Personal computers are no longer the only method used for accessing the Internet.

Pupils can go online from personal computers at home, a friend's house, in school, a library, club, or cafe. Many game consoles can be connected to the Internet and used for chatting and other online interaction. It is also possible to access the Internet on mobile devices such as mobile phones and other handheld devices. In other words pupils don't have to be in the company of responsible adults to use the Internet.

This means that Internet use is more remote and harder to monitor. It is imperative, therefore, that schools have teaching materials so that they can play their part in educating pupils about such applications regardless of whether they are being used in the classroom. Schools have a responsibility to ensure that access to the internet for pupils is safe and secure. Schools have a role to help educate parents about keeping pupils safe on the Internet at home and elsewhere outside of school.

Many young people have better technical skills than teachers and parents. However, they still need advice and protection when using internet and mobile technologies.

The school can have an Acceptable Use Internet Policy and within that there can be guidelines or conditions of being a user of the school network.


Areas of risk

Contact – bullies and child abusers

Potential contact from someone online who may wish to bully or abuse children Most schools block pupils from using chat rooms our browsing social networking sites during school unless they are a necessary part of the curriculum. Filters are usually in place, either at a local authority level, or by the school to prevent pupils access to sites deemed unsuitable because of the dangers on contact from inappropriate users.

There are plenty of websites already dedicated to protecting pupils from cyber bullying or abuse. Links are provided below. Many contain resources that you can use in the classroom to educate the pupils on the dangers of chat and social networking as well a showing them how to use it responsibly.

Remind pupils that online friends may not be who they say they are, no matter how long they have been chatting to them or how friendly they seem. They must keep personal details private such as full name, address, or telephone numbers, and must never meet unsupervised with anyone they have only contacted through the internet. It is important young people know where to go to discuss and report inappropriate conversations.

Content – inappropriate material

Schools and local authorities use a wide range of filtering software to block sites because of inappropriate text or images. No service though is 100% secure and images or text will get through, or pupils will find a way around the filter.

Filtering software is regularly updated through local authority networks to cope with this, but it is important that your school has a reporting policy if inappropriate material is viewed. Look in your Acceptable Use policy for more information.

Pupils need to be educated on this issue. They must be told what to do if they come across material that is offensive or abusive. Again look at your school policy for more advice. Build this into your lessons when pupils are using the internet.

Pupils should also be taught that they should not produce any offensive or abusive materials themselves and store it on the school network or internet. Again this will be against the Acceptable Use policy and will often involve serious disciplinary action including access to the network being denied to them for a period of time.

Commercialism – inappropriate sales pitching