Online Safety Policy

All SCHOOLS HAVE AN ONLINE  SAFETY POLICY

Be aware of yours to help you stay safe.

The school will monitor the impact of the policy using:

  • Logs of reported incidents •
  • Monitoring logs of internet activity (including sites visited) •
  • Internal monitoring data for network activity •
  • Surveys / questionnaires of • students • parents / carers • staff
Scope of the Policy

This policy applies to all members of the school community (including staff, students, 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 students 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 template 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.

Roles and Responsibilities

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

Interim Executive Board:

Interim Executive Board 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 Interim Executive Board receiving regular information about e-safety incidents and monitoring reports. A member of the Governor Body has taken on the role of E-Safety Governor , The role of the E-Safety Governor will include: • regular meetings with the Designated Safeguarding Lead • regular monitoring of e-safety incident logs • regular monitoring of filtering / change control logs • reporting to relevant Interim Executive Board

Headteacher and Senior Leaders: •
  • The Headteacher has a duty of care 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 Designated Safeguarding Lead.
  •  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. (see flow chart on dealing with e-safety incidents – included in a later section – “Responding to incidents of misuse” and relevant Local Authority HR / other relevant body disciplinary procedures).
  • The Headteacher is responsible for ensuring that the Designated Safeguarding Lead 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. This will be through the DCPT meetings and line management of the Safeguarding team and Designated Safeguarding Lead • The Senior Leadership Team will receive regular monitoring reports from the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
Designated Safeguarding Lead
  • 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.
  • 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,) •
  • Meets regularly with E-Safety Governor to discuss current issues, review incident logs and filtering / change control logs •
  • Attends relevant meeting / committee of Interim Executive Board
  • Reports regularly to Senior Leadership Team 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
  • Cyber-bullying
Network Manager / Technical staff:
  • The Network Manager / Technical Staff / Co-ordinator for ICT / Computing 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 and 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
  • 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 / remote access / email is regularly monitored in order that any misuse / attempted misuse can be reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead for investigation / action / sanction
  • That monitoring software / systems are implemented and updated as agreed in school policies
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
  • They have read, understood and signed the Staff Acceptable Use Policy / Agreement (AUP)
  • They report any suspected misuse or problem to the Designated Safeguarding Lead for investigation / action / sanction
  • All digital communications with students / parents / carers should be on a professional level and only carried out using official school systems
  • E-Safety issues are embedded in all aspects of the curriculum and other activities
  • Students understand and follow the e-safety and acceptable use policies
  • 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 students 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
Students: •
  • Are responsible for using the school digital technology systems in accordance with the Student 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
  • 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. The school will take every opportunity to help parents understand these issues through parents’ evenings, newsletters, letters, website and information about national / local e-safety campaigns / literature. Parents and carers will be encouraged to support the school in promoting good e-safety practice and to follow guidelines on the appropriate use of: • digital and video images taken at school events • access to parents’ sections of the website and on-line Student records • their children’s personal devices in the school (where this is allowed)
  • Community Users Community Users who access school systems / website / VLE as part of the wider school provision will be expected to sign a Community User AUA before being provided with access to school systems.