Acceptable Use Policy

Castlebar Primary School 

The aim of this Acceptable Use Policy (A.U.P.) is to ensure that students 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 Therefore, if the school A.U.P. is not adhered to this privilege will be withdrawn and appropriate sanctions – as outlined in the A.U.P. – will be imposed.

The policy applies to the use of Internet and technology resources while on school premises and the use of any school resources that can be accessed outside of school. This policy also provides guidelines to parents on the safe use of technology in the home.

It is envisaged that the school community will revise the A.U.P. and update if deemed necessary. The School reserves the right to amend this policy from time to time entirely at its discretion.

The A.U.P. should be read carefully to ensure that the conditions of use are accepted and understood. It is assumed that the parent accepts the terms of the A.U.P. unless the school is specifically notified.

A draft of this policy was presented to the Board of Management in December 2022 for ratification purposes.

A draft of this policy was presented to the Parents for opinion in December 2022 

The Policy has been adopted by the Board of Management on ___ December 2022 and will be reviewed in December 2023 or before this date if deemed necessary.

The School’s Strategy

Castlebar Primary School  employs a number of strategies in order to maximise learning opportunities and reduce risks associated with the Internet. These strategies include, but are not limited to the following:

• The School uses Google Workspace for Education and See-Saw as learning platforms. Google Workspace is used by students from 3rd to 6th. SeeSaw is used for all students from Junior Infants to 2nd class and in senior classes by choice of class teacher.
• Teachers must familiarise themselves with the above applications to ensure that all safety features are enabled and operating effectively. E.g managing comments.
• All staff members will be given a Google Workspace Account for Education ending in @cbps.ie.
• All students from 3rd-6th will be given a Google Workspace Account for Education ending in @cbps.ie
• Student Accounts will be limited to educational apps such as Google Classroom, Google Docs and Slides. Students will not have access to Gmail or hangouts as these apps would be difficult to monitor.
• All activity will be monitored continuously by staff and any student misusing their account in any way will have their Google Workspace account suspended.
• The Digital Team will regularly monitor the usage of Google Workspace by students and staff in all areas, in particular message and communication tools and publishing facilities.
• Students/Staff will be advised about acceptable conduct and use when using Google Workspace
• Only members of the current student, parent/carers and staff community will have access to the School’s Google Workspace account
• All users will be mindful of copyright issues and will only upload appropriate content.
• When staff, students, etc. leave the school their account or rights to specific school areas will be disabled, deleted or transferred to their new establishment.
• Any concerns about content on Google Workspace accounts may be recorded and dealt with in line with our school code of behaviour.
• A filtering software from PDST is used on the school network to minimise the risk of exposure to inappropriate material and to block unsuitable sites. This is regularly updated.
• Students and teachers will be provided with training by teachers in the area of digital technology. Online safety training will be provided to teachers and will be taught to all students. This is now part of our Stay Safe Curriculum.
• Uploading and downloading of non-approved software on school devices will not be permitted.
• Virus protection software is used on school devices and updated regularly.
• A teacher will always supervise Internet sessions which are conducted on school  devices.
• Websites will be previewed / evaluated by a teacher using a filtering system, before being integrated into lessons conducted on school devices. The school’s search engine has a built-in ‘safe search’ feature. The ‘safe search’ feature will be enabled on all search engines on school devices.
• It is important to note that the school’s Anti-Bullying Policy should be read in conjunction with this Policy. Parents/Guardians and students should be aware that placing a once-off, offensive or hurtful internet message, image or statement on a social network site or other public forum where that message, image or statement can be viewed and/or repeated by other people will be regarded as bullying behaviour.

Guidelines for Students

• Students will not intentionally visit Internet sites that contain obscene, illegal, hateful or otherwise objectionable materials.
• Students will report accidental accessing of inappropriate materials in accordance with school procedures.
• Students will use the Internet for educational purposes only during class time.
• Students will not copy information into assignments and fail to acknowledge the source (plagiarism and copyright infringement).
• Students 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.
• Students will be aware that any usage, including distributing or receiving information, school-related or personal, may be monitored for unusual activity, security and/or network management reasons.

