Holly Park School

Online-Safety Policy

School OnlineSafety
Co-ordinator / Rob Stewkesbury
School Designated Teacher for safeguarding / Sally Thomas
School named Governor for safeguarding / Clare Wischhusen
Online Safety Governor / Fiona Quinton
Our Online-Safety Policy has been written by the school, building on the London Grid for Learning (LGfL) exemplar policy and Becta guidance. It has been agreed by the senior management and will be approved by Governors. It will be reviewed annually.
Contents

Links with the UN Rights of the Childpage 3

Rationalepage 3

Areas of Riskpage 3

Scope of the policypage 4

Contextpage 4

The Technologiespage 6

Whole School Approachpage 6

Roles and Responsibilitiespage 6

The curriculumpage 10

Parentspage 11

Staff trainingpage 12

Governor trainingpage 12

Extremism and radicalisationpage 12

Equipmentpage 13

Network managementpage 14

Password policypage 15

E-mailpage 15

School Websitepage 15

Bring your own devicepage 16

Use of digital and video imagespage 16

Data protectionpage 17

Technical solutionspage 18

Communicationspage 19

Social mediapage 20

Unsuitable activitiespage 20

Responding to Misusepage 21

Asset Disposalpage 25

Monitoring of Policypage 25

Related policiespage 26

Appendix

  1. Classroom computer rules
  2. Staff Acceptable Use form
  3. Pupil Acceptable Use form/Online Health Agreement
  4. Permissions form
This policy links with the UN Rights of the Child

Article 13

Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and

receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law.

Article 17

Every child has the right to reliable information from the media.

This should be information that children can understand.

Governments must help protect children from materials that

could harm them.

Rationale

The purpose of this policy is to:

  • Set out the key principles expected of all members of the school community at Holly Park School with respect to the use of ICT-based technologies.
  • Safeguard and protect the children and staff of Holly Park School.
  • Assist school staff working with children to work safely and responsibly with the internet and other communication technologies and to monitor their own standards and practice.
  • Set clear expectations of behaviour and/or codes of practice relevant to responsible use of the internet for educational, personal or recreational use.
  • Have clear structures to deal with online abuse such as cyberbullying which are cross referenced with other school policies.
  • Ensure that all members of the school community are aware that unlawful or unsafe behaviour is unacceptable and that, where appropriate, disciplinary or legal action will be taken.
  • Minimise the risk of misplaced or malicious allegations made against adults who work with students.

The main areas of risk for our school community can be summarised as follows:

Content

  • exposure to inappropriate content, including online pornography, ignoring age ratings in games (exposure to violence associated with often racist language and misogynist language and scenarios), substance abuse
  • lifestyle websites, for example pro-anorexia/self-harm/suicide sites
  • hate sites
  • Exposure to websites connected to radicalisation and extremism
  • content validation: how to check authenticity and accuracy of online content

Contact

  • grooming
  • grooming for radicalisation
  • cyber-bullying in all forms
  • identity theft (including ‘frape’ (hacking Facebook profiles)) and sharing passwords

Conduct

  • privacy issues, including disclosure of personal information
  • digital footprint and online reputation
  • health and well-being (amount of time spent online (internet or gaming))
  • sexting (sending and receiving of personally intimate images) also referred to as SGII (self generated indecent images)
  • copyright (little care or consideration for intellectual property and ownership – such as music and film)

(Ref Ofsted 2013)

Scope of the Policy

This policy applies to all members of the school (including staff, students / pupils, volunteers, parents / carers, visitors, community users) who have access to and are users of school ICT systems, both in and out of the school.

The Education and Inspections Act 2006 empowers Headteachers to such extent as is reasonable, to regulate the behaviour of pupils when they are off the school site and empowers members of staff to impose disciplinary penalties for inappropriate behaviour. This is pertinent to incidents of cyber-bullying, or other e-safety incidents covered by this policy, which may take place outside of the school, but is linked to membership of the school. The 2011 Education Act increased these powers with regard to the searching for and of electronic devices and the deletion of data (see appendix for policy). In the case of both acts, action can only be taken over issues covered by the published Behaviour Policy.

The school will deal with such incidents within this policy and associated behaviour and anti-bullying policies and will, where known, inform parents / carers of incidents of inappropriate e-safety behaviour that take place out of school.

Context

Ofsted (2009): A good school ‘integrates issues about safety and safeguarding into the curriculum so that pupils have a strong understanding of how to keep themselves safe. The school is pro-active in building on collaborative working with other key agencies to reduce the risk of harm to pupils.’

Working towards ICT Mark

1c-4 Safeguarding

The school is aware of its responsibilities in ensuring that ICT usage by all network users is responsible, safe and secure.

There are relevant and comprehensive policies in place which are understood and adhered to by many network users.

