ICT & INTERNET USE POLICY

Introductory Statement:

St. Brid’s School believe in the benefits of curriculum based Internet use. The aim of the Acceptable Internet Usage Policy is to ensure that pupils will benefit from learning opportunities offered by the school’s internet resources, and will be protected from harmful and illegal use of the internet.

This policy was reviewed on the 14th December 2015 and was updated in April 2022

school strategy:

The school will employ a number of strategies in order to maximise learning opportunities and reduce risks associated with the Internet.

Content of Policy:

⦁ Internet will be used for educational purposes only.
⦁ Internet sessions will always be supervised by staff
⦁ Filtering software will be used to minimise the risk of exposure to inappropriate material.
⦁ The school will regularly monitor pupils’ internet usage.
⦁ Staff will receive training in the area of internet safety.
⦁ Uploading and downloading of non-approved material will not be permitted.
⦁ Virus protection software will be used and updated on a regular basis.
⦁ The use of personal external storage devices or CD-ROMS in school requires a teacher’s permission.
⦁ Pupils will observe good “netiquette” (etiquette on the internet) at all times and will not undertake any action that may bring a school into disrepute.
⦁ “YouTube” (and similar sites) can be accessed only under the supervision and direction of the teacher.

Pupils / Staff

⦁ Will not visit internet sites that contain obscene, illegal, hateful or otherwise objectionable materials.
⦁ Will use the internet for educational purposes only.
⦁ Will be familiar with copyright issues relating to online learning.
⦁ Will never disclose or publicise personal information.
⦁ Will be aware that any usage, including distributing or receiving school related information may be monitored for unusual activity.

Email:

If pupils are allowed to use email, the following rules will apply:

⦁ Email will be used for educational purposes only.
⦁ Pupils will only use approved class email accounts under supervision by or permission from staff.
⦁ Pupils will not send or receive any material that is illegal, obscene, defamatory or that is intended to annoy or intimidate another person.
⦁ Pupils will not send text messages to or from school email.
⦁ Pupils will not reveal their own or other people’s personal details e.g. addresses, telephone numbers, via school email.
⦁ Pupils will never arrange to meet someone via school email.
⦁ Sending or receiving email attachments is subject to teacher permission.

School Website:

A designated teacher will manage the publication of material on the school website.

⦁ Personal pupil information, home addresses and contact details will not be published on the school website.
⦁ Class lists will not be published.
⦁ Pupils’ names will not be published beside their photograph.
⦁ Digital photographs, video clips and audio clips will focus mainly on groups and group activities rather than on individual pupils.
⦁ Pupils may be given an opportunity to publish projects, artwork or school work on the school website.
⦁ Teachers will select work to be published and decide on the appropriateness of such.
⦁ The publication of pupils’ work will be co-ordinated by a designated teacher.
⦁ Permission to publish pupils ‘work will be sought from parents/guardians.
⦁ Pupils will continue to own the copyright on any work published.

Filtering:

“Filtering” is a term used to describe a way of limiting the content of web pages, emails, chat rooms and other electronic data to which users may be exposed. No filter is 100% accurate. The most effective filtering tool is adult vigilance.

Many browsers have their own built in filtering tool e.g. Google. Google’s search engine has a built-in “Safe Search”. This filter eliminates sites that contain pornography and explicit sexual content from search results. It is easily applied by clicking on the Preferences link on any Google page. Unfortunately it is also easily removed.
St. Brid’s School has filtering software. The access to websites from all school computers is monitored and regularly reviewed by the NCCA. Websites are only allowed through following verification of their suitability.

For Appendix see download.