Introduction and Aims of the Policy

We at Alpha International Education consider online safety to be a very important part to safeguard all the stakeholders- students, staff and parents from potential harm online. We also empower the students regarding the online safety and develop strategies to prevent risk online.

The issues classified within online safety can be classified into three areas of risk:

Content: being exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful material

Contact: being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users

Conduct: personal online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm

Scope

This policy applies to all staff including teachers, support staff, external contractors, other individuals who work for, or provide services on behalf of the school (collectively referred to as ‘staff' in this policy) as well as students and parents/carers. It applies to the whole school starting from Lower Secondary Students .It applies to access to school systems, the internet and the use of technology, using personal devices.

The policy also applies to online safety behaviour such as cyber-bullying and will deal with such behaviour with discipline.

Roles and Responsibilities

The Principal

  • The Principal is responsible for the provision of online safety
  • Ensures that online safety is viewed as a safeguarding issue and that practice is in line with Alpha International Education.
  • Ensures the school follows the policies and practices regarding online safety
  • Arrange Training and support to the online safety in co-ordination with the technical Head.
  • Ability to handle online safety incident
  • Ensures that online safety practice is audited and evaluated regularly in order to identify strengths and areas for improvement.

The Technical Team and the Technical Head

  • Takes day to day responsibility for online safety and promotes awareness regarding the same in the school
  • The technical head is responsible for any contact on all the issues connected to the online safety
  • Arranges training for the staff and students regarding the online safety in co-ordination with the Principal
  • Provide technical support to all the staff , students and parents
  • Report any safeguarding concerns and breaches on the same to the Principal
  • Monitors the student’s usage of the Learning Platform
  • Apply appropriate technical control to ensure that the school’s infrastructure is safe
  • Maintains the online safety incident log and record of actions taken, and reviews the log periodically to identify gaps and trends

All school staff

  • Read, accept and follow the Online Safety Policy, Cyber-Behavioural Policy , Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions
  • Teach and create Awareness among students regarding online safety
  • Take responsibility for the security of school systems and the data they use, or have access to
  • Model safe, responsible and professional behaviours in their own use of technology
  • Supervise and guide students regarding online safety
  • the Identify online safety concerns and take appropriate action by reporting the same to the Principal
  • Participate in the professional development concerning online safety conducted by the school.

Student

Participate and engage in age appropriate online safety education opportunities

  • Read and adhere to the school Online Safety Policy, Cyber- Behavioural Policy , Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions
  • Take responsibility for keeping themselves and others safe online
  • If there is a concern online, report to the Technical Head of the school.

Parents and Carers

Participate and engage in age appropriate online safety education opportunities

  • Read and accept the Online Safety Policy, Cyber-Behavioural Policy, Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions
  • Participate in Discussions regarding online safety with their children and reinforcing appropriate, safe online behaviours at home
  • Appropriate usage of technology, social media. No image of students, videos or videos of online content can be shared online. Strict disciplinary action will be taken in this case. permission before taking and sharing digital images of pupils other than their own children
  • Seek help and support from the school, or other appropriate agencies, if they or their child encounter risk or concerns online
  • Use school systems, such as learning platforms, and other network resources, safely and appropriately with responsibility and awareness to the risks of technologies.
  • Any external individual/organisation must accept the Terms of Usage prior to being given individual access to the school network.
Education and Engagement

Education and engagement with Students

  • Ensuring education and awareness regarding online safety, use of online platform of the school
  • Never share the login id or password with anyone and understand the importance of safety
  • Keep your video off while attending the class to ensure safety
  • Always logout after you use the E-platform of the school
  • The students will be taught about anti –bullying and child abuse policy.
  • Educating the students regarding the effective usage of e-learning platform
  • Teaching pupils to acknowledge the source of information used and to respect copyright when using material accessed on the internet so as to prevent plagiarism

Training and engagement with staff

The school will:
  • Provide training and discuss the Online Safety Policy
  • Monitor the E-platform of the school along with the videos, classes and chats in the recorded classes as well as the live classes
  • Make staff aware that their online conduct out of school, including personal use of social media, could have an impact on their professional role and reputation within school
  • Ensure that all the members of staff are aware of the procedures regarding online safety

