ONLINE SAFETY INFORMATION
The Internet has become part of our everyday lives and is now easier to access then ever before. At Alderman Bolton Primary Academy, we appreciate the importance of the internet as a learning tool for children today and the use of technology as an integral part of teaching and learning.
The children benefit from a wide range of technical resources, with online capabilities at the centre of their learning. It provides them with the opportunities to access a wide range of educational tools, communicate with friends and investigate the world around them. However, there is also content available that is not suitable for children. We hope that the information provided on this page will help to keep your children safe and ensure they use technology, including mobile phones responsibly. If you wish to know more please contact a member of staff at school.
Use of the Internet can have risks. Young people are more at risk of exposure to inappropriate or criminal behaviour if they are unaware of the dangers.
These dangers include:
- Viewing unsuitable content e.g. hate material, adult content, sites that endorse unhealthy behaviour
- Giving out personal information
- Arranging to meet an online 'friend'
- Becoming involved in, or the victim of, bullying, identity theft, or making and sending indecent or illegal images
- Spending too much time online (internet addiction), which can effect concentration, sleep and health
- Copying information from the internet or buying work from other people to use as their own
Remember our safety rules when using the internet. The rules are:
- Only use the internet when an adult is present
- Never give out any personal details
- Tell an adult if you find something that is not right
- Use safe search engines
- Check with an adult before you download anything
- Don't do anything online that you know is wrong
If you come across anything that is worrying you on the computer go and tell your teacher or parents straight away. If you are worried about any other problem with phones, chat rooms or you have any worries, talk to your class teacher or parents immediately.
Here are some useful links to help you to keep your children safe online:
WHISPER
Whisper provides everyone in our school community a safe place to talk, report or highlight issues and concerns. When you don’t know where to go or who to turn to, Whisper can provide a light in the dark.
Whisper allows you to report any issues or concerns you may be having, anonymously, through SMS messaging or via email.
If you need to report anything, please follow the link https://swgfl.org.uk/whisper/ESP1
Alternatively, you can send a message to 07860 021 323 starting your message with ESP1 to report via SMS
The school will respond as soon as we can.
For more information on Whisper, please click here.
INTERNET PROVIDER INFORMATION
Inappropriate access to information via the internet is clearly a large area of concern for schools, and the September revision of the DfE guidance shows that the issue is large enough to have controls audited by Ofsted.
Below is a small example of the categories of sites we are blocking for you:
- Child Abuse
- Discrimination
- Drug Abuse
- Explicit Violence
- Extremist Groups
- Hacking
- Illegal or Unethical
- Plagiarism
- Pornography
As the local authority’s ICT team look after web filtering for your school, we will investigate any web filtering related issues, including:
- Access to website containing inappropriate or potentially harmful material
- Access to websites containing educational or related material deemed appropriate for your school
- Providing web access reports on an annual basis
We also ensure that the service is maintained and is accessible for schools to use.
As we provide the filtering service to schools, we are ensuring that all relevant safeguards and statements of assurance are being completed so that schools taking our service can be assured that the web filtering service provided is meeting the guidelines published thus far.
As part of the ongoing duty of care that the Local Authority has in relation to Schools, we have to ensure that you are taking all necessary precautions to ensure the service you are receiving is appropriate.
The UK Safer Internet Centre have drawn up some provider response checklists which we are working with our supplier to ensure are completed.
The UK Safer Internet Centre provider checklists can be found here: http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/
From the work done with our supplier, we are confident that the current web filtering service meets and exceeds the Ofsted guidelines.
The solution is fully resilient and is constantly updated via national feeds from the wider internet community to ensure that as new websites are created they are categorised and sanctioned accordingly.
The Network SLA that your school has signed up to includes several elements of which filtering forms a part. Above the web filtering aspect of the service, WBC ICT also provide the following features which are all currently active for your school:
- Antivirus - This prevents viruses which are hosted on websites from automatically infecting your endpoints. This does not however protect you if you actively click on a download link.
- Application control - This stops some applications running which utilise peer to peer (file-sharing) features.
- Intrusion Prevention - This element actively works to stop hackers from gaining access to your endpoints.
- Website Certificate Inspection - This feature checks websites to ensure any certificates they have are valid and up to date, this stops users ending up on some malicious websites or websites that are not being maintained appropriately.