Introduction

ICT in the 21st Century is seen as an essential resource to support learning and teaching, as well as playing an important role in the everyday lives of children, young people and adults. Consequently, schools need to build in the use of these technologies in order to provide our young people with the skills to access life-long learning and employment.

Information and Communications Technology covers a wide range of resources including; web-based and mobile learning. It is also important to recognise the constant and fast paced evolution of ICT within our society as a whole. Currently theinternet technologies children and young people are using both inside and outside of the classroom include:

  • Websites
  • Learning Platforms and Virtual Learning Environments
  • Email and Instant Messaging
  • Chat Rooms and Social Networking
  • Blogs and Wikis
  • Podcasting
  • Video Broadcasting
  • Music Downloading
  • Gaming
  • Mobile/ Smart phones with text, video and/ or web functionality
  • Other mobile devices with web functionality

Whilst exciting and beneficial both in and out of the context of education, much ICT, particularly web-based resources, are not consistently monitored. All users need to be aware of the range of risks associated with the use of these Internet technologies.

At Wayfield Primary School we understand the responsibility to educate our pupils on eSafety issues; teaching them the appropriate behaviours and critical thinking skills to enable them to remain both safe and legal when using the internet and related technologies, in and beyond the context of the classroom.

Both this policy and the Acceptable Use Agreement (for all staff, governors, visitors and pupils) includefixed and mobile internet technologies provided by the school (such as PCs, laptops, webcams, whiteboards, digital video equipment, personal digital devices, etc.)

The Acceptable Use Agreement and E-safety policy both ensure that staff and pupils are aware of the issues concerned with password security, data security and unacceptable use

E-safety: Protecting Our School Community

The resources used by pupils at Wayfield School are usually carefully chosen by the teacher and determined by curriculum policies. Use of the Internet, by its very nature, will occasionally provide access to information which has not been selected by the teacher - particularly as children reach the later years of Key Stage 2. Within school and our wider community, there is genuine cause for concern that children may access unsuitable material either accidentally or deliberately.

The purpose of this document is to provide a basis for us all to secure safety online. Its content has been devised in accordance with national guidance 3 key documents “E-Safety: Developing whole-school policies to support effective practice, Safeguarding children in a digital world and Signposts to Safety. It should be considered alongside complementary school policies on Child Protection, Health Under the “Every Child Matters” framework, the implementation of this policy seeks to ensure that children stay safe, and that they “be protected from harm and neglect and grow up able to look after themselves.”

The Internet and other digital and information technologies are powerful tools that open up new opportunities for everyone. We believe that the benefits to pupils from access to the resources of the Internet far exceed the disadvantages. Ultimately, the responsibility for setting and conveying the standards that children are expected to follow when using media and information resources is one the School shares with parents and guardians. We feel that the best recipe for success lies in a combination of site-filtering, of supervision and by fostering a responsible and informed attitude in our pupils, in partnership with parents.

Using the Internet for Education

The benefits include:

¨ access to a wide variety of educational resources that can stimulate discussion and promote creativity

¨ rapid and cost effective world-wide communication

¨ gaining an understanding of people and cultures around the globe

¨ staff professional development through access to new curriculum materials

At Wayfield School, we teach pupils about the vast information resources available on the Internet, using it as a planned element of many lessons. All staff will review and evaluate resources available on web sites appropriate to the age range and ability of the pupils being taught and the Head of School will assist in the dissemination of this information.

Initially the pupils may be restricted to sites that have been reviewed and selected for content. They may be given tasks to perform using a specific group of web sites. Pupils may have the opportunity to exchange information with others via email and our secure Learning Platform.

As pupils gain experience they will be taught how to use searching techniques to locate specific information for themselves. Comparisons will be made between researching from different sources of information in order that pupils will learn to decide when it is appropriate to use the Internet as opposed to other sources of information, in terms of: the time taken; the amount of information found; the usefulness and reliability of information located.

At times information, including photographs and images, may be downloaded from the Internet for use in pupils’ presentations. As children become older, tasks will be set to encourage pupils to view web sites and information with a critical eye. However, Wayfield specifically discourages the downloading of text for inclusion in pupils’ work. As well as encouraging pupils to create original work and avoid plagiarism (a serious academic offence), Wayfield School considers it appropriate to emphasise the importance of protecting intellectual property rights and, in particular, copyright. Pupils will be made aware of these issues and, as soon as they are able, will be encouraged to look for copyright information on websites, so reinforcing their understanding of the importance of copyright.

