Child Safety on the Internet

Mrs Fitzsimons made this Freedom of Information request to Orkney Islands Council

The request was successful.

From: Mrs Fitzsimons

21 October 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

This request relates to the safe use of the Internet by Primary and
Secondary School pupils in your region.

Resources:
1. The Byron Review, published 27 March 2008,
2. The Byron Review Action Plan, published 24th June 2008.
3. Written Answer from Scottish Parliament, Maureen Watt dated 24
January 2008. (S3W-08434)

The resources above relate to the safety and education of children
using the Internet at Home and School, and the responsibility of
government, local and national to ensure that children are educated
and protected whilst doing so.

Maureen Watt’s written answer stated that “The Scottish Government
wants children and young people to make full use of the internet
and is committed to ensuring that they are able to do so in a safe
and responsible manner”.

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 has 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?

2. Internet Filtering

- Do the primary and secondary schools within your authority have
internet filtering in place?
- If yes, what tools do you use? For example Hardware or Software?
- If yes, what is the name of your internet filtering supplier and
when was their contract last renewed/due for renewal?

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.
- If a breach of security occurred how was your authority notified?
For example, by a parent, by the school, through an automated alert
provided by hardware/software supplier.

Yours truly,
Mrs A Fitzsimons

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From: foi

22 October 2009

Dear Madam

The undernoted request has been received. Please note the reference
assigned. We will revert in due course.

Yours faithfully

F MacDonald
FOI

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From: foi

26 November 2009

Dear Madam

Further to your undernoted request the information held is as follows:

1. Internet safety Awareness in Orkney Schools

In line with most LAs, Orkney has introduced training and e-safety
materials to support the delivery of internet safety awareness to
young people in schools. This is an ongoing process and necessarily as
the popularity of the on-line environment increases training materials
are being targeted at younger children.

Current support includes:

* All schools have been provided with on-line safety training pack
- Keeping Myself e-safe online by Learning Curve . This pack covers
topics that are integrated into personal Development programmes through
the Health and Wellbeing aspects of the Curriculum for Excellence.
There are both Primary and Secondary resources are in schools.
* Cross agency planning on rollout of training for staff
including CPD provision and training local staff CEOP.
* Staff training programmes delivered through CPD events based
on CEOPS programme. Eg Two courses in October 2009 (Orkney Learning
Festival) one on awareness raising and another to training teaching
staff (Think U Know training) through CEOPS programme. Training
delivered by CEOPS Ambassador.
* Further internet awareness training will be planned and
delivered to all staff as part of a programme of CPD which will
supplement the statutory delivery of areas such as Child Protection
training.
* Online internet safety web sites ( eg Think U Know) are
highlighted and bookmarked through Glow (national Internet for
Scotland)

2. Internet Filtering

(i) Yes, all schools within the Authority have Internet filtering in
place.

(ii) We use a hardware appliance.

(iii) Our supplier is Secure Computing. The contract is due for
renewal in June 2010.

3. Breaches

(i) There have been no reported breaches within the past 24 months.

In terms of section 20 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002, the Council is obliged to put in place a system by which it can
review its actions and decisions in relation to requests for
information. Applicants can require a review within 40 working days
after a response has been issued or after the expiry of the time for
complying with the request.

Any requests for review must be complied with promptly and in any event,
by not later than the 20th working day after the receipt of the
requirement. Should you wish a review to be carried out in respect of
this response to your request, then we should be obliged if you would
contact the Freedom of Information Officer (at Council Offices, School
Place, Kirkwall, Orkney. KW15 1NY) within the timescale specified above
and the appropriate arrangements will be made.

Yours Faithfully

F MacDonald
FOI

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