A.U.P. Policy
School Name: St. Conleth’s Infant School
Address: Newbridge, Co .Kildare
The aim of this Acceptable Use Policy is to ensure that pupils will benefit from learning opportunities offered by the school’s Internet resources in a safe and effective manner. Internet use and access is considered a school resource and privilege. Therefore, if the school AUP is not adhered to this privilege will be withdrawn and appropriate sanctions – as outlined in the AUP – will be imposed.
It is envisaged that school and parent representatives will revise the AUP annually.
This version of the AUP was updated in January 2021 by Principal, I.T.
Co-ordinator and staff.
School’s Strategy
The school employs a number of strategies in order to maximise learning opportunities and reduce risks associated with the Internet. These strategies are as follows:
General
- Parents/Guardians must sign a consent form in order for their children to have the following:
- access to the Internet,
- photos of school events uploaded to website and twitter,
- As directed by Circular 74/2020 which instructs schools to use Virtual Learning Platforms for teaching and learning, St Conleths’s Infant school will utilise Seesaw and Zoom.
- Internet sessions will always be supervised by a teacher.
- The school’s internet is filtered through the school’s broadband filtering system. The school will monitor pupils’ Internet usage.
- pupils and teachers have been provided with training in the area of Internet safety.
- Uploading and downloading of non-approved software will not be permitted.
- Virus protection software will be used and updated on a regular basis.
- The use of personal memory sticks, CD-ROMs, or other digital storage media in school requires a teacher’s permission.
- pupils will treat others with respect at all times and will not undertake any actions that may bring the school into disrepute.
Internet
- Pupils will not intentionally visit Internet sites that contain obscene, illegal, hateful or otherwise objectionable materials.
- Pupils will have access to the Internet under the supervision of a teacher for educational purposes only.
- Pupils will never disclose or publicise personal information.
- Downloading materials or images not relevant to their studies, is in direct breach of the school’s acceptable use policy.
Social Media
- All staff must access any type of social media for educational purposes only.
- Accessing social media by all staff members for personal use must only be done outside of school hours.
- All staff accessing social media must ensure that no offence could be imparted from them.
- Social Media should not be a forum for discussion by parents about staff or pupils of St. Conleth’s Infant School
- Please note under no circumstances can photographs taken at school events, which include children other than your own be shared on social media
- Class teachers may set up Twitter accounts for their class once they follow the guidelines of our A.U.P. policy.
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying can be defined as “The use of Information Communication Technology, particularly mobile phones and the internet to deliberately hurt or upset someone” DCSF 2007.
Cyberbullying (along with all other forms of bullying) of any member of the school community will not be tolerated. Full details are set out in the school’s policy on anti-bullying and code of behaviour policy.
- Pupils, staff and parents/carers are advised to keep a record of the bullying as evidence.
- The school will take steps to identify the bully, where possible and appropriate. This may include examining school system logs, identifying and interviewing possible witnesses, and contacting the service provider and the Gardaí, if necessary.
- Pupils, staff and parents/carers will be required to work with the school to support the approach to cyberbullying and the school’s e-Safety ethos.
- Teachers are provided with their own @stconlethinfantschool.ie email addresses for the purpose of school related activities.
- Teachers will also store and create documents under their @stconlethinfantschool.ie email address on the cloud.
- Under no circumstances are teachers to use their school email address for personal reasons.
- All school correspondence is via email.
School Communication Platform
- The school uses Databiz as the main school based communication platform.
- This platform is used for:
- safely storing children’s and parents details
- Roll Calling
- Administrative work
- School Reports
Devices
- Teachers are provided with their own school laptop for school related purposes.
- Teachers are free to take these laptops home to facilitate preparation for lessons but must only be used for school related business.
- Any issues must be reported to the Digital Technologies Coordinator as soon as possible.
- Each classroom has its own interactive whiteboard and speakers. These must remain in the designated classroom at all times.
- The school has a shared set of 12 iPads. These are shared on a timetabled basis and are used in the facilitation of teaching, learning and assessment.
- Visualisers are available for the staff to use on a shared basis.
- The ethical, safe and responsible use of devices must be communicated to pupils from teachers before using the devices.
School Website
- The schools website address is: www.stconlethinfantschool.ie
- Pupils will be given the opportunity to publish projects, artwork or school work on the World Wide Web in accordance with clear policies and approval processes regarding the content that can be loaded to the school’s website.
- The website will be regularly checked to ensure that there is no content that compromises the safety of pupils or staff.
- Website using facilities such as guestbooks, noticeboards or blogs will be checked frequently to ensure that they do not contain personal details
- The publication of pupil work will be coordinated by a teacher.
- Pupils’ work will appear in an educational context on Web pages with a copyright notice prohibiting the copying of such work without express written permission.