Guidelines for Parents

The safety of our children on the web is of utmost importance. Web 2.0 is open to potential dangers when used inappropriately.

• If students need to use the internet for homework or for distance learning, it is the responsibility of the parent(s) to supervise their work.
• Many social media sites have minimum age requirements. While the school will not monitor this, we would advise parents to not allow their children to have personal accounts on Facebook, Twitter, etc. until they are the appropriate age.
• Please do not “tag” photographs or any other content which would identify any children or staff in the school. If you are uploading a photograph, please ensure that it does not identify the child in any way. ❖ Please ensure that online messages and comments to the school are respectful. Any messages written on social media are treated in the same way as written messages to the school.
• Avoid any negative conversations about children, staff or parents on social media accounts. ❖ Parents or students should not request to “friend” a member of staff in the school. The staff would like to keep their personal lives personal.
• Staff have the right to ignore requests on Facebook or other social network requests. ❖ Parents are always encouraged to review the online activities of your child. If at any time you have questions about our projects or our use of these tools, please contact your child’s teacher(s). As specific projects are created, teachers will share how they can be viewed at home. The school will inform students and parents of key support structures and organisations that deal with illegal material or harmful use of the Internet.

Education

• Students will be educated on the benefits and risks associated with using the internet. ● The students of Castlebar Primary School. will be made aware of the importance of keeping their personal information private.
• The students will learn about the importance of informing and telling someone they trust if they feel unsafe or discover something unpleasant.
• The students will learn about the importance of treating ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) equipment with care, consideration and respect.

World Wide Web

• Students will not intentionally visit Internet sites that contain obscene, illegal, hateful or otherwise objectionable materials.
• Students will report accidental accessing of unpleasant material to help protect other students.
• Students will use the Internet for educational purposes only.
• Students will learn not to copy information into assignments without acknowledging the source or author of the original work (plagiarism and copyright infringement). 
• Students will not reveal their own or other people’s personal details, such as addresses or telephone numbers or pictures.
• Downloading materials or images not relevant to their studies, is in direct breach of the school’s acceptable use policy.
• Students will be aware that any usage, including distributing or receiving information, school-related or personal, may be monitored for unusual activity, security and/or network management reasons. ● Students will never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they only know through emails or the Internet.
• Students will not access chat rooms, discussion forums, messaging or other electronic communication without supervision and the express permission of their teacher.

Student safety

• The safety of our students is always our primary concern, so sites endorsed by Castlebar PS for students' use have been carefully evaluated. The following protective measures are in place for our use of web-based tools.
• Students will be taught lessons in the area of Internet safety.
• Wherever possible, teachers will choose sites offering private groups for schools and classrooms. In cases where this is not possible, only the teacher will be registered with a whole-class account to be used by all students.
• Students will never be required to submit personal information
• Any student accounts will be created under strict protections and guidelines

• Student activity will be closely monitored for appropriate use and conduct.
• All school conduct rules apply online as well as in class.
• Everything we make with the tool(s) is subject to teacher approval and / or deletion

Distance Learning

In circumstances where teaching cannot be conducted on the school premises, teachers may use Google Classroom, Google Meet, Zoom, SeeSaw, Study Ladder, Padlet or other platforms approved by the Principal as platforms (the “Online Platforms”) to assist with remote teaching where necessary.

• The school has signed up to the terms of service of the Online Platforms in use by the school.
• The School has enabled the most up to date security and privacy features which these Online Platforms provide.

Personal Devices

Students may not use any personal device with recording or image taking capability while in school or on a school outing. Any such breach of the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) will be sanctioned accordingly in line with the school’s Code of Behaviour. Any images or recordings taken by class teachers on smartphones or other personal devices must be downloaded onto the school server/cloud or on to the school affiliated website/twitter account and then immediately deleted from source.

