Help for non-English speakers
If you need help to understand this policy, please contact Donald Eddington, Principal. Non-English speakers can also access Google translate at the bottom of this web page.
As valuable partners in promoting and maintaining child safety and wellbeing at William Ruthven Primary School, we welcome and encourage your feedback. If you have any suggestions, comments or questions in relation to our child safe policies and practices, please contact the Principal, Donald Eddington via email, donald.eddington@education.vic.gov.au.
To ensure that all students and members of our school community understand:
This policy applies to all students and staff at William Ruthven Primary School. Staff use of technology is also governed by the following Department policies:
Staff and students also follow our school’s Acceptable Use Agreement.
Staff, volunteers and school councillors also need to adhere to codes of conduct relevant to their respective roles. These codes include:
Definitions
For the purpose of this policy, ‘digital technologies’ are defined as digital devices, tools, applications and systems that students and teachers use for learning and teaching; this includes Department-provided software and locally sourced devices, tools and systems.
Vision for digital learning at our school
The use of digital technologies is a mandated component of the Victorian Curriculum F-10.
Safe and appropriate use of digital technologies, including the internet, apps, computers and tablets, can provide students with rich opportunities to support learning and development in a range of ways.
Through increased access to digital technologies, students can benefit from learning that is interactive, collaborative, personalised, engaging and transformative. Digital technologies enable our students to interact with and create high quality content, resources and tools. It also enables personalised learning tailored to students’ particular needs and interests and transforms assessment, reporting and feedback, driving new forms of collaboration and communication.
William Ruthven Primary School believes that the use of digital technologies at school allows the development of valuable skills and knowledge and prepares students to thrive in our globalised and inter-connected world. Our school’s vision is to empower students to use digital technologies safely and appropriately to reach their personal best and fully equip them to contribute positively to society as happy, healthy young adults.
Safe and appropriate use of digital technologies
Digital technologies, if not used appropriately, may present risks to users’ safety or wellbeing. At William Ruthven Primary School, we are committed to educating all students to use digital technologies safely, equipping students with the skills and knowledge to navigate the digital world.
At William Ruthven Primary School, we:
Use online sites and digital tools that support students’ learning, and focus our use of digital technologies on being learning-centred.
Distribution of school owned devices to students will only be permitted where students and their parents/carers have completed a signed Acceptable Use Agreement. and Digital Learning Statement.
It is the responsibility of all students to protect their own password and not divulge it to another person. If a student or staff member knows or suspects an account has been used by another person, the account holder must notify classroom teacher immediately.
All messages created, sent or retrieved on the school’s network are the property of the school. The school reserves the right to access and monitor all messages and files on the computer system, as necessary and appropriate. Communications including text and images may be required to be disclosed to law enforcement and other third parties without the consent of the sender.
Information on supervision arrangements for students engaging in digital learning activities is available in our Yard Duty and Supervision of Students Policy (Available upon request).
Social media use
Our school follows the Department’s policy on Social Media Use to Support Learning to ensure social media is used safely and appropriately in student learning and to ensure appropriate parent notification occurs or, where required, consent is sought. Where the student activity is visible to the public, it requires consent.
In accordance with the Department’s policy on social media, staff will not ‘friend’ or ‘follow’ a student on a personal social media account, or accept a ‘friend’ request from a student using a personal social media account unless it is objectively appropriate, for example where the student is also a family member of the staff.
If a staff member of our school becomes aware that a student at the school is ‘following’ them on a personal social media account, Department policy requires the staff member to ask the student to ‘unfollow’ them, and to notify the school and/or parent or carer if the student does not do so.
Student behavioural expectations
When using digital technologies, students are expected to behave in a way that is consistent with William Ruthven Primary School’s Statement of Values and School Philosophy, Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy, and Bullying Prevention Policy.
When a student acts in breach of the behaviour standards of our school community (including cyberbullying, using digital technologies to harass, threaten or intimidate, or viewing/posting/sharing of inappropriate or unlawful content), William Ruthven Primary School will institute a staged response, consistent with our student engagement and behaviour policies.
Breaches of this policy by students can result in a number of consequences which will depend on the severity of the breach and the context of the situation. This includes:
This policy will be communicated to our school community in the following ways:
