Branksome Heath Middle School - E-Safety Policy
Background / Rationale
New technologies have become integral to the lives of children and young people in today's society, both within schools and in their lives outside school.
The internet and other digital and information technologies are powerful tools, which open up new opportunities for everyone. Electronic communication helps teachers and students / pupils learn from each other. These technologies can stimulate discussion, promote creativity and increase awareness of context to promote effective learning. Children and young people should have an entitlement to safe internet access at all times.
The requirement to ensure that children and young people are able to use the internet and related communications technologies appropriately and safely is addressed as part of the wider duty of care to which all who work in schools are bound. A school e-safety policy should help to ensure safe and appropriate use. The development and implementation of such a strategy should involve all the stakeholders in a child's education from the headteacher and governors to the senior leaders and classroom teachers, support staff, parents, members of the community and the students / pupils themselves.
The use of these exciting and innovative tools in school and at home has been shown to raise educational standards and promote pupil / student achievement.
However, the use of these new technologies can put young people at risk within and outside the school. Some of the dangers they may face include:
o Access to illegal, harmful or inappropriate images or other content
o Unauthorised access to / loss of / sharing of personal information
o The risk of being subject to grooming by those with whom they make contact on the internet.
o The sharing / distribution of personal images without an individual's consent or knowledge
o Inappropriate communication / contact with others, including strangers
o Cyber-bullying
o Access to unsuitable video / internet games
o An inability to evaluate the quality, accuracy and relevance of information on the internet
o Plagiarism and copyright infringement
o Illegal downloading of music or video files
o The potential for excessive use which may impact on the social and emotional development and learning of the young person.
Many of these risks reflect situations in the off-line world and it is essential that this e-safety policy is used in conjunction with other school policies (eg behaviour, anti-bullying and child protection policies).
As with all other risks, it is impossible to eliminate those risks completely. It is therefore essential, through good educational provision to build students' / pupils' resilience to the risks to which they may be exposed, so that they have the confidence and skills to face and deal with these risks.
The school must demonstrate that it has provided the necessary safeguards to help ensure that they have done everything that could reasonably be expected of them to manage and reduce these risks. The e-safety policy that follows explains how we intend to do this, while also addressing wider educational issues in order to help young people (and their parents / carers) to be responsible users and stay safe while using the internet and other communications technologies for educational, personal and recreational use.
Development / Monitoring / Review of this Policy
This e-safety policy has been developed by a working group / committee (or insert name of group) made up of: (delete / add as relevant)
o School E-Safety Officer
o Headteacher / Senior Leaders
o Teachers
o Support Staff
o ICT Technical staff
o Governors
o Parents and Carers (via survey)
o Community users (via survey)
Consultation with the whole school community has taken place through the following: (delete / add as relevant)
o Staff meetings
o School Council
o Governors meeting / sub committee meeting
o Parents evening - via e-safety stand and sending out of e-safety resources
o School website / newsletters
Schedule for Development / Monitoring / Review
This e-safety policy was approved by the Governing Body / Governors Sub Committee on: (Insert date)
The implementation of this e-safety policy will be monitored by the: E-Safety Coordinator
ICT Co-ordinator
Governors E-Safety Team
Monitoring will take place at regular intervals: Annually
The Governing Body / Governors Sub Committee will receive a report on the implementation of
the e-safety policy generated by the monitoring group (which will include anonymous details of
e-safety incidents) at regular intervals: Annually
The E-Safety Policy will be reviewed annually, or more regularly in the light of any significant new
developments in the use of the technologies, new threats to e-safety or incidents that have taken
place. The next anticipated review date will be: October 2010
Should serious e-safety incidents take place, the following external persons / agencies should
be informed: Safeguarding Officer
The school will monitor the impact of the policy using: (delete / add as relevant)
o Logs of reported incidents
o SWGfL monitoring logs of internet activity (including sites visited)
o Internal monitoring data for network activity
o Surveys / questionnaires of
o students / pupils (eg Ofsted "Tell-us" survey / CEOP ThinkUknow survey)
o parents / carers
o staff
Scope of the Policy
This policy applies to all members of the school community (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 school.