Pupils’ Access to the Internet

Wayfield will use EIS`s actively monitored and ‘filtered’ Internet Service, which will minimise the chances of pupils encountering undesirable material. No pupil is able to use a mobile phone during school hours/trips and so internet access should only occur via the school networks. We will only ever allow children to use the Internet when there is a responsible adult present to supervise them. Members of staff will be aware of the potential for misuse, and will be responsible for explaining to pupils, on a regular basis, the expectation we have of them. Teachers will have access to pupils’ emails and workspaces, and will make check these on a regular basis to ensure expectations of behaviour are being met.

Expectations for Internet use

¨ We expect everyone to be responsible for their own behaviour on the Internet, just as they are anywhere else in school.This is covered by the Acceptable Use Agreement signed by all members of the school community

Children are only permitted to use their EIS email accounts.

The use of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are not appropriate to primary education and the use of the Internet for such purposes is not currently permitted.

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PROCEDURE

Information and further guidance for parents:

We have done all that is possible to ensure children are protected through the use of a filtered service and a requirement that an adult always supervises Internet access. Our children are taught to use the facility sensibly - the rules concerning Internet use are regularly discussed in class and we welcome your endorsement of these. We strongly recommended that parents consider and develop a similar set of rules for the use of the Internet outside of school. You might also like to discuss as a family the issues surrounding the downloading of music, mobile phones, social networking sites, and the use of blogs, within the home environment. You may find the “Know IT all” CD and the following websites extremely useful to help ensure that children stay safe.

Childnet International is a non-profit organisation working to help make the Internet a great and safe place for young people. These sites are all created by this organisation

You can find downloadable safety leaflets here:

Other useful sites include:

Safe Kids

Cyber Patrol

Net Nanny

CBBC (aimed at KS1)

Bullying Online

Think U Know

(including Hector’s WorldTM - suitable for 5-7 year olds)

Roles and Responsibilities

As e-safety is an important aspect of strategic leadership within the school, the Head and governors have ultimate responsibility to ensure that the policy and practices are embedded and monitored. The named eSafety co-ordinator in our school is Michael O `Grady. All members of the school community have been made aware of who holds this post. It is the role of the eSafety co-ordinator to keep abreast of current issues and guidance through organisations such as Griffin Schools TrustGovernment advice bodies, CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) and Childnet.

Senior Management and Governors are updated by the Head/ eSafety co-ordinator and all governors have an understanding of the issues and strategies at our school in relation to local and national guidelines and advice.

This policy, supported by the school’s acceptable use agreements for staff, governors, visitors and pupils, is to protect the interests and safety of the whole school community.

E-safety skills development for staff

  • Staff receive regular updates on eSafety issues in the form of staff meetings and notices, and training is provided where appropriate.
  • New staff receive information on the school’s acceptable use policy as part of their induction.
  • All staff have been made aware of individual responsibilities relating to the safeguarding of children within the context of eSafety and knowwhat to do in the event of misuse of technology by any member of the school community and understand the consequences of inappropriate behaviour
  • All staff are requested to incorporate eSafety activities and awareness within their curriculum areas through the use of the Toolkit and SMART posters, for example.
  • The ICT curriculum provides numerous opportunities to internet safety for children

Managing the school eSafety messages

  • We endeavour to embed eSafety messages across the curriculum whenever the internet and/or related technologies are used.
  • E-safety is regularlyreinforced to pupils throughout the school year.
  • E-safety posters will be prominently displayed both online and in the classroom.
  • Within ICT lessons, the school provides opportunities to learn about e-safety.

Managing the Internet

The internet is an open communication medium, available to all, at all times. Anyone can view information, send messages, discuss ideas and publish material which makes it both an invaluable resource for education, business and social interaction, as well as a potential risk to young and vulnerable people. All use of the Grid for Learning is logged and the logs are randomly but regularly monitored. Whenever any inappropriate use is detected it is followed up.

  • pupils will have supervised access to Internet resourcesthrough the school’s fixed and mobile internet technology.
  • Staff will preview any recommended sites before use.
  • Pupils are guided when searching for images.
  • If Internet research is set for homework, it is assumed that parents check the sites and supervise the work.
  • All users must observe copyright of materials from electronic resources.

