On Line Safety policy

[Bertie_Dellend]

For the first time my school is developing an official On Line Safety Policy. As Network Manager, I am pleased this is happening. I have seen a first, on-going draft of this policy. What concerns me is that, I seem to be pushed into the role of On Line Safety Co-ordinator and all the day to day and on-going responsibilities associated with that.

As a Network Manager, should I be expected to be the On Line Safety Co-ordinator? I thought (may be wrongly!?) that this should be part of the DSL role or other senior management.

I would appreciate peoples experiences and thoughts on this.

[elsiegee40]

Absolutely not! The powers that be are very clear on this. It's a SLT role. I'll be right back with some links

[Bertie_Dellend]

Thanks @elsiegee40 would really appreciate that.

[elsiegee40]

I suggest that you and your school's SLT read "Keeping Children Safe in Education 2016" - published 26/5/16.

 

Rebecca Avery, the Kent eSafety officer and a nationally respected figure in this field, produced a blog post analysing this document in detail from an eSafety point of view. It's all detailed here: Online Safety within "Keeping Children Safe in Education 2016" - published 26/5/16 | edugeek.net

 

The key part is this bit

The designated safeguarding lead

52. Governing bodies and proprietors should appoint an appropriate senior member of staff, from the school or college leadership team, to the role of designated safeguarding lead. The designated safeguarding lead should take lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection. (p.15)

Rebecca's comment (my bold)

The ultimate responsibility for online safety falls within the remit of the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) as online safety is a safeguarding issue. Some schools and colleges may delegate some of the activities regarding online safety to other members of staff, for example due to individual knowledge and experience, especially regarding curriculum content or specific technical knowledge and skills. As online safety is clearly identified as a safeguarding priority it will not be appropriate for the online safety lead to be another member of staff, for example a computing lead, unless they have also accessed appropriate training (e.g. DSL training).

 

The next document is Oftsed's “Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills settings” updated September 2016

See here: Online Safety within "Inspecting Safeguarding in Education 2016" - updated Sept 2016 | edugeek.net

Leaders oversee the safe use of technology when children and learners are in their care and take action immediately if they are concerned about bullying or children's well-being

Rebecca's comment (my bold)

Leaders should also work together with IT staff to ensure that all school/setting systems and devices are appropriately monitored and documented in a way which enables the settings to fulfil its safeguarding responsibilities. It must however be very clear that online safety is not solely the role of technical staff and sufficient support (especially regarding supervision and reporting concerns) must be in place to enable technical staff to fulfil this role. Many schools are involving technical staff within online safety groups to ensure this approach and role is clearly defined.

 

Finally, I suggest that you direct your SLT to the Kent template polices which are used by schools across the country. They were updated in September 2016 with both the above documents in mind (I'm part of the county eSafety Strategy Group that did these)... writing them from scratch is a mug's game!

See here: Kent Acceptable Use Policy Templates - updated for Sept 2016 | edugeek.net

[Bertie_Dellend]

Thank you very much for this @elsiegee40 really appreciate it! The Kent Online Safety policy template and guidance link seems to be broken?? - edit - found it elsewhere on the Kelsi.org site Edited November 18, 2016 by Bertie_Dellend