3b-2 Effective and safe use of digital resources

Most pupils have a good range of skills that enable them to access and make effective use of digital resources to support their learning. They understand the issues relating to safe and responsible use of ICT and adopt appropriate practices

Harnessing Technology: Transforming learning and children’s services[1] sets out the government plans for taking a strategic approach to the future development of ICT.

“The Internet and related technologies are powerful tools, which open up new prospects for communication and collaboration. Education is embracing these new technologies as they bring with them fresh opportunities for both teachers and learners.

To use these technologies effectively requires an awareness of the benefits and risks, the development of new skills, and an understanding of their appropriate and effective use both in and outside of the classroom.” DfES, eStrategy 2005

The Green Paper Every Child Matters[2] and the provisions of the Children Act 2004[3], Working Together to Safeguard Children[4] sets out how organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

The ‘staying safe’ outcome includes aims that children and young people are:

  • safe from maltreatment, neglect, violence and sexual exploitation
  • safe from accidental injury and death
  • safe from bullying and discrimination
  • safe from crime and anti-social behaviour in and out of school
  • secure, stable and cared for.

Much of these aims apply equally to the ‘virtual world’ that children and young people will encounter whenever they use ICT in its various forms. For example, we know that the internet has been used for grooming children and young people with the ultimate aim of exploiting them sexually; we know that ICT can offer new weapons for bullies, who may torment their victims via websites or text messages; and we know that children and young people have been exposed to inappropriate content when online, which can sometimes lead to their involvement in crime and anti-social behaviour.

It is the duty of the school to ensure that every child in their care is safe, and the same principles should apply to the ‘virtual’ or digital world as would be applied to the school’s physical buildings.

This Policy document is drawn up to protect all parties – the students, the staff and the school and aims to provide clear advice and guidance on how to minimise risks and how to deal with any infringements.

The Technologies

ICT in the 21st Century has an all-encompassing role within the lives of children and adults. New technologies are enhancing communication and the sharing of information. Current and emerging technologies used in school and, more importantly in many cases, used outside of school by children include:

  • The Internet
  • e-mail
  • Instant messaging ( often using simple web cams
  • Blogs (an on-line interactive diary)
  • Podcasting (radio / audio broadcasts downloaded to computer or MP3/4 player)
  • Social networking sites (Popular , / / )
  • Video broadcasting sites (Popular:
  • Chat Rooms (Popular
  • Gaming Sites (Popular /
  • Music download sites (Popular
  • Mobile phones with camera and video functionality
  • Mobile technology (e.g. games consoles) that are ‘internet ready’.
  • Smart phones with e-mail, web functionality and cut down ‘Office’ applications.

Whole school approach to the safe use of ICT

Creating a safe ICT learning environment includes three main elements:

  • An effective range of technological tools;
  • Policies and procedures, with clear roles and responsibilities;

An e-Safety education programme for pupils, staff and parents.

Ref: Becta - E-safety Developing whole-school policies to support effective practice [5]

Roles and Responsibilities

E-Safety is recognised as an essential aspect of strategic leadership in this school and the Head, with the support of Governors, aims to embed safe practices into the culture of the school. The headteacher ensures that the Policy is implemented and compliance with the Policy monitored. The responsibility for e-Safety has been designated to a member of the school improvement team alongside our designated teacher for safeguarding.

Our school e-Safety Co-ordinator is Rob Stewkesbury, Key Leader for Innovations and New Technologies.

Our designated teacher is Sally Thomas

Our Safeguarding Governor is Clare Wischhusen

Our E-Safety Governor is Fiona Quinton

Our e-Safety Coordinator ensures they keep up to date with e-Safety issues and guidance through liaison with the Local Authority e-Safety Officer and through organisations such as Becta and The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP)[6]. The school’s e-Safety coordinator ensures the Head, senior management and Governors are updated as necessary.

The following section outlines the e-safety roles and responsibilities of individuals and groups within the school:

Governors:

Governors need to have an overview understanding of e-Safety issues and strategies at this school. We ensure our governors are aware of our local and national guidance on e-Safety and are updated at least annually on policy developments.

Governors are responsible for the approval of the E-Safety Policy and for reviewing the effectiveness of the policy. This will be carried out by the Governors receiving regular information about e-safety incidents and monitoring reports. A member of the Governing Body has taken on the role of Safeguarding Governor. The role of the SafeguardingGovernor will include:

•regular monitoring of e-safety incident logs

•reporting to relevant Governors / committee / meeting

Headteacher and Senior Leaders:

•The Headteacher has a duty of care for ensuring the safety (including e-safety) of members of the school community

•The Headteacher and (at least) another member of the Senior Leadership Team should be aware of the procedures to be followed in the event of a serious e-safety allegation being made against a member of staff.

•The Headteacher and Senior Leaders are responsible for ensuring that the E-Safety Coordinator and other relevant staff receive suitable training to enable them to carry out their e-safety roles and to train other colleagues, as relevant.

