Cyber Safety

Learning is a social activity.

It happens when people interact with other people and their ideas, knowledge and perspectives.

ICTs provide children and students with new and engaging ways to learn.

Opportunities for young people and adults to learn and engage with each other have exploded in recent times with the proliferation of digital devices.

With such exciting opportunities comes the need to ensure that we all consider the implications for safe use of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

ICTs expands social and knowledge networks so that our children and students can access current information, interact with experts and participate in peer teaching and learning. Using ICTs they can publish their learning, as evidence of achievement or invite feedback for improvement.

We believe it is important to both protect and teach our students while they learn to use ICTs and become responsible digital citizens. This includes students learning how to avoid exposure to inappropriate material or activities and protecting themselves when they are online. They need to learn how to use ICTs, including mobile technologies and social networking sites, in responsible and ethical ways.

In addition, they need to feel confident about alerting the adults in their lives when they are feeling unsafe, threatened, bullied or exposed to inappropriate events. In response, these adults need to take appropriate actions to protect the child or young person.

To that end we

  • teach topics and use resources contained in the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum
  • encourage children and students to inform a teacher if they come across inappropriate material or anything online that makes them feel uncomfortable
  • teach strategies to manage online presence, protect identity through privacy settings, examine ‘terms and conditions’ associated with user agreements of Internet services, highlight the opportunities to report abuse or offensive online behaviour to the appropriate service provider or authority
  • teach children and students (in an age-appropriate way) how to identify and avoid inappropriate materials.
  • teach students about social networking – many social networking sites place children and students at some risk through exposing their identity, invading privacy and providing opportunities for bullying
  • have Cyber-safety User Agreements be in place for all students who use DECD online services. These agreements must be signed by students and parents and are reviewed and updated regularly to ensure their appropriateness and effectiveness.

The link to our Cyber Safety Agreement is below.