Being Safe Online
Behaving Safely Online
As a member of our Avalon Intermediate learning community, we ask you to help make our school a place that is safe, friendly, and fair. This means taking our school values and acting on these whether you’re online, or offline, and help to make our school a positive place to learn, connect and play. This is being a ‘digital citizen’.
Keep it kind. Think about others online and talk or share in respectful ways.
Keep it to yourself. Keep passwords and information about yourself and other people private and offline as it can be easily shared, viewed, screenshot, or changed by others to mean different things. Nothing is private online.
Keep it careful. Because things you do or say online can be seen by others, be careful to share the things you can feel proud of, or would be happy sharing with someone face to face.
Keep it positive. Always respect others online and communicate in a positive, respectful way.
Post with caution. Anything you post or do online can influence what people think of you. Put your best foot forward online.
Don’t believe everything you see. Always think carefully about the information you see online – not everything is true. If you are unsure of something talk to a teacher.
Avoid online bullying. Creating or forwarding content that is harmful or hurtful towards someone else is not okay at any time. Sending multiple messages to somebody who doesn’t want them is also considered online bullying and is never okay.
Be security smart. Keep personal information secure by using strong passwords and not sharing them with other students. Always log out of a site, or device. Get permission before downloading software to the school network or connecting new devices.
Respect others’ rights. Always ask first if you need to use someone else’s device, online sites, and their image, ideas, creations or work that’s stored online.
Recognise other’s work. When we use or take others’ work or ideas from the internet, we need to make sure we copy or use these in ways that are okay because there are rules about this. Your teacher will help you to use things you find online in the right ways.
Use personal devices sensibly. Keep your device(s) on silent during school hours and only use it outside of class time unless you have been given permission to use it during lessons.
Seek help. Sometimes you or someone you know will feel unsafe or come across bad or harmful content online. If this happens talk to a trusted adult about what can be done.
What happens if something goes wrong online?
Despite the good things technology offers and people’s best intentions, sometimes things will go wrong. Sometimes these things are on purpose, and sometimes they are accidents. We will support you if something goes wrong online.
Online bullying. Online bullying is not accepted at our school. If you or somebody else is being bullied or criticised online, report it. Keep the content so we can investigate it. Stop any further contact with the person who is bullying. Contact your classroom teacher for help. It’s important to think about sharing what’s happened with a trusted adult like a parent, a member of your whānau, or someone else who looks after you.
Report a problem. We need your help to keep our school safe. If you see something on the school systems that you don’t think should be there, we need you to report it as soon as you can to Mrs Te Whetu (principal@ais.school.nz). This is really helpful and important, so that the school can find out what the problem is and fix it as soon as possible, and help those who might need it.
Online safety support. Netsafe is our New Zealand online safety organisation that is able to help when things go wrong online, when we have problems with content or negative things that others are doing online. They provide free, private advice for you and your family seven days a week for all online safety challenges. They can be contacted on 0508 638723 or online at www.netsafe.org.nz
How is our school helping to keep you safe online?
We help you learn in the best ways we can, and keep you safe at school whether you are online or offline. We do this by:
making everybody aware of their responsibilities
planning times in the terms to learn about positive online behaviours and ways to keep safe
overseeing students’ use of school’s digital devices and online spaces
using filtering software to protect everybody when they are using our devices at school
helping students who need support to deal with online problems even if these happen outside of school hours
keeping safe the personal information the school collects about you
protecting your rights to a safe and positive online environment
providing opportunities to use digital technologies in the learning at school
having a plan to help you when something serious or illegal happens that involves digital technology or online spaces. This might include getting in touch with the Police or Netsafe.
Google Meet Expectations:
Google Meet is a video conferencing app and is integrated with our G-Suite at AIS.
Netsafe (NZ’s online safety organisation) recommends that all video calls should be in a communal area of the house, not for example, in the student’s bedroom. The meetings that classroom teachers have are not recorded and you can choose to turn your child’s camera off if you would prefer.
We see the benefits of using Google Meet as:
Video conferencing enables us to ‘see’ each other again and for your teacher to find out how you are going
They are an opportunity to collaborate with peers and teachers and continue with our teaching and learning
They are a valuable opportunity to teach students how to appropriately, respectfully and safely engage in this online learning space
Expected Behaviours during Google Meets:
When you are in a Google Meet you should be in a communal area of the house; no bathrooms, bedrooms or PJs!
When you join the Google Meet, mute your microphone and listen to your teacher explain how they can manage the Google Meet
Teachers send an invite to you for a Google Meet so you know what day and time it is. Let an adult know that you have a class or group meeting so they know what you are doing and who you are talking to.