The Internet and other digital technologies provide a vast opportunity for children and young people to learn, allowing all those involved in the education of children and young people to promote creativity, stimulate awareness and enhance learning.
As part of our commitment to learning and achievement we at Castle Rock High School want to ensure that the Internet and other digital technologies are used to:
– Raise educational standards and promote student achievement
– Develop the curriculum and make learning exciting and purposeful
– Enable pupils to gain access to a wide range of knowledge in a way that ensures their safety and security
– Enhance and enrich students’ lives and understanding
To enable this to happen we have taken a whole-school approach to e-Safety, which includes the development of policies and practices, the education and training of staff and students and the effective use of the school’s ICT infrastructure and technologies.
This approach is reinforced by the use of filtering and monitoring technologies across the school ICT network. The Castle Rock High School computer network is protected from external threats by a sophisticated onsite filtering and firewall device. All incoming internet activity is inspected by a content-aware system that intelligently filters web traffic for all users. Only content that is classified as appropriate for the user’s particular filtering level is delivered to the user’s device. The system also incorporates safeguarding features that are designed to identify browsing behaviour linked to bullying, radicalisation, self-harm etc. The system also features detailed reporting capabilities that allow for scrutinisation of user browsing history, if required.
Delivering the e-Safety Message
At the beginning of the second review period, Year 7, 8 and 9 students all complete a 6-week scheme based on e-Safety covering many issues including; grooming, sexting, abuse of social media etc.
During the year, we dedicate time during mentor time, and assemblies to raise awareness of e-Safety with themes for each term to focus on.
This year’s themes are;
- Autumn 2017 – Connect with Respect
- Spring 2018 – Create, Connect and Share Respect; A Better Internet Starts With You (Based on Safer Internet Day Feb 2018)
- Summer 2018 – Unite for a Better Internet.
e-Safety Coffee Mornings
With the changes in social media, increased incidents of grooming and cyberbullying nationally, we at Castle Rock High School want to do our upmost to support parents and keep our students safe.
We will be running e-safety coffee mornings throughout the year for parents/carers. During the mornings we will be able to discuss any concerns parents/carers have regarding e-Safety and try to provide advice and support in relation to e-safety in a welcoming and understanding environment. We hope to encourage parents/carers to come and share their thoughts on what we can do to support them and our students as well as hopefully giving them some tips and help on current e-safety issues.
If parents/carers cannot attend the coffee mornings but would still like some support we have also opened an email account focused solely on e-safety: esafety@castlerocksch.uk. We would like parents/carers to use this service for any concerns they have regarding e-safety and also any advice, help guides for social media, and support. We can e-mail back directly or it may help us to identify some areas parents/carers would like to know more about.
The school e-Safety policy can be downloaded below.