Online safeguarding matters

Supporting our parental and carer community with how to keep children safe online at home is of vital importance to us here at Towers, each month we send the following Newsletters home to our families;

In line with Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024, schools have a duty with regards to online filtering and monitoring.

We outline our commitment to this duty below.

Role

Responsibility

Name/Position

Responsible Governor

Strategic responsibility for filtering and monitoring and need assurance that the standards are being met.

Adele D’Silva

Chair of Governors

SLT Member

Responsible for ensuring these standards are met and:

A. procuring filtering and monitoring systems

B. documenting decisions on what is blocked or allowed and why

C. reviewing the effectiveness of your provision

D. overseeing reports

Ensure that all staff: 

A. understand their role

B. are appropriately trained 

C. follow policies, processes and procedures

D. act on reports and concerns

Following SLT are responsible for;

A. EHT responsible

B. HT responsible

C. Mrs S Lloyd

D. All

A. HT responsible

B. Mrs S Lloyd

C. HT responsible

D. HT responsible informing EHT and keeping up to date.

Designated Safeguarding Lead

Lead responsibility for safeguarding and online safety, which could include overseeing and acting on:

E. filtering and monitoring reports

F. safeguarding concerns

G. checks to filtering and monitoring systems

Safeguarding is HT as DSL.

E, Mrs S Lloyd in conjunction with HTs

F. HT who are DSLS

G. All and EHT.

ICT Support Provider. London Borough of Havering Education Computer Center

Technical responsibility for:

H. maintaining filtering and monitoring systems

I. providing filtering and monitoring reports

J. completing actions following concerns or checks to systems

H.Tom Adams – IT technician from ECC.

I.Tom Adams,

J.Tom Adams.

Filtering and Monitoring

The Federation of Towers School has a commitment to providing a safe learning environment that protects our children from harmful online material.

What is Filtering and Monitoring?

Filtering means blocking harmful internet sites and inappropriate content.

Monitoring is the protocols and procedures employed to ensure that there is a robust approach to checking that our systems are effective and that we respond swiftly to incidents of concern.

We use a recognised service provider – LGfL – that filters harmful and inappropriate content. LGfL is a member of the Internet Watch Foundation. We use a firewall and robust antivirus software. We use an encrypted and password protected Wi-Fi network. We manage data in compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018. LGfL will contact our school if they detect suspicious activity and/or outside interference.

Staff are trained in how to respond to filtering and monitoring concerns.

Our filtering system blocks access to harmful sites and inappropriate content without stopping pupils from recognising their responsibility in keeping themselves and others safe, and without negatively impacting our teaching and learning provision.

The staff members for ensuring that filtering and monitoring procedures are in place are our Head Teachers, Mrs Lloyd or Mrs Hurley they are the lead members of SLT for responsibility with this important matter attending additional training. The governor responsible for ensuring that filtering and monitoring procedures are in place is Adele D’Silva. Chair of Governors.

Teaching and Learning

We ensure that our children are taught about online safety and that it is embedded in our curriculum. Children are reminded at the beginning of every computing lesson how to remain safe online.

We provide useful information for parents on dealing with online safety concerns on our school website.

When staff use the internet for the purposes of teaching and learning, they view online material in advance to ensure that it is appropriate for the age range being taught.

Pupils using the internet are always monitored by an adult although we ensure that they are responsible for keeping themselves and others safe, and that they know to report any concerns to a staff member. We do this through our online safety lessons.

How do we monitor website access?

Our DSL/Head Teachers meets with our IT technician from Haverings Education Computer Centre every month – and as required – to ensure that our systems are monitored. Reports can be run when needed to investigate any concerns. We will also have scheduled reports using this platform. We have direct access to the LGfL support centre if we require advice or need to report a concern.

Our staff continuously talk about matters regarding monitoring at staff meetings throughout the course of the year and each month our Head Teachers will ask staff for anything they are noticing or that may arise.

What do we ask children to do online?

Children will be asked to explore an increasingly wide range of websites and digital content and will be required to use search engines to develop their skills as a digital citizen - using these systems of filtering and monitoring we feel secure in exploring the online world, giving us opportunities to learn about online risks as we progress through school. Internet safety is a huge part of our school curriculum and we challenge children to think about the key themes of content, contact, conduct and contract which form the four main areas for online safety. We believe that this gives them the best preparation for digital citizenship of the future.

Our children regularly access websites as part of their computing lessons and as part of the wider curriculum. Our children may be asked to research particular topics on the internet. Children are reminded about the important of typing web addresses accurately.

Our school uses School Protect. This is a service provided by LGfL. School Protect lists the websites that local authorities have deemed appropriate for school use and those which are inappropriate for school use. Inappropriate sites are blocked. Our school also uses School Protect to list the websites which we, as a school, deem appropriate and inappropriate. Inappropriate sites are blocked. This list can be updated by our school as needed.

Please remember to apply appropriate settings to children's devices when they are using the internet at home or on mobile devices. Please refer to advice and guidance to ensure children's devices are appropriately managed.

Towers Infant School

Related Pages

Online safeguarding matters