School Website and Social Media Accounts

School Website:         www.castlebarprimaryschool.ie 

Twitter Account         @Castlebar_PS.

Instagram                 @castlebarprimaryschool

Facebook                 Castlebar Primary School

The Digital Team and the Principal will review the content of the school website and social media accounts regularly. The Principal, Staff and the Board of Management welcome any suggestions about how the content may be improved. If any parent/guardian has any concern about the appropriateness of the content of the website or twitter account then the Board asks that the matter be brought to the attention of the Principal as a matter of urgency. This policy should be read in conjunction with our Data Protection Policy. The following points should be noted:

• Students will be given the opportunity to have photos, projects, artwork and other work relating to curricular and extra-curricular school activities published on the school website as per the consent form. Teachers will coordinate the publication of this material. Students will continue to own the copyright on any work published.
• 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 of groups of two students at least and are appropriately named – the school will avoid using students’ names in image file names or ALT tags if published on the web.
• Personal student information including home address and contact details will be omitted from school web pages/twitter account.
• Parent(s)/guardian(s) are requested not to ‘tag’ photographs or any other content which would identify any children or staff in the school.
• Parent(s)/guardian(s) are requested to ensure that online messages and/or comments to the school’s website/twitter account are respectful. Any messages written on social media are treated in the same way as written messages to the school.

Cyberbullying

Bullying is repeated aggression, verbal, psychological or physical conduct by an individual or group against others. Bullying is always wrong and is unacceptable behaviour which should never be overlooked or ignored.

Cyberbullying refers to bullying which is carried out using the internet, mobile phone or other technological devices. Cyberbullying generally takes a psychological rather than physical form but is often part of a wider pattern of ‘traditional’ bullying. It can take the form of sending nasty, mean or threatening messages, emails, photos or video clips, silent phone calls, putting up nasty posts or pictures on a message board, website or chat room, saying hurtful things in a chat room, pretending to be someone else in a chat room or message board or text message and saying hurtful things, or accessing someone’s accounts to make trouble for them

❖ Any form of harassment using electronic devices, commonly known as cyberbullying is prohibited and will not be tolerated.

❖ Students are encouraged to report an incident or any communication that constitutes cyberbullying to the school or any member of staff.

❖ The school will take any report of cyberbullying seriously and will investigate credible reports immediately.

Legislation

The school will provide information on the following legislation relating to use of the Internet with which teachers, students and parents/guardians should familiarise themselves where appropriate:

❖ EU General Data Protection Regulations 2018 

❖ Anti-Bullying Guidelines for Primary Schools 2013 

❖ Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003 

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❖ Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998 

❖ Video Recording Act 1989 

❖ The Data Protection Act 1988 

❖ Interception Act 1963 

❖ Google Privacy Policy 

❖ Google Privacy Principles 

❖ Google Apps Security page 

Conclusion

This policy on acceptable computer use will be reviewed in December 2021 and amended if required. Any member of staff who uses the computer resources is deemed to have made him/herself aware of these policies.

Success Criteria

Our school’s Acceptable Use Policy on ICT use will be deemed successful if the following criteria are achieved: 

• Staff training has been provided on the use of the Internet 
• Computers are providing an additional resource for teaching and learning. 
• Computers are regarded as an effective tool in preparation, planning and record keeping. Staff understand, and use computer resources following training. 
• Staff encourage equal student use of computer resources. 
• Students experience the Internet as an enjoyable, safe medium. 

Sanctions

Misuse of the Internet may result in disciplinary action, including written warnings, withdrawal of access privileges and, in extreme cases, suspension or exclusion from school. The school also reserves the right to report any illegal activities to the appropriate authorities.

_______________________________

Chairperson Board of Management

_______________________________

Joseph Carty, Principal

Date: 1st October 2024