The Education and Inspections Act 2006 empowers Headteachers, to such extent as is reasonable, to regulate the behaviour of students / 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 out of school, but is linked to membership of the school.
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.
Roles and Responsibilities
The following section outlines the roles and responsibilities for e-safety of individuals and groups within the school:
Governors:
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 / Governors Sub Committee receiving regular information about e-safety incidents and monitoring reports. A member of the Governing Body has taken on the role of E-Safety Governor The role of the E-Safety Governor will include:
o regular meetings with the E-Safety Officer
o regular monitoring of e-safety incident logs
o reporting to relevant Governors committee / meeting
Headteacher and Senior Leaders:
o The Headteacher is responsible for ensuring the safety (including e-safety) of members of the school community, though the day to day responsibility for e-safety will be delegated to the E-Safety Officer.
o The Headteacher / Senior Leaders are responsible for ensuring that the E-Safety Officer and other relevant staff receive suitable CPD to enable them to carry out their e-safety roles and to train other colleagues, as relevant
o The Headteacher / Senior Leaders 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..
o The Senior Leadership Team / Senior Management Team will receive regular monitoring reports from the E-Safety Officer.
o The Headteacher and another member of the Senior Leadership Team / Senior Management 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. (see SWGfL flow chart on dealing with e-safety incidents - included in a later section - "Responding to incidents of misuse" and relevant Local Authority HR / disciplinary procedures)
E-Safety Coordinator / Officer:
o leads the e-safety committee
o takes day to day responsibility for e-safety issues and has a leading role in establishing and reviewing the school e-safety policies / documents
o ensures that all staff are aware of the procedures that need to be followed in the event of an e-safety incident taking place.
o provides training and advice for staff
o liaises with the Local Authority
o liaises with school ICT technical staff
o receives reports of e-safety incidents and creates a log of incidents to inform future e-safety developments
o meets regularly with E-Safety Governor to discuss current issues, review incident logs and filtering / change control logs
o attends relevant meeting / committee of Governors
o reports regularly to Senior Leadership Team
Network Manager / Technical staff:
The ICT Co-ordinator is responsible for ensuring:
o that the school's ICT infrastructure is secure and is not open to misuse or malicious attack
o that the school meets the e-safety technical requirements outlined in the SWGfL Security Policy and Acceptable Usage Policy and any relevant Local Authority E-Safety Policy and guidance
o that users may only access the school's networks through a properly enforced password protection policy, in which passwords are regularly changed
o SWGfL is informed of issues relating to the filtering applied by the Grid
o the school's 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
o that he / she keeps 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
o that the use of the network / Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) / remote access / email is regularly monitored in order that any misuse / attempted misuse can be reported to the E-Safety Co-ordinator / Officer /Headteacher / Senior Leader / Head of ICT / ICT Co-ordinator / Class teacher / Head of Year (as in the section above) for investigation / action / sanction
o that monitoring software / systems are implemented and updated as agreed in school policies
Teaching and Support Staff
are responsible for ensuring that:
o they have an up to date awareness of e-safety matters and of the current school e-safety policy and practices
o they have read, understood and signed the school Staff Acceptable Use Policy / Agreement (AUP)
o they report any suspected misuse or problem to the E-Safety Co-ordinator / Officer /Headteacher / Senior Leader / Head of ICT / ICT Co-ordinator / Class teacher / Head of Year (as in the section above) for investigation / action / sanction
o digital communications with students / pupils (email / Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) / voice) should be on a professional level and only carried out using official school systems
o e-safety issues are embedded in all aspects of the curriculum and other school activities
o students / pupils understand and follow the school e-safety and acceptable use policy
o students / pupils have a good understanding of research skills and the need to avoid plagiarism and uphold copyright regulations
o they monitor ICT activity in lessons, extra curricular and extended school activities
o they are aware of e-safety issues related to the use of mobile phones, cameras and hand held devices and that they monitor their use and implement current school policies with regard to these devices
o in lessons where internet use is pre-planned students / 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
Designated person for child protection / Child Protection Officer
should be trained in e-safety issues and be aware of the potential for serious child protection issues to arise from:
o sharing of personal data
o access to illegal / inappropriate materials
o inappropriate on-line contact with adults / strangers
o potential or actual incidents of grooming
o cyber-bullying
E-Safety Committee
Members of the E-safety committee (or other relevant group) will assist the E-Safety Officer (or other relevant person, as above) with:
o the production / review / monitoring of the school e-safety policy / documents.
