Child Safety on the Internet

Dear Ms Fitzsimons

Re: Information Request - Reference Number: 2009100059

Thank you for your request for information received on 22 October 2009. We
are currently processing your request in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, and will respond to you within 20 working days.

For clarification we are using the following information for the purpose of
processing your request.

Details of measures taken to ensure the safe use of the internet by primary
and secondary school pupils, as outlined in the letter of request.

If you feel the information is inaccurate or requires amendment, please
notify us as soon as possible using the contact details provided above.

Yours sincerely

Heather Jones
Assistant Information Governance Officer

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Dear Ms Fitzsimons

Further to your recent Freedom of Information request which we received on
22 October 2009, please find below the information you require.

I hereby request under the Freedom of Information Act full details of the
Internet Safety Actions and Initiatives currently in place throughout the
region.

1. Internet Safety Education provided as part of the school curriculum.

- Within your schools is there a specific program aimed at teaching
children about staying safe online, including cyber bullying been
integrated into the curriculum?
- If yes, who is responsible for delivery and what accreditations/training
have they received? For example, teacher, CEOP trained ambassador.
- If yes, how often is internet safety training integrated into the school
curriculum, i.e. weekly, monthly etc
- If no, what steps/timeframes are being taken for implementation?

Through ICT co-ordinator updates, through our blog and through courses
and conferences, we have made schools aware of the importance of
teaching e-safety and especially that there is a statutory requirement
to deliver the key concepts of risk, safety and responsibility
surrounding the use of ICT at Key Stage 3. However, it is the
responsibility of each school to provide an e-safety programme for their
pupils in the way that is best for the school and the pupils. We can
only advise and provide support. We have consistently liaised with the
LCSB to ensure that all parties who deliver e-safety training and advice
are giving consistent messages.

The support we provide is:
We held an e-safety conference for all schools to raise awareness of
the issues and presented on e-safety at Heads’ trainings.
We run courses on e-safety (which includes cyberbullying) for
teaching staff and governors and deliver sessions as part of TA
training, so that the workforce is well briefed on this subject.
Through partnership working with the Multi-agency team and with the
LSCB we have contributed to the designated teachers update session on
e-safety.  This has included providing training to designated
teachers on how to use resources with parents
We provide free consultancy on e-safety via our Harnessing Technology
consultants. Members of the ICT team are CEOP ambassadors, so are
able to train staff as part of staff meetings using CEOP materials.
We also run parents meetings.
We provide a range of e-safety materials on the Shropshire Learning
Gateway. We have purchased ROAR materials and provide the Learning
Curve materials free to schools. We recommend schools use the
ThinkUKnow materials and the ChildNet International materials.We have
created a set of supporting materials including an e-safety leaflet
for parents and a model AUP and e-safety policy.
We recommend that schools teach e-safety as part of their ICT scheme
of work and/or their PSHEE work and it is integrated into our model
scheme of work and assessment criteria at primary level.
E-safety is a standing item on subject leader/ ICT co-ordinator
updates
Members of the ICT/e-Learning team sit on the e-safety sub group
which comprises of members from a range of organisations and agencies
such as the LSCB, Broadplaces, Barnados, West Mercia Police etc

2. Internet Filtering

- Do the primary and secondary schools within your authority have internet
filtering in place?
Yes

- If yes, what tools do you use? For example Hardware or Software?
Content Keeper software is utilised on central hardware at the Local
Authority.

- If yes, what is the name of your internet filtering supplier and when
was their contract last renewed/due for renewal?
The internet filtering supplier is Core Education. The contract was last
renewed on 1 April 2009.

3. Internet Filtering Breaches

- Have any of the Schools within the past 24 months experienced a breach
of Internet Filtering where children were able to access pornography or
Indecent images. Please provide details of School Type (Primary or
Secondary), Date of Breach and Type of Unsuitable material accessed.

School Type Date of Incident Type of Incident
Primary 13/05/2009 Pupil able to access pornography via
multimedia website
Primary 25/06/2009 Website search results included
"inappropriate content/language"
Primary 27/07/2009 2 words put in search engine came up with
pornographic material
Primary 15/09/2009 Searched for Henry VIII and came up with
pornography website
Junior 13/07/2009 Pupil type S E X in search engine and
came up with "pornographic(ish)" material

- If a breach of security occurred how was your authority notified?
All incidents were notified to the central IT Help Desk by the
individual schools. All schools are requested to notify the Help Desk of
any security incidents.

We trust that this answers your request satisfactorily. However, if you
should require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact
me.

Yours sincerely

Heather Jones
Assistant Information Governance Officer

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Help prevent the spread of swine flu. CATCH IT. BIN IT. KILL IT.
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