Is your school considering running its own Twitter or Facebook account? Do you know what to consider when it comes to devices that young people or visitors bring into school every day?
I am sure these questions have passed through your mind or have been the subject of conversations in the staff room. Well, we are here to help!
Become 360 degree safe
You may have heard already of 360 degree safe – a free (and award-winning!) online tool which helps schools self-review and improve their e-safety policies and practice. Thousands of schools are using it already and the numbers are growing all the time; these really speak for themselves - we now have 8,000 schools registered for the tool and 200 of them have received the E-safety Mark of excellence.
One of the things schools tell us they find most useful in 360 degree safe is the template policies. We have been working hard recently to update all of these and you can find them all on our website as well as in the 360 safe tool itself.
Two templates in particular we wanted to draw your attention to are those for Social Media and Mobile Technologies.
Social Media Policy Template
The policy on social media is essentially a template document for schools to find guidance on a number of areas: specifically what a school might consider when setting-up and using social media; what guidance schools should give internally to staff around their own personal use of social media and the inevitable interlink between their personal and professional reputation online; and advice on how young people should be educated around safe and responsible use of social media. There are also some tips around dos and don’ts on social media.
So please do take a look and use it as your starting point in discussing and shaping your own social media policy as a school. And of course, don’t forget that for support with online issues, including social media best practice advice or misuse of social media and how to report, block or use privacy features, there is our helpline for professionals who can help.
Mobile Technology Policy Template
The other recently updated policy in 360 safe focuses on mobile technologies. This used to be known as the BYOD policy (Bring Your Own Device). We have changed this terminology as BYOD as a term can often be misunderstood. For this reason we have used the broader term ‘mobile technologies’ to include BYOD as well as wider range of devices and issues that relate to the use of the school-owned mobile devices. This new policy is not designed as a checklist but rather as a set or criteria and considerations for schools to look at when reviewing the use of mobile devices.
If you are a 360 safe user, log into your account and find these policies in the Main review section under the Policy and Leadership aspect. If you do not use 360 degree safe currently, you can find these two policies along with the whole range of recently updated online safety policies for schools on our SWGfL website.
Where can I download them?
All our template policies are free to download and can be accessed on our Online Safety Policy Templates page, the policies can be downloaded all together, with or without appendicies, or each policy can be downloaded separately.
