Calside Primary School is a Digital School: we were the first school in Dumfries & Galloway to receive the national Digital Schools award, and we also hold the national award for Cyber Resilience & Internet Safety. We act as a mentor school for other schools in Dumfries and Galloway.

In Calside Primary, we aim to provide all our learners with the skills to access and confidently use modern Information and Communications Technology in school and in the wider world. Digital literacy is a core skill for lifelong learning and for work, and we follow a strategy to develop flexible digital citizens: Dumfries High Cluster Digital Literacy Strategy

We follow the Council guidance for digital use in order to keep all users protected. The overview can be found here: ICT in Schools – Policy & Procedure Overview 2017 This contains links to the current guidance for the use of social media and social networking also.

We use a range of hardware including mainframe computers, netbooks, Ipads and Microbits  to ensure that children are familiar with different technology. Pupils use the Internet for many aspects of learning. In order to allow this, parents must complete an Internet Permission form. This is sent in the maildrop when it is required to update.

We realise that keeping children safe online is a worry for many parents. We recommend the National Cyber toolkit for good advice and steps that you can take to protect your children in the Cyber world: Parents’ Cyber First Aid Box