School websites - Snowcutter safety policy and advice
A website provides an excellent method to communicate with pupils, parents and other interested parties as well as a great showcase for pupil's work and the other successes of the school.
Sadly any website that features children can also attract unwanted attention from certain adults. We have a the duty to ensure that every child in school care is safe and this duty must also be extended to the "virtual schools" provided by school websites.
Snowcutter websites are designed working in partnership with the school and specifically adopt the following policy to ensure that no individual child can be identified or contacted either via, or as a result of a visitor using the school web site:
- Pupils names will never be shown alongside their photos
- Where names are used alongside pupil's work, only first names will be shown
- Email addresses of individual pupils will not be shown
- Where a visitor's book is included, new posts will not appear on the website until the nominated moderator (staff member) has accepted or edited the content. When new posts are made, an email is automatically sent to the moderator. A password protected moderator's page is provided for easy monitoring and maintenance of the book.
A useful source of policy information relating to child safety and school websites can be found at the Becta site
E-Safety Introduction, which also gives safety advice for other areas of ICT.