Mobile Devices, Phones & Social Media Security

DESIGNATED SAFEGUARDING LEAD

  Mrs Miller

We do not encourage/want children to bring mobile phones/devices into school, but understand that as a way of contacting children walking to, and from, school that parents may wish them to do so. If such devices are brought onto the school premises, they must be turned off immediately. There is absolutely no situation where a child is allowed to have a phone/device switched on once they enter the school site. They must then be handed to the relevant class teacher upon entry to the building/upon request and then returned at the end of the school day. They must then remain off until they have left the school site. School reserves the right to keep a phone/device at the end of the school day if its return would be deemed a safeguarding danger to themselves or others. In such circumstances, a member of the safeguarding team will contact the parents of the relevant child to discuss the situation and make arrangements for the safe handing over of the device.

Children must not wear smart watches in any circumstance. Only analogue 'clockface' traditional watches should be worn. We assume that the children may want to read the time and this kind of watch will meet that aim in full. If a smart watch is brought into school, and identified as such by a member of staff, then that item will be requested by the said adult and stored until the end of the day when - as above - it will be returned to the child (safeguarding conditions apply here as well when making the decision to hand this back to the child). Equally, 'fit bits' must not be worn/brought onto the school site.

In line with our safeguarding procedures, families/friends using mobile devices to take photographs and/or make recordings is banned on the school site - indeed phones should not be used at all on the school site by families unless there is permission from school leaders. The only exceptions to this are official school performances or events i.e. shows or sports days. Notice about the use of devices for each event will be shared at the time. Such instructions must be adhered to. Failure to comply is likely to lead to individuals being asked to leave the school site. 

All sanctioned filming or photography at such performances and events must be for the families own personal use and memories. In no circumstances should they be uploaded or published on any social media site and placed in the public domain (this includes areas such as facebook - where there may be considered a degree of control/filtering by the owner). This is clearly beyond our control to fully police but remains a condition of use for sanctioned events. This is a vital safeguarding requirement and any known breach may result in details being passed to the relevant authorities for action including requests to remove any offending images and/or films immediately. Should school feel that these conditions are being consistently ignored, then we may take the decision to ban the use of mobile recording devices in school for all events and possibly even at all times. We do not wish to do this and therefore ask for full compliance with our requests. Consider the importance of safeguarding every child and how you would feel if anyone was placed at risk due to careless actions. Thank you for your support.

All official visitors are required not to use their mobile phones/devices whilst on the school site without express and exceptional permission from school leaders.