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.

The toolbar was always a worry. Nothing comes for free and the advertsing, spam, virus issues were always a possible outcome. Worthwhile others considering this but not likely many teachers will

For some time now this has been a moral question. For clarity, the site is still owned and run by Kinge. It is not thought that he poses a direct threat to children through the site which is now monitored. There are i suppose questions about whether as a school/teacher you are happy in using the materials from the site and therefore supporting a twice convicted sex offender, (and just as importantly would the parents of the children you teach) this is the crux. The statement issued by the South West Grid for Learning issued in May 2010 South West Grid for Learning Trust - Legal Statement Regarding Sparklebox still applies. Great to see members supporting the action taken. Egomaster5 - SWGfL