Reefton Area School Internet and Intranet Policy
The use of the internet for research and communication with experts and peers on educational matters opens up exciting possibilities for students and staff, and presents some serious challenges. The Internet is accessible to many people around the world and with this comes the availability of material which may not have an educational value in the school setting. Coupled with Internet access is the availability of Intranet (network) facilities for the publishing, distribution and management of data. This policy is to outline the management of Internet and Intranet access at Reefton Area School.
Purpose
Reefton Area School has a duty to provide a safe emotional environment so must promote use in such a way to minimise the likelihood of students visiting sites that violate our community norms (pornography, subversion etc).
- The demand will outstrip the facility so some sort of prioritising of use will be essential.
- Information available is of varying reliability so students must be taught ways of verifying and/or judging this reliability.
- The equipment must be protected from damage in order to minimise down time.
- Net etiquette must be followed with all email and publications on the World Wide Web.Guidelines
All students will:
- Undergo training before they are eligible to complete an ‘Intranet and Internet Agreement Form’. Such training is integrated into Year 9 or 10 IT programmes. Prior to year 9, classroom teachers would provide any training needed and access to the internet would be closely supervised.
- Be required to sign an ‘Acceptable Use Agreement’ before accessing the Intranet or Internet, and understand the responsibility of using the Internet.
Parents will be informed about Intranet and Internet Use, and their signatures will be required on their student’s ‘Intranet and Internet Agreement Form’.
The school will respect the rights of parents and families who decide not to allow their children access to the Internet for personal or religious reasons.All staff and other adults using the Intranet or internet at school:
- Are not permitted to access material through the internet which is offensive, dangerous, inappropriate at school or illegal.
- Are not permitted to send any e-mail messages which are offensive, dangerous inappropriate at school or illegal.
- Are required to acknowledge the conditions contained within this policy by signing a copy.
- Teachers may access student folders for marking purposes or where misuse is suspectedManagement:
- A booking system will be used to allocate time on internet capable computers.
- Each person’s folder is private from other users, although an administrator may open a file with a senior manager present if there is suspicion of inappropriate use.Life is a series of choices and consequences. RAS has chosen to make access to the Internet available to students for educational purposes.
Conclusion:
Refer attached appendices.
