To ensure that all students and members of our school community understand:

1. Our commitment to providing students with the opportunity to benefit from digital technologies to support and enhance learning and development at school including our 1-to-1 personal device program.

2. Expected student behaviour when using digital technologies including the internet, social media, and digital devices (including computers, laptops, tablets and phones).

3. the school’s commitment to promoting safe, responsible and discerning use of digital technologies, and educating students on appropriate responses to any dangers or threats to wellbeing that they may encounter when using the internet and digital technologies.

4. Our school’s policies and procedures for responding to inappropriate student behaviour on digital technologies and the internet.

5. the various Department policies on digital learning, including social media, that our school follows and implements

This policy applies to all students at Footscray High School.

Staff use of technology is also governed by the following Department policies:

• Cyber safety and Responsible Use of Digital Technologies

• Digital Learning in Schools and

• Social Media Use to Support Student Learning.

Staff, volunteers and school councillors also need to adhere to codes of conduct relevant to their

respective roles. These codes include:

• Footscray High School’s Child safety Code of Conduct

• The Victorian Teaching Profession Code of Conduct (teaching staff)

• Code of Conduct for Victorian Sector Employees (staff)

• Code of Conduct for Directors of Victorian Public Entities (school councillors)

For the purpose of this policy, “digital technologies” are defined as digital devices, tools, applications and systems that students and teachers use for learning and teaching; this includes Department provided software and locally sourced devices, tools and systems.

Vision for digital technology at our school

The use of digital technologies is a mandated component of the Victorian Curriculum F-10.

Safe and appropriate use of digital technologies, including the internet, apps, computers and tablets, can provide students with rich opportunities to support learning and development in a range of ways.

Footscray High School understands that digital technologies including the internet, apps, computers and tablets provide students with rich opportunities to support learning and development in a range of ways.

Through increased access to digital technologies, students can benefit from enhanced learning that is interactive, collaborative, Personalised and engaging. Digital technologies enable our students to interact with and create high quality content, resources and tools

It also enables Personalised learning tailored to students’ particular needs and interests and transforms assessment, reporting and feedback, driving new forms of collaboration and communication.

Footscray High School believes that the use of digital technologies at school allows the development of valuable skills and knowledge and prepares students to thrive in our globalised and inter-connected world. Our school’s vision is to empower students to use digital technologies to reach their personal best and fully equip them to contribute positively to society as happy, healthy young adults.

The high-tech environment will ensure new technologies are ubiquitous in everyday teaching and learning programs. The use of technologies and media will ensure students are provided with a continuous ‘blended learning’ environment, where direct person-person relationships are supplemented by contact with other individuals, communities, materials and learning activities remote from the school in time and space but accessed online.

Chromebooks at Footscray High School

Classes from Year 7 to Year 9 at Footscray High School are delivered with the use of Chromebooks.

Students must bring a charged Chromebook to school each day to be used during class time for different learning activities. A Chromebook is a small, portable personal computer. It uses Google Chrome as its operating system and is most useful when connected to the internet, in particular the Google Apps for the Education suite (such as Google Sites, Drive, Groups, etc.).

Chromebooks provide students with 24/7 access to a wide range of digital learning opportunities and is carried forward into the following years.

Our school operates a set device program, which means students must purchase the specified device and bring it with them to school every day. Footscray High School has special arrangements with learning with technologies a computer store that offers discounted prices for the lease or purchase of Chromebooks for Footscray High School students.

Please note that our school does not have insurance to cover accidental damage to students’ devices, and parents/carers are encouraged to consider obtaining their own insurance for their child’s device.

Footscray High School has in place arrangements to support families who may be experiencing long or short-term hardship to access devices for schoolwork. We also have a number of spare devices that can be loaned to students with particular financial circumstances.

School - Provided Google Apps Accounts

Footscray High School will provide each student with a Google Apps account to access curriculum resources and store their work, for their different subjects. The students’ data will be stored in Google's network of data centres.

