As with any area of interest for young or vulnerable people, safety has to be considered paramount. E-Safety is a complex area as technology provides as many problems as there are solutions. To ensure child protection, good practise is as important as ANY computer aided application.

At Kingsdown, we try to ensure that students are as safe as possible and have put in place :

• an ICT Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP) which every user (including teachers and support staff) accept every time they log on.
• powerful auditing software which constantly monitors all Internet activity, including the filtering of email.
• strict controls re accessing Social networking, Auction, Chat, Gambling and Instant Messaging (among others) sites.
• a continuous programme of lessons, activities and assemblies building students knowledge of e-safety and the need to be safe online.
• mechanisms to enable students to raise any concerns they have re e-safety.

In year 7, students :

• are introduced to the Acceptable Usage Policy and asked to write one of their own
• are taught how to make safe use of email
• research e-safety using the ThinkUKnow website
• create a presentation on e-safety for Year 6 students

Cyber-bullying is discussed in ICT and PSHEC lessons as well as in assemblies.

In year 8, students are taught the basics of web design and review the risks associated with the Internet while developing their own webpages.

In year 9, students are encouraged to produce a video and will look at a variety of e-safety issues such as copyright and safe use of YouTube.

In year 10 and 11, students undertaking Business Studies are also introduced to the idea of best practise/safe usage from a business perspective.

Whilst Kingsdown will continue to provide a basic grounding in e-safety for all students, we recognise that parents and carers may not always be aware of some of the risks associated with the usage of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networking services. The following websites may be of interest parents and carers looking for more information on the different aspects of E-Safety.