ONLINE SAFETY

Online social media tools can be excellent for supporting teaching and learning, providing exciting opportunities for schools to engage, communicate and collaborate with pupils and the wider community. Their use is carefully considered by the school to ensure the safety of the school community. The benefits of using social media tools should significantly outweigh any concerns and schools should be able to demonstrate the steps they have taken to reduce any identified risks.
In South Ayrshire we want to support collaboration amongst teachers and pupils and therefore we promote and support the use of the common platform, Glow.

If pupils are using online communities where they self-register the school will encourage them to read and follow the terms and conditions of the site and ensure they are aware of how to stay safe online.
When using any form of social media to communicate with pupils (including Glow) staff will ensure that they:

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• only share information that they would be willing to share in school or a school-related setting

• take care to avoid becoming personally involved in pupils’ personal affairs

• maintain a formal, courteous and professional tone when communicating with pupilsPage 65 of 75 Belmont Academy School Handbook Session 2022 - 2023

• maintain professional boundaries

• do not exchange personal information such as phone numbers and personal e-mail addresses

• do not discuss their private and personal relationships with pupils

• take care to avoid becoming personally involved in pupils’ personal affairs

• decline pupil-initiated ‘friend’ requests

• manage their privacy settings and keep them under review

• report any inappropriate use of social media by a pupil or concerning a pupil to their Head Teacher or Line Manager

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The school has a clear and documented process in place for the reporting and recording inappropriate use of social media.

At Belmont Academy we have made it very clear to our pupils about the appropriate and safe use of social media. Our Police Liaison Officer PC MacPheat has also delivered very informative lessons on keeping yourself safe on social media. We would urge parents to use the parental controls and encourage their child to access age appropriate material. We would also urge parents to monitor their child’s social media accounts as recent incidents have shown us that pupils can have upwards of 1000 followers – the majority of whom they do not know.