E-Safety
At Brighouse High School we go to great lengths to keep your child safe whilst using the Internet in school. However, it is recognised by all the lead agencies, including the Department for Education & Skills that using the Internet can never be 100% safe. The school has an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) which outlines to you and your children safe working practices and procedures and we are currently conducting a series of E-Safety assemblies and tutor group workshops.
If your child is upset by anything they have viewed on the Internet, or are the subject of bullying at school you should discuss the matter immediately with the head teacher.
For further advice please see Purely for Parents guidance sheet
More Information – Click to expand/collapse
Why do Schools use the internet?
The Internet is a huge invaluable resource that children use for:
Finding Information – Approximately 4 billion WebPages.
Contacting others – E-mail, Chat, instant messaging.
In addition to the above, changes in the way children learn have forced developments in accessing school work from home via an Internet connection – for example the newly launched BBC Digital Curriculum will contain over 120 GB of information and access to school computers from home will mean children can continue to study away from the school environment.
Unfortunately not everybody who publish websites or use the Internet do so with honest intentions and although they are a minority you should be aware of some of the potential hazards to children left alone to use the Internet at home.
- Offensive Material – about 4.2 million pornographic websites, growing at an estimated rate of 18,000 daily.
- Chat – 30% of children meet somebody new in chat rooms and alarmingly 8% of those go on to meet face to face.
- Email – 1 in 4 children are being bullied via mobile phone or online via chat or blog sites
What can you do to help?
You can help protect your children by following the simple steps below:
Keep a watchful eye on Internet use including E-mail & Chat
Check the history folder of your Internet browser to check what sites have been accessed
Use a child friendly search engine – Yahooligans or http://www.askforkids.com/ etc
Could use IE Content Supervisor – only blocks participating sites
Consider purchasing filter software – netnanny, cyberbloc etc
Consider using a different browser – Firefox?
Protect your PC with a firewall / Antivirus software – include spyware
Enable strict safe searching on search engines
Click here for a list of useful addresses
Finally, Do not let the above information put you off letting your child use the Internet, the benefits far outweigh the dangers.
It’s just a balance between keeping them safe and not making them afraid.
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