Students / pupils:
o are responsible for using the school ICT systems in accordance with the Student / Pupil Acceptable Use Policy, which they will be expected to sign before being given access to school systems.
o have a good understanding of research skills and the need to avoid plagiarism and uphold copyright regulations
o need to understand the importance of reporting abuse, misuse or access to inappropriate materials and know how to do so
o will be expected to know and understand school policies on the use of mobile phones, digital cameras and hand held devices. They should also know and understand school policies on the taking / use of images and on cyber-bullying.
o 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 cto their membership of the school
Parents / Carers
Parents / Carers play a crucial role in ensuring that their children understand the need to use the internet / mobile devices in an appropriate way. Research shows that many parents and carers do not fully understand the issues and are less experienced in the use of ICT than their children. The school will therefore take every opportunity to help parents understand these issues through parents' evenings, newsletters, letters, website / VLE and information about national / local e-safety campaigns / literature. Parents and carers will be responsible for:
o endorsing (by signature) the Student / Pupil Acceptable Use Policy
o accessing the school website / VLE / on-line student / pupil records in accordance with the relevant school Acceptable Use Policy.
Community Users
Community Users who access school ICT systems / website / VLE as part of the Extended School provision will be expected to sign a Community User AUP before being provided with access to school systems.
Policy Statements
Education - students / pupils
Whilst regulation and technical solutions are very important, their use must be balanced by educating students / pupils to take a responsible approach. The education of students / pupils in e-safety is therefore an essential part of the school's e-safety provision. Children and young people need the help and support of the school to recognise and avoid e-safety risks and build their resilience.
E-Safety education will be provided in the following ways:
o A planned e-safety programme should be provided as part of ICT / PHSE / other lessons and should be regularly revisited - this will cover both the use of ICT and new technologies in school and outside school
o Key e-safety messages should be reinforced as part of a planned programme of assemblies and tutorial / pastoral activities
o Students / pupils should be taught in all lessons to be critically aware of the materials / content they access on-line and be guided to validate the accuracy of information
o Students / pupils should be helped to understand the need for the student / pupil AUP and encouraged to adopt safe and responsible use of ICT, the internet and mobile devices both within and outside school
o Students / pupils should be taught to acknowledge the source of information used and to respect copyright when using material accessed on the internet
o Rules for use of ICT systems / internet will be posted in all rooms and displayed on log-on screens
o Staff should act as good role models in their use of ICT, the internet and mobile devices
Education - parents / carers
Many parents and carers have only a limited understanding of e-safety risks and issues, yet they play an essential role in the education of their children and in the monitoring / regulation of the children's on-line experiences. Parents often either underestimate or do not realise how often children and young people come across potentially harmful and inappropriate material on the internet and are often unsure about what they would do about it. "There is a generational digital divide". (Byron Report).
The school will therefore seek to provide information and awareness to parents and carers through:
o Letters, newsletters, web site, VLE
o Parents evenings
Education - Extended Schools
The school will offer family learning courses in ICT, media literacy and e-safety so that parents and children can together gain a better understanding of these issues. Messages to the public around e safety should also be targeted towards grandparents and other relatives as well as parents. Everyone has a role to play in empowering children to stay safe while they enjoy these new technologies, just as it is everyone's responsibility to keep children safe in the non-digital world.