•The Headteacher will ensure that there is a system in place to allow for monitoring and support of those in school who carry out the internal e-safety monitoring role. This is to provide a safety net and also support to those colleagues who take on important monitoring roles.

E-Safety Coordinator:

•leads on e-safety

•takes day to day responsibility for e-safety issues and has a leading role in establishing and reviewing the school e-safety policies / documents

•ensures that all staff are aware of the procedures that need to be followed in the event of an e-safety incident taking place.

•provides training and advice for staff

•liaises with the Local Authority / relevant body

•liaises with school technical staff

•receives reports of e-safety incidents and creates a log of incidents to inform future e-safety developments,

•reports to governors to discuss current issues, review incident logs and filtering / change control logs

•attends relevant meeting / committee of Governors

•reports regularly to Senior Leadership Team

ICT Technician:

The ICT technician is responsible for ensuring:

•that the school’s technical infrastructure is secure and is not open to misuse or malicious attack

•that the school meets required e-safety technical requirements and any Local Authority / other relevant body E-Safety Policy / Guidance that may apply.

•that users may only access the networks and devices through a properly enforced password protection policy, in which passwords are regularly changed

•the filtering policy (if it has one), is applied and updated on a regular basis and that its implementation is not the sole responsibility of any single person

•that they keep up to date with e-safety technical information in order to effectively carry out their e-safety role and to inform and update others as relevant

•that the use of the network / internet / Virtual Learning Environment / remote access / email is regularly monitored in order that any misuse / attempted misuse can be reported to the Headteacher / Principal / Senior Leader; E-Safety Coordinator

Teaching and Support Staff

are responsible for ensuring that:

•they have an up to date awareness of e-safety matters and of the current school e-safety policy and practices including Safe use of e-mail; Safe use of Internet including use of internet-based communication services, such as instant messaging and social network; Safe use of school network, equipment and data; Safe use of digital images and digital technologies, such as mobile phones and digital cameras; publication of pupil information/photographs and use of website; eBullying / Cyberbullying procedures

•they have read, understood and signed the Staff Acceptable Use Policy / Agreement (AUP)

•they report any suspected misuse or problem to the Headteacherfor investigation / action / sanction

•all digital communications with students / pupils / parents / carers should be on a professional leveland only carried out using official school systems

•e-safety issues are embedded in all aspects of the curriculum and other activities

•students / pupils understand and follow the e-safety and acceptable use policies

•students / pupils have a good understanding of research skills and the need to avoid plagiarism and uphold copyright regulations

•they monitor the use of digital technologies, mobile devices, cameras etc in lessons and other school activities (where allowed) and implement current policies with regard to these devices

•in lessons where internet use is pre-planned pupils should be guided to sites checked as suitable for their use and that processes are in place for dealing with any unsuitable material that is found in internet searches

All teachers are responsible for promoting and supporting safe behaviours in their classrooms and following school e-Safety procedures. Central to this is fostering a ‘No Blame’ culture so pupils feel able to report any bullying, abuse or inappropriate materials.

If a member of staff is concerned about any aspect of their ICT use in school, they should discuss this with their line manager to avoid any possible misunderstanding.

ICT use is widespread and all staff including administration, caretaker, governors and helpers should be included in appropriate awareness raising and training. Induction of new staff should include a discussion of the school’s e-Safety Policy.

Staff should be aware that Internet traffic is monitored and can be traced to the individual user. Discretion and professional conduct is essential

Staff are reminded / updated about e-Safety matters at least once a year. We have a whole school focus on e-safety annually during Anti-bullying week in November.

Child Protection / Safeguarding Designated Person

should be trained in e-safety issues and be aware of the potential for serious child protection / safeguarding issues to arise from:

•sharing of personal data

•access to illegal / inappropriate materials

•inappropriate on-line contact with adults / strangers

•potential or actual incidents of grooming

  • radicalisation and extremism

•cyber-bullying

Pupils:

•are responsible for using the school digital technology systems in accordance with the Pupil Acceptable Use Policy

•have a good understanding of research skills and the need to avoid plagiarism and uphold copyright regulations

•need to understand the importance of reporting abuse, misuse or access to inappropriate materials and know how to do so

•will be expected to know and understand policies on the use of mobile devices and digital cameras. They should also know and understand policies on the taking / use of images and on cyber-bullying.

•should understand the importance of adopting good e-safety practice when using digital technologies out of school and realise that the school’s E-Safety Policy covers their actions out of school, if related to their membership of the school

Many pupils are very familiar with the culture of new technologies. Pupils’ perceptions of the risks may not be mature; the e-safety rules will need to be explained or discussed.

E-safety should be taught in all year groups, covering age-appropriate issues. Useful e-safety programmes include:

־Barnet and LGfL e-Safety and e-literacy Framework for EYFS-Y6 (www. safety.lgfl.net )