General Internet Use and Consent

General Internet Use and Consent

The school will offer opportunities to maximize learning opportunities and reduce risks associated with the internet. These opportunities are:

Supervised internet access for all students.

Students and teachers will be given training opportunities in the area of internet safety.

Filtering of software, websites and apps to minimize exposure to inappropriate material. 

The school’s internet is protected by the firewalls provided by the service provider FLOW and The technical team at the Ministry of Education Barbados.

Virus protection software will be updated regularly.

The use of flash drives will be prohibited. Information must be emailed or saved on the computer system.

Students and staff must observe good netiquette and not engage in online misbehavior that could bring themselves or the school into disrepute.

Students and staff must be familiar with copyright issues as it pertains to accessing online resources.

Students and staff must be aware that usage whether receiving or distributing information, academic or personal may be monitored for security and network management reasons

Students and staff will not visit internet sites that contain obscene or illegal materials.

 

Email

Students will not have access to personal email facilities at school. Emails will be sent using the school’s email address.

Chat – Instant Messaging

Staff and students will have access to chat rooms approved by the school. Chat rooms, discussion forums and any other mediums for chat i.e. Instagram, Twitter, Skype, Facebook.

Usernames will be used in online discussions to avoid disclosure of student identity.

Face to Face meetings with persons contacted online is strictly prohibited.

Mobile Devices

Students are not permitted to bring mobile phones or tablets/laptops to school. There are currently forty working laptops in the school’s information technology lab and class sizes do not exceed 30 at any given time. Each laptop has been configured for student use; parental control has been enabled and student accounts have been granted limited access and control. Each laptop has Microsoft Family Safety installed and this allows the ITC to monitor student online activity.

Intellectual Property

Students and teachers alike will be given the opportunity to publish all academic work and artwork on the school’s website. The publication of such work by a student shall be coordinated and published by a teacher. Personal contact information such as home addresses and telephone numbers will not be published. All students and teachers will retain the copyright on any work published.

Login and Password

All students will be given login credentials. They will be expected to create their own passwords and keep this information private. Students will not be allowed to access confidential school files of any sort.

If a student believes that their password has been compromised they are expected to inform the school’s ITC as soon as possible.