This may include students’ names and ID, but will not include information such as students’ health details, address or families' contact details. This data is stored amongst many of Google’s geographically distributed data centres in the following locations: USA, Chile, Taiwan, Singapore, Finland, Belgium & Ireland. The college requests parent consent for this type of data storage.

Students, parents and carers who would like more information or assistance regarding our 1:1 program are encouraged to contact Assistant Principal Operations Paul Nucci on 9112 9500.

Safe and appropriate use of digital technologies

Digital technology, if not used appropriately, may present risks to users’ safety or wellbeing. At Footscray High School, we are committed to educating all students to be safe, responsible and discerning in the use of digital technologies, equipping them with skills and knowledge to navigate the digital age.

At Footscray High School, we:

• use online sites and digital tools that support students’ learning, and focus our use of digital technologies on being learning-centered

• restrict the use of digital technologies in the classroom to specific uses with targeted educational or developmental aims

• supervise and support students using digital technologies in the classroom

• effectively and responsively address any issues or incidents that have the potential to impact on the wellbeing of our students

• Footscray High School will be delivering the e-smart program for students across years 7 to 9.

• educate our students about digital issues such as online privacy, intellectual property and copyright, and the importance of maintaining their own privacy online

• actively educate and remind students of our Student Engagement policy that outlines our School’s values and expected student behaviour, including online behaviours

• have an Acceptable Use Agreement outlining the expectations of students when using digital technology at school

• use clear protocols and procedures to protect students working in online spaces, which includes reviewing the safety and appropriateness of online tools and communities, removing offensive content at the earliest opportunity

• educate our students on appropriate responses to any dangers or threats to wellbeing that they may encounter when using the internet and other digital technologies

• provide a filtered internet service to block access to inappropriate content

• refer suspected illegal online acts to the relevant law enforcement authority for investigation

• support parents and carers to understand safe and responsible use of digital technologies and the strategies that can be implemented at home through regular updates on Compass and annual information sheets

Distribution of school owned devices to students and personal student use of digital technologies at school will only be permitted where students and their parents/carers have completed the schools signed Acceptable Use Agreement.

It is the responsibility of all students to protect their own password and not divulge it to another person. If a student or staff member knows or suspects an account has been used by another person, the account holder must immediately notify a Leading Teacher as appropriate.

All messages created, sent or retrieved on the school’s network are the property of the school. The school reserves the right to access and monitor all messages and files on the computer system, as necessary and appropriate. Communications including text and images may be required to be disclosed to law enforcement and other third parties without the consent of the sender.

Social Media Use

Our school follows the Department’s policy on Social Media Use to Support Learning to ensure social media is used safely and appropriately in student learning and to ensure appropriate parent notification occurs or, where required, consent is sought. Where the student activity is visible to the public, it requires consent.

In accordance with the Department’s policy on social media, staff will not ‘friend’ or ‘follow’ a student on a personal social media account, or accept a ‘friend’ request from a student using a personal social media account unless it is objectively appropriate, for example where the student is also a family member of the staff.

If a staff member of our school becomes aware that a student at the school is ‘following’ them on a personal social media account, Department policy requires the staff member to ask the student to ‘unfollow’ them, and to notify the school and/or parent or carer if the student does not do so.

Additional information can be found in the school Social media use to support student learning policy.

Student Behavioural Expectations

When using digital technologies, students are expected to behave in a way that is consistent with Footscray High School’s Statement of Values, Student Wellbeing and Engagement policy, and Bullying Prevention policy.

When a student acts in breach of the behaviour standards of our school community (including cyberbullying, using digital technologies to harass, threaten or intimidate, or viewing/posting/sharing of inappropriate or unlawful content), Footscray High School will institute a staged response, consistent with our policies and the Department’s Student Engagement and Inclusion Guidelines.

Breaches of this policy by students can result in a number of consequences which will depend on the severity of the breach and the context of the situation. This includes:

• removal of network access privileges;

• removal of email privileges;

• removal of internet access privileges;

• removal of printing privileges; and

• Other consequences as outlined in the school’s Student Wellbeing and Engagement and Bullying Prevention policies.