At the International School of Budapest, our students come from many countries, speak many languages, and bring many different cultures into one community. It’s one of the things that makes our school special. It also means that when our students go online, they’re navigating a digital world that is just as varied, fast-moving, and borderless as their classroom.

That world brings real opportunities — to learn, create, and stay connected with family and friends across the globe. But it also brings risks that don’t stop at any border: misinformation, privacy concerns, cyberbullying, and other, more serious online harms. For a community as international as ours, these challenges arrive in many languages and many forms.

This is why ISB has joined SafER-Web, a European partnership co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme. Together with universities, research centres, an association of European school leaders, and fellow schools from across the continent, the project is working to help young people aged 12 to 18 navigate digital life safely, thoughtfully, and with confidence.

What drew us to SafER-Web is its starting point: prevention rather than damage control. Rather than waiting to respond after something goes wrong, the project aims to give young people — and the adults around them — the understanding and tools to recognise risks early and make informed choices. It’s an approach that treats students not as passive users to be protected, but as capable digital citizens learning to look after themselves and each other.

The partnership is developing a Training and Awareness Hub for schools and families, along with AI-supported tools designed to help young people reflect on their own online habits. Because this work involves young people and sensitive topics, it’s being built carefully, on a strong ethical foundation — something we, as a school entrusted with children’s wellbeing, consider essential.

For ISB, being part of SafER-Web means our students and teachers will help shape and test these resources, so they work in real, diverse classrooms like ours. We believe our international perspective has something valuable to offer a project that, by its nature, must work across languages and cultures.

We’ll share more as the project develops, including ways for our families to take part. For now, we’re proud to be contributing to something that matters so much for the young people in our care.