Digital Citizenship, Pupil Safe and Responsible Use of Technology

The Authority has an overall Policy and Procedure for the use and application of ICT in schools. We recognise that social media and mobile phone technology has potential benefits for learning and teaching, therefore the authority has produced guidelines for the use of technology, mobile phones, digital images and use of social media.

Use of Internet

As part of the process of learning we allow our children supervised access to the Internet and e-mail. The authority runs its own filter system to ensure that children and young people are not at risk from exposure to inappropriate material. This filtering system is regularly being updated. We have a policy for use of the Internet and a contract for responsible use, which we ask parents and young people to sign up to.

Please ask your school office if you wish to see a copy of any of the policies mentioned on this page or for any school specific guidance.

Use of Images

Schools take images of pupils for various reasons e.g. the prospectus; ceremonies (recognition of achievement, Prize Giving, Sports Day etc.); functions (discos, charity events etc.); curricular activities (Communication Passports, performance in sport or dance, field trips etc.); extra-curricular activities (school sports fixtures, school excursions, class outings etc.).

Images are also used to create a record of an event to show to participants, other pupils and parents and carers. To do this, photographs are displayed throughout the school; videos and photographs are shown to parents and carers, staff and others; media coverage arranged; prospectuses are published and distributed.

The Authority has a policy on the use of images of pupils. You will be asked to read this when your child enrols and to clarify your consent about the publication of images of your child, but you can amend your permission at any time by contacting the school office.

We also provide additional guidance for parents and families on how we use digital technologies in learning. For more information on what is used and how you can support your child’s learning please view our Safe Digital Learning and Social Media leaflet.

Artificial Intelligence

There is growing understanding and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) despite being around for a long time. The older kind, called Traditional AI, follows rules to help it make decisions or give advice. For example, voice assistants like Siri or Alexa use this kind of AI to answer your questions. Netflix also uses it to suggest what you might want to watch next.

Generative AI (or Gen AI) is a newer type of AI. It can create new things like pictures, stories, music, and more. It learns by looking at lots of examples from the internet. This kind of AI can be used by teachers to make learning materials.

Some Gen AI tools, like Google Gemini or Adobe Express, are available in Glow for teachers and pupils to use. These tools use enhanced protections to keep pupil data private and safe, and age restrictions for use by pupils apply.

This guide to Generative AI from Common Sense Education might be useful for parents and carers who want to understand more.