Education & Training - Staff
It is essential that all staff receive e-safety training and understand their responsibilities, as outlined in this policy. Training will be offered as follows:
o A planned programme of formal e-safety training will be made available to staff. An audit of the e-safety training needs of all staff will be carried out regularly. It is expected that some staff will identify e-safety as a training need within the performance management process.
o All new staff should receive e-safety training as part of their induction programme, ensuring that they fully understand the school e-safety policy and Acceptable Use Policies
o The E-Safety Coordinator (or other nominated person) will receive regular updates through attendance at SWGfL / LA / other information / training sessions and by reviewing guidance documents released by BECTA / SWGfL / LA and others.
o This E-Safety policy and its updates will be presented to and discussed by staff in staff / team meetings / INSET days.
o The E-Safety Coordinator (or other nominated person) will provide advice / guidance / training as required to individuals as required
Training - Governors
Governors should take part in e-safety training / awareness sessions, with particular importance for those who are members of any sub committee / group involved in ICT / e-safety / health and safety / child protection. This may be offered in a number of ways:
o Attendance at training provided by the Local Authority / National Governors Association / SWGfL or other relevant organisation.
o Participation in school training / information sessions for staff or parents
Technical - infrastructure / equipment, filtering and monitoring
The school will be responsible for ensuring that the school infrastructure / network is as safe and secure as is reasonably possible and that policies and procedures approved within this policy are implemented. It will also need to ensure that the relevant people named in the above sections will be effective in carrying out their e-safety responsibilities:
o School ICT systems will be managed in ways that ensure that the school meets the e-safety technical requirements outlined in the SWGfL Security Policy and Acceptable Usage Policy and any relevant Local Authority E-Safety Policy and guidance
o There will be regular reviews and audits of the safety and security of school ICT systems
o Servers, wireless systems and cabling must be securely located and physical access restricted
o All users will have clearly defined access rights to school ICT systems. Details of the access rights available to groups of users will be recorded by the Network Manager (or other person) and will be reviewed, at least annually, by the E-Safety Committee (or other group).
o All users will be provided with a username and password by ICT C0-ordinator who will keep an up to date record of users and their usernames.
o The "master / administrator" passwords for the school ICT system, used by the Network Manager (or other person) must also be available to the Headteacher or other nominated senior leader and kept in a secure place (eg school safe)
o Users will be made responsible for the security of their username and password, must not allow other users to access the systems using their log on details and must immediately report any suspicion or evidence that there has been a breach of security.
o In the event of the Network Manager (or other person) needing to switch off the filtering for any reason, or for any user, this must be logged and carried out by a process that is agreed by the Headteacher (or other nominated senior leader).
o Any filtering issues should be reported immediately to SWGfL.
o Requests from staff for sites to be removed from the filtered list will be considered by the Network Manager. If the request is agreed, this action will be recorded and logs of such actions shall be reviewed regularly by the E-Safety Committee
o School ICT technical staff regularly monitor and record the activity of users on the school ICT systems and users are made aware of this in the Acceptable Use Policy.
o An appropriate system is in place for users to report any actual / potential e-safety incident to the Network Manager (or other relevant person).
o Appropriate security measures are in place to protect the servers, firewalls, routers, wireless systems, work stations, hand held devices etc from accidental or malicious attempts which might threaten the security of the school systems and data.
o An agreed policy is in place for the provision of temporary access of "guests" (eg trainee teachers, visitors) onto the school system.
o An agreed policy is in place regarding the downloading of executable files by users
o An agreed policy is in place regarding the extent of personal use that users (staff / students / pupils / community users) and their family members are allowed on laptops and other portable devices that may be used out of school.
An agreed policy is in place that allows forbids staff from installing programmes on school workstations / portable devices.
o An agreed policy is in place regarding the use of removable media (eg memory sticks / CDs / DVDs) by users on school workstations / portable devices
o The school infrastructure and individual workstations are protected by up to date virus software.
o Personal data can not be sent over the internet or taken off the school site unless safely encrypted or otherwise secured.