Infrastructure

  • School internet access is controlled through EIS Managed Service
  • Our school has the facility for additional web filtering which is the responsibility of the e-safety co-ordinator.
  • Wayfield Primary School is aware of its responsibility for monitoring staff communication
  • Staff and pupils are aware that school based email and internet activity can be monitored.
  • It is the responsibility of the school, by delegation to the ICT technician,to ensure that Anti-virus protection is installed on all school machines. This automatically updates.
  • Pupils and Staff using personal removable media are responsible for measures to protect against viruses, for example making sure that additional systems used have up-to-date virus protection software. And that pen drives are scanned upon use. It is not the school’s responsibility, nor the ICT technician’s, to install or maintain virus protection on personal systems
  • All pen drive and memory stick systems must be password protected.
  • Pupils and staff are not permitted to download programs on school based technologies.
  • If there are any issues related to viruses or anti-virus software, the ICT technician should be informed via the office or ICT co-ordinator.

Mobile technologies

Many emerging technologies offer new opportunities for teaching and learning including a move towards personalised learning and 1:1 device ownership for children. Emerging technologies will be examined for educational benefit and the risk assessed before use in school is allowed. Our school chooses to manage the use of these devices in the following ways so that they are used appropriately.

Personal Mobile devices (including phones)

  • Staff Mobile phones should not be taken into class
  • The school is not responsible for the loss, damage or theft of any personal mobile device.
  • The sending of inappropriate text messages between any member of the school community is not allowed.
  • No image or sound recordings are made on these devices of any member of the school community.
  • Users bringing personal devices into school must ensure there is no inappropriate or illegal content on the device.
  • Personal devices should not be used for any school purposes.

School provided Mobile devices

  • Appropriate use of school provided mobile devices, such as cameras, is set out in the staff Acceptable Use Agreement.

Managing email

The use of email within most schools is an essential means of communication for both staff and pupils. In the context of school, email should not be considered private. Educationally, email can offer significant benefits including; direct written contact between schools on different projects, be they staff based or pupil based, within school or international. We recognise that pupils need to understand how to style an email in relation to their age and good ‘netiquette’. In order to achieve ICT level 4 or above, pupils must have experienced sending and receiving emails.

  • The school gives all staff their own email account to use for all school business. This is to minimise the risk of receiving unsolicited or malicious emails and avoids the risk of personal profile information being revealed.
  • It is the responsibility of each account holder to keep the password secure. For the safety and security of users and recipients, all mail is filtered and logged; if necessary email histories can be traced. This should be the account that is used for all school business of a sensitive nature.
  • Under no circumstances should staff contact pupils, parents or conduct any school business using personal email addresses.
  • E-mail sent to an external organisation should be written carefully before sending, in the same way as a letter written on school headed paper.
  • Pupils may only use school approved accounts on the school system and only under direct teacher supervision for educational purposes.
  • All e-mail users are expected to adhere to the generally accepted rules of network etiquette (netiquette) particularly in relation to the use of appropriate language and not revealing any personal details about themselves or others in e-mail communication, or arrange to meet anyone without specific permission, virus checking attachments.
  • Pupils must immediately tell a teacher/ trusted adult if they receive an offensive e-mail.
  • Staff must inform the e-safety co-ordinator if they receive an offensive e-mail.
  • Pupils are introduced to email as part of the ICT Scheme of Work in year 3.

Safe Use of Images

Taking of Images and Film

Digital images are easy to capture, reproduce and publish and, therefore, misused. We must remember that it is not always appropriate to take or store images of any member of the school community or public, without first seeking consent and considering the appropriateness.

  • With the written consent of parents (on behalf of pupils) and staff, the school permits the appropriate taking of images by staff and pupils with school equipment.
  • Staff are not permitted to use personal digital equipment, such asmobile phones and cameras, to record images of pupils, this includes when on field trips.

Publishing pupil’s images and work

On a child’s entry to the school, all parents/guardians will be asked to give permission to use their child's work/photos in the following ways:

  • on the school web site
  • on the school’s Learning Platform
  • in the school prospectus and other printed publications that the school may produce for promotional purposes
  • recorded/ transmitted on a video or webcam
  • in display material that may be used in the school’s communal areas
  • in display material that may be used in external areas, i.e. exhibition promoting the school
  • general media appearances, eg local/ national media/ press releases sent to the press highlighting an activity (sent using traditional methods or electronically)

This consent form is considered valid for the entire period that the child attends this school unless there is a change in the child’s circumstances where consent could be an issue, e.g. divorce of parents, custody issues, etc.

Parents/ carers may withdraw permission, in writing, at any time.

Pupils’ names will not be published alongside their image and vice versa. E-mail and postal addresses of pupils will not be published. Pupils’ full names will not be published.

Teachers are only permitted to upload images onto the school network or their year group area on the Learning Platform, which is password protected and cannot be accessed by members of the general public.