Online Safety

Introduction

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 practice is as important as ANY computer aided application.

E-Safety at Kingsdown

At Kingsdown, good practice in conjunction with software purchases and policies, we ensure that students are as safe as possible. We have an ICT - Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP) which every user (Including teachers) accept every time they log on. We have also purchased powerful auditing software which constantly monitors all activity, including the filtering of email. Social networking, Auction, Chat, Gambling and Instant messaging (among others) sites are banned wherever possible.

As part of the computing curriculum, pupils in Key Stage 3 learn about what information should not be shared in a public domain. As well as this, pupils are educated about the Internet etiquette and guidelines that should be adhered to on social networking sites. PSHCE is also a key area where pupils are educated about E-Safety and the dangers associated with Internet browsing and the consequences of inappropriate behaviour online. Key Stage 4 pupils recognise the importance of privacy settings to ensure important information cannot be accessed by unknown individuals.

Childnet.com has produced a number of useful pages on their website that guide parents through supporting their children’s online behaviour:

Cyberbullying

Hot Topics

Need Help?

Social Networking

What do I need to know?

Parental Controls

https://beinternetlegends.withgoogle.com/en_uk

Online Trouble - A guide for parents of children and young people who have got in trouble online