- Personal pupil information including home address and contact details will be omitted from school web pages.
- The school website will avoid publishing the first name and last name of individuals in a photograph.
- The school will ensure that the image files are appropriately named – will not use pupils’ surnames in image file names or ALT tags if published on the web.
- Pupils will continue to own the copyright on any work published.
Seesaw
- Seesaw is the school’s chosen online learning platform and will be used as a teaching tool for teaching and learning in St. Conleth’s Infant School.
- Home Learning Codes are emailed to all parents/guardians.
- Seesaw privacy policy can be accessed here: https://web.seesaw.me/privacy-policy
- In the event of long term school closures teaching and learning activities will be administered on Seesaw according to departmental guidelines.
- Parent/guardian must be in the same room as the child during seesaw activities to monitor, supervise the child and also to help with any technical issues.
- All online activity must be supervised by an adult.
- Parents will be asked to find a quiet space, free from distractions.: Record videos in the kitchen or living room, not the bedroom.
- Child and adult must wear appropriate attire
Video Conferencing
- Zoom is the video conferencing tool that St. Conleth’s Infant school use for teaching and learning.
- Zoom privacy policy can be accessed here: https://zoom.us/privacy
- Teachers have Zoom accounts set up under their @stconlethsinfantschool.ie email address.
Pre-call
- Zoom meetings with class will take place on a weekly basis.
- Two teachers will be present for all meetings. Zoom meetings will be class based only.
- Each meeting will have a password and a waiting room.
- Teachers will email parents a few days in advance of the meeting informing parents of the date and time of the meeting and requesting confirmation of the child’s attendance.
- The parent must respond at least a day in advance that child will be attending the zoom meeting. Parents must inform the teacher if the name on the device is different to the child’s name.
- Parents will then receive an email with the link and password for the call.
- Parents must not share zoom invite with other parents or any other party
During the Call
- Once the parent/child joins the call they will be admitted to a waiting room with a list of rules on display.
- Teachers will lock the meeting once the meeting commences.
- The teachers reserves the right to:
- restrict screen sharing/chat/profile pictures/changing names/unmuting/video
- remove someone from the call
- end the call without notice or explanation should any interference occur
- All online activity must be supervised by an adult.
- Parents must find a quiet space, free from distractions.: Zoom from the kitchen or living room, not the bedroom.
- Child and adult must wear appropriate attire
- There must be no recording of any elements of the call.
Personal Devices
- Children do not have permission to have mobile phones/smart watches/electronic gaming devices in school.
- Teachers can use their mobile phones for school related purposes in the event of an emergency.
- Teachers can access school emails from their own personal devices.
- Teachers must always act in a professional manner and only use their personal device for school related activities.
- If a teacher uses their own personal device to take photos of school related events, they must be deleted once uploaded to Seesaw/Twitter/School server/School website.
- Should a teacher lose their personal device that has school related data on the device, the principal of the school must be notified of the potential data protection breach.
Legislation
The school will provide information on the following legislation relating to use of the Internet which teachers, pupils and parents should familiarise themselves with:
- Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003
- Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998
- Interception Act 1993
- Video Recordings Act 1989
- The Data Protection Act 1988
Support Structures
The school will inform pupils and parents of key support structures and organisations that deal with illegal material or harmful use of the Internet.
Sanctions
Should a pupil/adult breach any of the guidelines above this may result in disciplinary action, including written warnings, withdrawal of access privileges and, in extreme cases, suspension or expulsion. The school also reserves the right to report any illegal activities to the appropriate authorities.
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Permission Form Template
Please review the attached school Internet Acceptable Use Policy, sign and return this permission form to the Principal.
School Name
Name of Pupil: ______________________
Class/Year: ______________________
Pupil
I agree to follow the school’s Acceptable Use Policy on the use of the Internet. I will use the Internet in a responsible way and obey all the rules explained to me by the school.
Pupil’s Signature: __________________________ Date:
Parent/Guardian
As the parent or legal guardian of the above pupil, I have read the Acceptable Use Policy and grant permission for my son or daughter or the child in my care to access the Internet. I understand that Internet access is intended for educational purposes. I also understand that every reasonable precaution has been taken by the school to provide for online safety but the school cannot be held responsible if pupils access unsuitable websites.
I accept the above paragraph □ I do not accept the above paragraph □
(Please tick as appropriate)
In relation to the school website, I accept that, if the school considers it appropriate, my child’s school work may be chosen for inclusion on the website. I understand and accept the terms of the Acceptable Use Policy relating to publishing children’s work on the school website.
I accept the above paragraph □ I do not accept the above paragraph □
(Please tick as appropriate)
Signature:
Mr. Pat Lonergan , Chairman B.O.M. Date: 24/03/21
