|
This policy was adopted by the staff of CAMPION CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
on 15th December, 1999
1. Purpose
This policy relates to the school's Internet facility. The
purpose of the policy is to protect children from undesirable materials
on the Internet, to protect them from undesirable contacts over the
Internet and to prevent unacceptable use of the Internet by children
and adults. The focus of the policy is on both personal and shared responsibility.
The policy also addresses legal obligations with respect to copyright
and data protection.
2. Definitions
Undesirable materials
- Pornographic images or obscene text on Internet web sites
- Language that is abusive, profane, inflammatory, coercive, defamatory,
blasphemous or otherwise offensive on web sites or in e mail messages
- Racist, exploitative or illegal material or messages on web sites
or in e mail
Undesirable contacts
E mail messages from unknown or unverified parties who seek to establish
a child's identity and/or to communicate with the child for advertising
or potentially criminal purpose
Unacceptable use
Deliberate searching for and access to undesirable materials Creating
and transmitting e mail messages that contain unacceptable language
or content Creating and publishing Internet materials that contain unacceptable
language and content
Adults
- School teaching staff
- Non teaching school staff
- Governors
- Parents
- Visitors
3. Unintentional exposure of children to undesirable materials
It is the School's policy that every reasonable step should
be taken to prevent exposure of children to undesirable materials on
the Internet. It is recognised that this can happen not only through
deliberate searching for such materials but also unintentionally when
a justifiable Internet search yields unexpected results.
To prevent such occurrences the School has adopted the following position:
a) The use of an Internet Provider (LEA) who offers protection by:
i) the filtering of sites by a grading process
ii) the filtering of sites by language content with prohibition of sites
with unacceptable
vocabulary
b) In School protection by:
i) adult supervision of pupils' internet activity with no searching
of the Internet allowed without a suitable adult present
ii) the cacheing of internet sites in advance by staff so that pupils
could work off line
iii) the application of a School 'banned' or 'approved' list through
software facilities offered by the Internet browser or other management
software (e.g. Net nanny)
iv) the application of language filtering by appropriate software (e.g.
Net nanny)
In the event of children being unintentionally exposed to undesirable
materials the following steps will be taken:
1. Pupils should notify a teacher immediately
2. The Headteacher should be notified by the teacher
3. The incident should be recorded in a central log by which the school
may reliably report the frequency and nature of incidents to any appropriate
party
4. The child's parents and/or the School Governors should be notified
at the discretion of the Head according to the degree of seriousness
of the incident.
5. Intentional access of undesirable materials by children
Children must never intentionally seek offensive material on the Internet.
Any transgression should be reported and recorded as outlined above.
Any incident will be treated as a disciplinary matter and the parents
of the children or children will normally be informed. If deliberate
access to undesirable materials is found to be repeated, flagrant or
habitual the matter will be treated as a serious disciplinary issue.
The child or children's parents will be informed and the Governing body
advised.
5. Deliberate access to undesirable materials by adults
Deliberate access to undesirable materials by adults is unacceptable
and will be treated as a disciplinary issue. If abuse is found to be
repeated, flagrant or habitual the matter will be treated as a very
serious disciplinary issue. the Governors will be advised and the LEA
consulted.
6. Receipt and transmission of e mails by children
It is recognised that e mail messages received or transmitted
by children can contain language or content that is unacceptable. It
is also recognised that some people may try to use e mail to identify
and contact children for unacceptable reasons.
To avoid these problems the School has adopted the following practices:
a) using an Internet children's e mail service that guarantees the
bona fide nature of school e mail communicants and that vets children's
e mail for undesirable content
b) allowing pupils to read e mail messages only when an adult is present
c) taking steps to verify the identity of any school or child seeking
to establish regular email communications with this school
d) allowing pupils to send e mail messages only when the contents have
been approved by the teacher
e) avoiding the personal identification of pupils either by never revealing
the child's surname, address or other information which might identify
his / her whereabouts or by using 'internet aliases' for each child.
If staff believe that children have been targeted with e mail messages
by parties with criminal intent the messages will be retained, the incident
recorded and the Governors and child's parents informed. Advice will
also be taken regarding further steps.
7. Publishing of materials on the Internet
It is recognised that staff and children may at some time produce
and publish materials on an Internet website associated with the School
or the City Council. No materials will be published on the Internet
which contain any unacceptable images, language or content. Infringement
of this rule will be taken as a serious disciplinary issue. No materials
will be published on the Internet which will reveal the identity of
any child.
8. Use of the School Internet by visitors and guests
Members of school staff will take responsibility for the actions
of any adult guests or visitors to whom they allow use of the school
Internet facilities. The essential 'dos and don'ts' will be explained
to such visitors and guests prior to their use of the Internet. Unacceptable
use will lead to the immediate withdrawal of permission to use the school's
Internet facility
9. Legal Considerations
It is recognised that all materials on the Internet are copyright
unless copyright is specifically waived. It is the school's policy that
the copyright of Internet materials will be respected. Where materials
are published on the internet as part of the teachers professional duties
copyright will remain with the City Council. Internet materials will
contain due copyright acknowledgements for any third party materials
contained within them.
10. Parental approval
Photographs of children and materials produced by children
will not be published on the Internet without parental approval.
11. Review of this policy
This policy will be reviewed at a meeting of the school staff
in June, 2001 and the outcome reported to the governing body.
You can download a copy of our Internet policy in pdf format by clicking
on the link below.
If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer you can
download it by clicking the image below.
| 
