Smoothwall eSafety Roadshow

Smoothwall have let us know that they are currently running an eSafety Roadshow which started last month in Leeds (sorry for not being able to give you a heads-up in time) and running through to October in various locations throughout the UK.

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A roadshow aimed at demystifying e-Safety and government legislation is set to visit seven towns and cities across England. The first event on the nationwide e-safety Masterclass tour will get underway on the 16th March at the Jurys Inn Leeds, Brewery Wharf, LS10 1NE.

Masterclass events are relevant for anyone working in a school or college that would benefit from clarification on meeting safeguarding requirements outlined in the UK Government’s Prevent Legislation, and ensuring they have the necessary processes in place to demonstrate to Ofsted that they are meeting safeguarding expectations.

Claire Stead, UK Head of Marketing at Smoothwall, the technology company behind the initiative, explains why they decided to take e-Safety on a tour of England: “Now more than ever schools and colleges need to have a clear understanding of how their students are using the internet, and have visibility over their activities. They also need confidence to tackle any safeguarding issues no matter how complex and challenging. The masterclass series will provide support in all of these areas; I would encourage schools to sign up early for their free place to avoid disappointment.”

Each masterclass will feature expert speakers many of whom have hands-on experience of identifying and managing safeguarding issues in the classroom, and understand the processes Ofsted use to judge safeguarding effectiveness.

Abi Clay, one of the panel of speakers chosen to speak at all seven events explains how the e-Safety masterclass programme will help school staff: “With so much now being asked of schools alongside their education focus, staff are required to have the confidence to assess potential risk for their pupils and be aware of support available. These workshops will provide a practical framework to develop teacher confidence in the issues relating to e-safety, safeguarding and radicalisation to violent extremism.”

The panel of speakers will also include Phil Smith, Smoothwall’s Head of Product, who will demonstrate a new safeguarding reporting system that sends alerts to the school’s’ safeguarding team if a student tries accessing material categorised within one of 7 category rulesets: radicalisation, suicide, abuse, substance abuse, bullying, criminal activity and adult content.

In addition, Mark Donkserley, MD, e-Safe Systems, will discuss why schools need to consider multi-lingual monitoring across all school-owned devices. Helen Hirst, a solicitor in the Projects and Education Team at Schofield Sweeney Solicitors will explain the UK Government’s Prevent Duty.“The Prevent Duty forms part of the Government’s wider strategy in relation to terrorism and counter-terrorism. The new legislation extends the responsibility for performing the Prevent Duty to public bodies making it clear that schools, colleges and universities all have their part to play. The difficulty is establishing how far the duty goes and refining the information that is reported to the authorities, which has been in the press in recent months”, explains Helen.

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These events will be free to attend and will cover the following cities:

• 24th May - Manchester
• 22nd June - Birmingham
• 20th Sept - Oxford
• 27th Sept - Bristol
• 12th Oct - London

*They also intend there to be an event in Edinburgh, dates tbc.

Hopefully EduGeek will be at some of these shows and we'll let you know when and where in due course.

You can find out more information on the roadshow here: eSafety Masterclass Roadshow - Smoothwall - Web Filtering & Internet Security Solutions for Education, Public Sector and Business

To book a place either email them on : [email protected]

Or phone on : 0113 2059753