Safer Internet Day

“Celebrating Safer Internet Day is important because technology and AI are already part of our students’ everyday lives, not something that only exists in the future. Belfast is home to major global tech companies, and it’s vital that we give our young people the skills, understanding, and confidence to engage with technology responsibly and creatively. By embedding these conversations into lessons, assemblies, and creative subjects, we help students make informed, ethical choices online and prepare them to thrive as confident digital citizens in a rapidly changing world.” – Gerard McGibbon, Coordinator of ICT Learning 

As this year focuses on Artificial Intelligence, BTC took it up with using Common Sense Media videos in form classes to educate students about what AI is and the positives and negatives of it. Form teachers have further gone onto creating engaging activities such as interacting with an AI Chatbot to spread awareness of AI. Mr. McGibbon, the Coordinator of ICT Learning in BTC, created a poster about what to do before creating an AI prompt. It followed the acronym THINK.

T - true

H - helpful

I - intent

N - needed

K - knowledgeable

It was placed in classrooms and hallways and has been proven to be useful to many students.  Blessed Trinity College always ensures that parents, carers and guardians are aware of what happens all the time. For Internet Safer Day this year, a letter was sent out to all parents, carers and guardians about how AI can affect their child’s life. It gives them tips on how to start conversing with their children and activities and resources they can do together to promote digital safety was also given.  

And then comes the highlight of this year’s internet safer day. 

All the digital leaders, Years 11-14, gathered to create a promotional video about Internet Safer Day 2026. Starting from the end of January, the creation of this video lasted until the week before midterm break. It began in discussion with Mr. McGibbon and with his permission, the creation of this video. The next stage was the creation of the script.

I first researched this year’s theme and what our school did for Safer Internet Day and was finally able to work on the script. Soon after that I got a list from Mr. McGibbon of all of our current digital leaders. I integrated the names into the script and in no time, the video was ready to be filmed. 

A quick approval from Mr. McGibbon and we were ready. 

The 3rd of February was the official day of recording. From the start of school, until after school, I worked diligently alongside digital leaders and teachers for the filming of the video. The teachers who made special appearances were Mrs. Murphy – Head of ICT, Mr. McGibbon – Coordinator of ICT Learning and Mr. McAleer – Head of Religious Studies. And finally, the stars of this video are Euan Darby (Year 11), Chinmay Sankar (Year 11), Christopher Hynds (Year 12), Leona Cunningham (Year 13), Paula Przeperski (Year 13), me, Abigail Shibu Mathew, (year 13) and finally, Mantas Achmetchanovas (Year 14). After getting all of the clips, I was ready for editing. Collaborating with Mr. McGibbon, I worked for 2 days on the video until it was ready for release. On Friday, the 6th of February, the video was complete. It was discussed with Mr. McGibbon and Mrs Bell and finally, the video was released onto YouTube on BTCDigitalLeaders channel.