Barnardos Online Safety Programme

June 4, 2026

This year Barnardos Online Safety Programme delivered workshops to our Junior students.

As part of their programme, Barnardos runs an annual consultation with children and young people and parents & Carers to understand their everyday online experiences and how these affect wellbeing.

The findings help us:

keep our workshops relevant and up to date
inform our research and policy work
amplify children’s voices in national discussions about online safety

This year’s theme is Digital Wellbeing Today.

We are focusing on:

what children and young people encounter online day to day
how online experiences affect how they feel and cope
what helps when online experiences become difficult

Student survey (5–10 minutes)

We would be very grateful if your school could support students to take part in our short, anonymous survey:

Link here: Student’s Survey: Digital Wellbeing Today – Your Day to Day Experiences of Life Online – Fill in form

Survey takes approximately 5–10 minutes
Particularly relevant for 1st–3rd years, but open to other year groups

Parent & carer survey (optional)

We are also gathering parent and carer perspectives to help us understand how adults view children’s online experiences:

Link here: Parent & Carer Survey: Understanding Children’s Online Experiences and Wellbeing – Fill in form

Insights from this consultation will be used to:

inform Barnardos’ ongoing online safety and wellbeing work
contribute to national conversations on children’s digital wellbeing
shape the agenda for our Plugged In, Switched Off 2026 conference

You can view examples of our recent research here:

Parent & Carer Involvement in Children’s Online World: Parent and Carer Involvement in the Online World of Children
Artificial Intelligence and Children: https://knowledge.barnardos.ie/items/41a7f9c5-07f8-4c3f-9fce-c1fd69e41a24
Online Gaming: https://knowledge.barnardos.ie/items/63ab85c4-0054-4b15-882e-74b94745b258
Cyberbullying: https://knowledge.barnardos.ie/items/fb1fbb19-f0cf-4233-b6b0-76bf04ca9769

Thank you again for your engagement with the Barnardos Online Safety Programme and for any support you are able to offer with this consultation. Even a small number of responses from your school community is greatly appreciated.