout, with expected and actual results.
Reading and notes
ReadingRead the lesson text again and note the key terms and how each one is used, in your own words — as you would for revision.
Half a page of notes
Extended writing
WritingExplain a real system that uses this idea — how it works, where it can go wrong, and how you would make it safer or better.
250–350 words
Algorithm on paper
DiagramWrite your steps out as pseudocode or a flowchart before you type anything, then photograph it.
1 flowchart or 10 lines
Code write-up
WritingCopy your code in, then explain underneath what each part does and what you had to fix.
Code + 5 sentences
Test table
Working outMake a test table: what you tried, what you expected, what actually happened.
4–6 tests
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 18 · Introduction
Playground
Safety Lab
Try it safely
Practise here — nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere. Never type a real password into a practice tool.
Scam or safe? (practice messages, made up)
From: prizes@winbig-free.co
CONGRATULATIONS!! You won a new phone. Click here in the next 10 minutes and enter your bank details to claim.
From: Your school (via the school app)
Reminder: Year 8 trip letters are due back on Friday. Hand them to your form tutor.
From: Securlty-Team@gamezz-support.net
Your game account will be DELETED. Log in here to keep it: gamezz-login-verify.net
From: A friend you know, in person
Hey, are you coming to the park later?
How this is going
- Not looked at yet
Understand a range of ways to use technology safely, respectfully, responsibly and securely, including protecting online identity and privacy
- Not looked at yet
Recognise inappropriate content, contact and conduct, and know how to report concerns