Sparklebox

[sparkeh]

I think you missed my point. Even if it is all ok, other people might not know that. If they see you using the resources and they think that its still a dodgy area it could make the school look bad.

That's a fair point. I think that seeing anything with that name on after everything that went on wouldn't look great, its too tarnished now even if it was taken over by someone else and run legitimately and all above board. Although I don't think that anything has actually changed in that regard anyway.

 

We just shelled out for a Twinkl subscription which is well worth the money

[Oaktech]

Blocked here, and at every other place I've controlled internet filtering. If you get my drift.

 

Anyone who has ever mentioned it gets immediately pointed to Twinkl as an alternative.

[LeMarchand]

Samuel Kinge is still listed as a director: https://companycheck.co.uk/company/06164228/SPARKLEBOX-TEACHER-RESOURCES-LIMITED/directors-secretaries . This blog suggests that CEOP think the site is "safe", but Kinge has already had 2 convictions involving children. My personal stance is that if anyone were to ask for an unblock I would argue the case very strongly against and if SMT were still determined I would show them how to do it after getting a written statement that the unblocking was carried out by persons other than me and against my advice.

[DJ-1701]

I think you missed my point. Even if it is all ok, other people might not know that. If they see you using the resources and they think that its still a dodgy area it could make the school look bad.

 

I did miss your point, thanks for restating and yes, quite apt.

 

That's a fair point. I think that seeing anything with that name on after everything that went on wouldn't look great, its too tarnished now even if it was taken over by someone else and run legitimately and all above board. Although I don't think that anything has actually changed in that regard anyway.

 

We just shelled out for a Twinkl subscription which is well worth the money

 

Thanks, I will point the Teacher in question that way.

 

Samuel Kinge is still listed as a director: https://companycheck.co.uk/company/06164228/SPARKLEBOX-TEACHER-RESOURCES-LIMITED/directors-secretaries . This blog suggests that CEOP think the site is "safe", but Kinge has already had 2 convictions involving children. My personal stance is that if anyone were to ask for an unblock I would argue the case very strongly against and if SMT were still determined I would show them how to do it after getting a written statement that the unblocking was carried out by persons other than me and against my advice.

 

Thanks @LeMarchand great to have that as a reference and great advice.

 

Thank you all .

[egomaster5]

Some great advice here. To the best of my knowledge as demonstrated by the thread, the owner is still the same twice convicted sex offender. The perceived threat was reduced by monitoring after the second conviction. i have not been able to establish whether this monitoring is still in place. As this is the case any school using the site needs to consider a threat assessment. Once completed if the school considers the threat to be minimal there is then the moral question about supporting via advertising etc such a site and owner. An education lawyer once asked a school what they thought the attitude of the parents of their children would be on discovering the patronage of the site, fair question i thought. Never an easy one this as others would say the owner has been tried and served the relevant sentence and should be allowed to continue trading. I have no opposition to that but.................It comes down to the SLT and individual morals and beliefs of the teachers.

[SimpleSi]

Because the site is unblocked in Lancs, I just took the personal stance of not assisting anyone with any issues with the site and pointed out Twinkl as an alternative.

 

Because people are humans (and haven't had a child abuser in their family circle) they aren't bothered and continue to use it.

 

However, no-one has ever has pushed me on my offer to resign rather than have anything to do with it.

[EliteCommander]

Apologies for resurrecting a very old thread, but I have just been asked by a staff member why the site is blocked. A local block was put in place on our webscreen prior to my arrival here at the school. As far as I can tell the site is not actually blocked by LGfL, but I am hesitant to remove our block for all the reasons detailed in this thread. Does anyone have any up-to-date info on the safety of this site now ? Thanks.

[FishCustard]

The site appears now to be owned by family members of the original creator (the one who was convicted of child pornography offences). I would ask whether the school would want to be seen using resources that are tarnished by a connection to a sex offender.

 

Personally, I would want nothing to do with it, and would recommend the school subscribe to something like Twinkl (other alternatives exist!).

[EliteCommander]

The site appears now to be owned by family members of the original creator (the one who was convicted of child pornography offences). I would ask whether the school would want to be seen using resources that are tarnished by a connection to a sex offender.

 

Personally, I would want nothing to do with it, and would recommend the school subscribe to something like Twinkl (other alternatives exist!).

 

Thanks, I tend to agree, we have a Twinkl account, but it appears that a specific resource was found on sparklebox. I have sought advice from our online safety contact at LGfL, but I shan't be unblocking it without SMT input at the very least.