Awareness and engagement with parents and carers

  • Providing information and guidance on online safety by training
  • Drawing parents’ attention to the school online safety policy and expectations in newsletters and on the website
  • Requiring parents to read and accept the Terms and Conditions and Online Safety Policy, Cyber-Behavioural Policy , Privacy Policy
Managing Personal Data Online

Personal data will be collected, processed, stored and transferred and made available online in accordance with the privacy policy of Alpha International Education

Usage of the Online Platform
  • Always log on through your School Platform account and use your Alpha International Education Portal and email for school
  • Always be present for the class on time. Any student who logs in after 10 minutes of the class will not be allowed inside and will be marked absent
  • Do not make recordings, take screenshots/screengrabs or photographs, or store or distribute footage of teachers or other students
  • Be aware that live online sessions are recorded by the teacher and will be made available in the School Portal
  • The video should be off and audio muted unless asked by the teacher.
  • Follow the school rules for conduct during online lessons .Do not undermine in any way the technology used to offer video lessons
  • If you have concerns about online safety, or if you feel you are being bullied, you can contact your class teacher or the Principal
  • The students should respect the need of others to work in an online learning environment and help to maintain it positive and supportive.
  • The students can access the E-Campus /E-platform any time.
  • The students can inform the school on Portal regarding the absence in case which it will be considered as authorized leave.
  • The students should respect the integrity of all online systems and networks, respect all copyright laws, and respect the personal information and privacy of others.
  • The students should complete the assignments, projects on time and should not copy other’s work. After the due date, the assignment or the project will not be open for submission. In case , due to an emergency, if the student has missed to submit the same, they can inform the class teacher and the class teacher will decide regarding the extension of due –date for submission, if the reason is found appropriate
  • The students should not share login credentials with anyone else.
  • The students should not Write/Send/Post/ Display/share anything off-topic, insulting to others, abusive or illegal, threatening, or otherwise offensive.
  • The background for Online classes of the students should be plain or they should use the background provided by Alpha International Education
  • The Parents and students agree, confirm and undertake not to disseminate/share/circulate/post/access/store/upload any audio/video/image of the teachers conducting virtual classes/online teaching on any social media or on any other online platform.
  • The students should not discuss in any open forum information that is critical of another student or teacher. Discussion forums and chat threads are open to all teachers and students; and not appropriate mediums for private correspondence.
  • Students are advised to not share any sensitive information and personal data in the chat, classes or discussion.
  • The students should not Engage in any of the following acts of academic misconduct, Cyber bullying and /or harassment/ Abusive, Bullying, assaulting and ragging other students in any form. Strict disciplinary action will be taken by the management in case of such a misconduct.
Responding to Online Safety Incidents and Concerns
  • Awareness regarding the reporting procedure for online safety will be given to the parents, teachers and the staff including the School’s Complaint Procedure. All members of the community must respect confidentiality and the need to follow the official school procedures for reporting concerns
  • Incidents will be managed depending on their nature and severity, After investigations are completed, the school will debrief, identify lessons learnt and implement any changes in policy or practice as required
  • Alpha International Education will escalate and report to relevant agencies regarding any online safeguarding concerns
  • Any complaint about staff misuse will be referred to the Principal
  • The school will monitor evaluate online safety mechanisms to ensure that this policy is consistently applied in practice
  • The policy framework will be reviewed by Alpha International Education at least annually, and in response to any new national guidance or legislation, significant developments in the use of technology, emerging threats or incidents that have taken place
The role of parents regarding Online Safety
  • It is the responsibility of parents to ensure that students are monitored in their use of technology for Online Learning as they would ordinarily do when their children are using technology at home.
  • While students are working from home they are connected to their home broadband so their traffic doesn’t go through the school’s firewall – parents will therefore need to ensure that age-appropriate filtering or safe search is enabled at home. Information on setting this up can be found at: https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice- centre/parents-and-carers/parental-controls-offered-your-home- internet-provider and here: https://www.internetmatters.org/parental- controls/
  • Communication during online learning is between student and teacher: parents should communicate with school/staff in the usual manner, via school email.
  • Parents with queries about Online Platform should contact their child’s class teacher or tutor. Concerns related to safeguarding, child protection or online safety should be referred to the Principal.

For any complains or concern please mail to [email protected]

Principal
Alpha International Education