Curriculum
E-safety should be a focus in all areas of the curriculum and staff should reinforce e-safety messages in the use of ICT across the curriculum.
o in lessons where internet use is pre-planned, it is best practice that students / 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.
o Where students / pupils are allowed to freely search the internet, eg using search engines, staff should be vigilant in monitoring the content of the websites the young people visit.
o It is accepted that from time to time, for good educational reasons, students may need to research topics (eg racism, drugs, discrimination) that would normally result in internet searches being blocked. In such a situation, staff can request that the Network Manager (and other relevant person) can temporarily remove those sites from the filtered list for the period of study. Any request to do so, should be auditable, with clear reasons for the need.
o Students / pupils should be taught in all lessons to be critically aware of the materials / content they access on-line and be guided to validate the accuracy of information
o Students / pupils should be taught to acknowledge the source of information used and to respect copyright when using material accessed on the internet.
Use of digital and video images - Photographic, Video
The development of digital imaging technologies has created significant benefits to learning, allowing staff and students / pupils instant use of images that they have recorded themselves or downloaded from the internet. However, staff and students / pupils need to be aware of the risks associated with sharing images and with posting digital images on the internet. Those images may remain available on the internet forever and may cause harm or embarrassment to individuals in the short or longer term. There are many reported incidents of employers carrying out internet searches for information about potential and existing employees. The school will inform and educate users about these risks and will implement policies to reduce the likelihood of the potential for harm:
o When using digital images, staff should inform and educate students / pupils about the risks associated with the taking, use, sharing, publication and distribution of images. In particular they should recognise the risks attached to publishing their own images on the internet eg on social networking sites.
o Staff are allowed to take digital / video images to support educational aims, but must follow school policies concerning the sharing, distribution and publication of those images. Those images should only be taken on school equipment; the personal equipment of staff should not be used for such purposes.
o Care should be taken when taking digital / video images that students / pupils are appropriately dressed and are not participating in activities that might bring the individuals or the school into disrepute.
o Students / pupils must not take, use, share, publish or distribute images of others without their permission
o Photographs published on the website, or elsewhere that include students / pupils will be selected carefully and will comply with good practice guidance on the use of such images.
o Students' / Pupils' full names will not be used anywhere on a website or blog, particularly in association with photographs.
o Written permission from parents or carers will be obtained before photographs of students / pupils are published on the school website (may be covered as part of the AUP signed by parents or carers at the start of the year.
o Student's / Pupil's work can only be published with the permission of the student / pupil and parents or carers.
Data Protection
Personal data will be recorded, processed, transferred and made available according to the Data Protection Act 1998 which states that personal data must be:
o Fairly and lawfully processed
o Processed for limited purposes
o Adequate, relevant and not excessive
o Accurate
o Kept no longer than is necessary
o Processed in accordance with the data subject's rights
o Secure
o Only transferred to others with adequate protection.
Staff must ensure that they:
o At all times take care to ensure the safe keeping of personal data, minimising the risk of its loss or misuse.
o Use personal data only on secure password protected computers and other devices, ensuring that they are properly "logged-off" at the end of any session in which they are using personal data.
o Transfer data using encryption and secure password protected devices.
When personal data is stored on any portable computer system, USB stick or any other removable media:
o the data must be encrypted and password protected
o the device must be password protected (many memory sticks / cards and other mobile devices cannot be password protected)
o the device must offer approved virus and malware checking software
o the data must be securely deleted from the device, in line with school policy (below) once it has been transferred or its use is complete
Communications
A wide range of rapidly developing communications technologies has the potential to enhance learning. The following table shows how the school currently considers the benefit of using these technologies for education outweighs their risks / disadvantages:
Staff & other adults Students / Pupils
Communication Technologies Allowed Allowed at certain times Allowed for selected staff Not allowed Allowed Allowed at certain times Allowed with staff permission Not allowed
Mobile phones may be brought to school Keep in the office
Use of mobile phones in lessons
Use of mobile phones in social time
Taking photos on mobile phones or other camera devices
Use of hand held devices eg PDAs, PSPs
Use of personal email addresses in school, or on school network
Use of school email for personal emails
Use of chat rooms / facilities
Use of instant messaging
Use of social networking sites
Use of blogs |