[Koldov]

Thanks, I tend to agree, we have a Twinkl account, but it appears that a specific resource was found on sparklebox. I have sought advice from our online safety contact at LGfL, but I shan't be unblocking it without SMT input at the very least.

 

That's interesting... if you are with LGfL are you using the TRUSTnet Webscreen?

 

 

We have always had Sparklebox blocked, but I don't remember putting in those policies myself.... even though it appears on the 'Local Lists Overview' I always thought it had been done by LGfL themselves.

 

I know this is an old thread from the time of the original incident, but it seems to say LGfL blocked it back then?

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/yorkshire-humberside-grid-learning-yhgfl/44415-sparklebox-5.html#post435072

Edited October 29, 2019 by Koldov

[synaesthesia]

I would keep all blocks in place, and would go as far as to complain to any school I find their resources used in. I would do the same even if ownership was transferred to anyone else let alone his parents, his track record of changing names and faking his own death means he's hardly a trustable person. Anyone using their resources knowing about what happened should be rethinking their moral standing.

[Xur]

I checked this with the service desk and LGfL don't globally block sparklebox but instead have it denied in their default filtering policies that schools inherit.

 

Therefore giving us the choice, if we really want to, to unblock it by removing the blocked URLs.

[AussieTeacher]

Daniel Harry Kinge changed his name to Samuel Harry Kinge and pretended he was his own nonexistent brother and told everyone Daniel was dead, after serving time for child sex offences. He was again caught and charged with sex offences, although they couldn't get him for the offences thet believe he committed in Uganda, where he went to "help" at an orphanage, but they did take his passport. In 2016 he changed his name again to Samuel King, dropping the 'e' and changing the sound of his name. He is always changing the director of his company that he owns. It is all still very suss. Right now a different person, Richard Thomas is the director and Samuel has again resigned. The new director is apparently in Spain. Not sure if this will be a prelude to offshoring the company and effectively allowing him to turn the post feature back on on the site, where teachers and parents can post pictures of children for him to see using his products. He still owns and benefits from the revenue raised through advertising on his site. I personally wouldn't use anything knowingly that would financially benefit a child sex offender.

[synaesthesia]

Daniel Harry Kinge changed his name to Samuel Harry Kinge and pretended he was his own nonexistent brother and told everyone Daniel was dead, after serving time for child sex offences. He was again caught and charged with sex offences, although they couldn't get him for the offences thet believe he committed in Uganda, where he went to "help" at an orphanage, but they did take his passport. In 2016 he changed his name again to Samuel King, dropping the 'e' and changing the sound of his name. He is always changing the director of his company that he owns. It is all still very suss. Right now a different person, Richard Thomas is the director and Samuel has again resigned. The new director is apparently in Spain. Not sure if this will be a prelude to offshoring the company and effectively allowing him to turn the post feature back on on the site, where teachers and parents can post pictures of children for him to see using his products. He still owns and benefits from the revenue raised through advertising on his site. I personally wouldn't use anything knowingly that would financially benefit a child sex offender.

 

I'm still working on getting this site and all traces of it removed. His parents are now listed as directors also.

[synaesthesia]

This has just been brought to my attention.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7924631/Briton-four-men-accused-distributing-NINE-MILLION-child-porn-images-trial.html

 

Utterly sickening.

 

It's worth noting that on the day this came out, all members of the Kinge family were removed from Sparklebox's deeds (see companies house)

Edited January 25, 2020 by synaesthesia

[Mr.Ben]

This has just been brought to my attention.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7924631/Briton-four-men-accused-distributing-NINE-MILLION-child-porn-images-trial.html

 

Utterly sickening.

 

It's worth noting that on the day this came out, all members of the Kinge family were removed from Sparklebox's deeds (see companies house)

And that 'Samuel King' is still the person with significant control.

 

At his point, there is no excuse for any use of these resources.

[sigma]

I block all sparklebox and sparklebox2 domains at all schools I support. Since GDPR it’s harder to see what other domains he owns. Although I get support for this from heads, I still get a lot of whinging from teachers who just go home and download his stuff from there. No ethics.

[sigma]

I'm still working on getting this site and all traces of it removed. His parents are now listed as directors also.

 

I’d like to get the sparklebox account taken down on Twitter. Perhaps others might join me in reporting it?

Edited January 26, 2020 by sigma
Typo

[synaesthesia]

I’d like to get the sparklebox account taken down on Twitter. Perhaps others might join me in reporting it?

 

Tried multiple times without luck, "lack of evidence"

[Jawloms]

Just found that this *isn't* blocked by default on @SchoolsBroadband 's NetSweeper, so if you're with them, check it.