E-ACT Royton and Crompton students take part in YouTube's 'Be Internet Citizens' workshop

Be Internet Citizens is an education programme from YouTube and aims to inspire young people to have a positive voice online

Forty Year 9 students from E-ACT Royton and Crompton Academy (part of E-ACT,, a family of 28 academies) took part in a Parentzone 'Be Internet Citizens' workshop at the University Academy 92 in Old Trafford.  

Be Internet Citizens is an education programme from YouTube and aims to inspire young people to have a positive voice online. 

The students learnt about why they shouldn’t take what they read online at face value and how to work out what sources of information are trustworthy. 

Sessions were held on fake news and bias, as well as the difference between disinformation and misinformation. 

Students were then set the challenge of creating a piece of work to show their understanding of what they had learned. 

They then worked in groups to role play and create posters and raps.  

Those who attended thoroughly enjoyed the morning and commented that 'the teachers made it lots of fun' and that they 'learnt lots about how they need to think and check what they see online is true'. 

Andrea Atkinson, Headteacher at E-ACT Royton and Crompton Academy, said: “I am so pleased that the group took so much away from this important workshop. 

"Making sure that children understand how to evaluate the trustworthiness of information presented to them is vital to their education and I was delighted to hear that Parentzone staff were impressed with the quality of our students' questions, behaviour, and overall engagement in their sessions.”

Tom Campbell, CEO of E-ACT, said: “It was great to hear that E-ACT Royton and Crompton students have taken part in the Be Internet Citizens workshop. 

"It’s vital that we teach young people how to navigate the online world safely and successfully and I'm glad they enjoyed the workshop.”

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