ICT Acceptable Use Policy

Purpose

Cyber safety is an important issue for young children. By the time young children arrive at school many are already online or using digital technologies. They visit their favourite websites, play games and use social media or educational apps.

Glen Waverley South Primary School recognises the need for students to be safe and responsible users of digital technology. We believe that explicitly teaching students about safe and responsible online behaviours is essential, and is best taught in partnership with parents and guardians. We request that parents and guardians work with us and encourage this behaviour at home.

Policy

Glen Waverley South PS understands that safe and appropriate use of digital technologies including the internet, apps, computers and tablets provide students with rich opportunities to support learning and development in a range of ways.

Through increased access to digital technologies, students can benefit from enhanced learning that is interactive, collaborative, personalised and engaging. Digital technologies enable our students to interact with and create high quality content, resources and tools. It also enables personalised learning tailored to students’ particular needs and interests and transforms assessment, reporting and feedback, driving new forms of collaboration and communication.

Glen Waverley South PS believes that the use of digital technologies at school allows the development of valuable skills and knowledge and prepares students to thrive in our globalised and inter-connected world. Our school’s vision is to empower students to use digital technologies safely and appropriately to reach their personal best and fully equip them to contribute positively to society as happy, healthy young adults.

Implementation

At Glen Waverley South Primary School we:

• support the rights of all members of the school community to engage in and promote a safe, inclusive and supportive learning environment
• educate our students to be safe and responsible users of digital technologies
• raise our students’ awareness of issues such as online privacy and intellectual property, including copyright
• supervise students when using digital technologies for educational purposes
• provide a filtered internet service but acknowledge that full protection from inappropriate content can never be guaranteed
• respond to issues or incidents related to digital technologies that have the potential to impact on the wellbeing of our students
• know that some online activities are illegal and as such we are required to report this to the police
• support parents/guardians to understand the importance of safe and responsible use of digital technologies, the potential issues that surround their use and strategies, such as Family Usage Agreements, that they can implement at home to support their child
• provide parents/guardians with a copy of this policy and the ICT Acceptable Use Agreement.

Review cycle

This policy was last ratified by School Council on 27/07/2020 and will be reviewed as part of the school’s three-year review cycle.