Policies, Regulations & Safeguarding

In partnership with ‘Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Board’.

St. Dominic’s Priory School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. Parents can feel confident that careful procedures are in place to ensure that all staff and volunteers are suitable to work with children. Staff hope that parents and children will feel free to talk about any concerns or worries which may affect educational progress and that they will see the school as a safe place.

Children will be taken seriously if they seek help from a member of staff. Parents will normally be consulted and their consent obtained before any referral is made to an agency outside the school under local “children in need” procedures. However, staff cannot guarantee to consult parents first, or to keep children’s concerns confidential, if referral must be made to the appropriate agencies in order to safeguard the child’s welfare.

For more information on the Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Board, please visit staffsscb.org.uk

E-safety

The Internet is a wonderful place for learning and entertainment, but like the world around us, it can pose dangers if precautions are not taken. Allowing free access puts your child, your computer and your personal data at risk.

The National Cyber Security Alliance’s K-12 Working Group, which meets monthly to discuss teaching our young people online safety, developed the tips below for parents. Additional information can be found here:

Remain positively engaged. Pay attention to and know the online environments your children use. Surf the Internet with them. Appreciate your children’s participation in their online communities and show interest in their friends. Try to react constructively when they encounter inappropriate material. Make it a teachable moment.

Support their good choices. Expand your children’s online experience and their autonomy when developmentally appropriate, as they demonstrate competence in safe and secure online behaviour and good decision making.

Protect your hardware. Safety and security start with protecting all family computers. Install a security suite (antivirus, antispyware, and firewall) that is set to update automatically. Keep your operating system, Web browser, and other software current as well, and back up computer files on a regular basis.

Know the protection features of the Web sites and software your children use. Your Internet service provider (ISP) may have tools to help you manage young children’s online experience (e.g., selecting approved Web sites, monitoring the amount of time they spend online, or limiting the people who can contact them) and may have other security features, such as pop-up blockers. Third-party tools are also available. But remember that your home isn’t the only place they can go online.

Review the privacy settings of social network sites, cell phones, and other social tools your children use. Decide together which settings provide the appropriate amount of protection for each child.

Teach critical thinking. Help your children identify safe, credible Web sites and other digital content, and be cautious about clicking on, downloading, posting, and uploading content.

Explain the implications. Help your children understand the public nature of the Internet and its risks as well as benefits. Be sure they know that any digital info they share, such as emails, photos, or videos, can easily be copied and pasted elsewhere, and is almost impossible to take back. Things that could damage their reputation, friendships, or future prospects should not be shared electronically.

Help them be good digital citizens. Remind your children to be good “digital friends” by respecting personal information of friends and family and not sharing anything about others that is potentially embarrassing or hurtful.

Just saying “no” rarely works. Teach your children how to interact safely with people they “meet” online. Though it’s preferable they make no in-person contact with online-only acquaintances, young people may not always follow this rule. So talk about maximizing safe conditions: meeting only in well-lit public places, always taking at least one friend, and telling a trusted adult about any plans they make – including the time, place, and acquaintance’s contact information (at least a name and cell phone number). Remind them to limit sharing personal information with new friends.

Empower your children to handle problems, such as bullying, unwanted contact, or hurtful comments. Work with them on strategies for when problems arise, such as talking to a trusted adult, not retaliating, calmly talking with the person, blocking the person, or filing a complaint. Agree on steps to take if the strategy fails.

Encourage your children to be “digital leaders.” Help ensure they master the safety and security techniques of all technology they use. Support their positive and safe engagement in online communities. Encourage them to help others accomplish their goals. Urge them to help if friends are making poor choices or being harmed.

Additional ways to keep your children safer and more secure online:

Keep your home computer in a central and open location so you can physically monitor your children while they are online. Be aware of all the ways young people connect to the Internet: Young people have many options to connect to the Internet beyond a home computer. Phones, gaming systems and even TV’s have become connected. Be aware of all the ways and devices (including what they do at friend’s houses) your children are using and be sure they know how to use them safely and responsibly.

Talk to other parents: When and how you decide to let your children use the Internet is a personal parenting decision. Knowing what other parents are thinking and allowing their children to do is important and can be helpful for making decisions about what your children do online.

Know the rules: Not all online services are for kids. Even some of the most popular social networking services and other sites are meant to only for use by people 13 and older. There are many terrific sites designed specifically for younger children that provide a safer, more secure and age-appropriate environment.

Keep informed: The online world is ever changing. New services with great features continually emerge. Knowing about them and how young people use them can help you better understand the digital life your children experience as well as any concerns you may have for your children.

Consider separate accounts on your computer. Most operating systems (including Windows 7, Vista, Mac OS X and Unix) allow you to create a different account for each user. Separate accounts can lessen the chance that your child might accidentally access, modify, change settings and/or delete your files. You can set up certain privileges (the things that can and can’t be done) for each account.

Additional Resources for Parents:

OnGuardOnline.gov is the FTC’s main consumer facing website to educate everyone on staying safe and secure online.

ConnectSafely.org has basic guidelines for teens and parents about cyberbullying, sexting, social networking, and more.

iKeepSafe.org seeks to give parents, educators, and policymakers the information and tools which power them to teach children the safe and healthy use of technology and the Internet.

NetSmartz.org is a safety resource from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) for children aged 5 to 17, parents, guardians, educators, and law enforcement that uses activities to teach Internet safety.

Wired Safety.org: Provides help, information and education to Internet and mobile device users of all ages. They help victims of cyberabuse ranging from online fraud, cyberstalking and child safety, to hacking and malicious code attacks. They also help parents with issues, such as social networking (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) and cyberbullying.

Parental Controls Booklet – Knowsley City Learning Centre: This Online Safety booklet includes an overview of key parental controls.