Keeping Safe with technology

Making learning safe

At Mellons Bay School we use the Ministry of Education's Network for Learning, N4L managed network, to provide internet safety and security. The Government established N4L as a Crown-owned company to develop and operate a managed network for schools. The Managed Network provides all schools with Government funded access to reliable, fast, safe internet connections with uncapped data.

You can learn more about the product we us here

The N4L Certificate

To make full use of the safety filters, BYOD users will need to download an SSL Certificate. This allows secure websites to be scanned for objectionable material. An example of why the certificate is required is the Google search engine. Without this level of filtering unsuitable material can be accessed through Google’s secure sites. You can find out more about the certificate and filtering here.

All users can download the SSL Inspection Certificate by clicking here

Please let the class teacher know if you would like to use a lighter security option and not install the Ministry of Educations' N4L certificate solution.

For any support or queries please contact: BYOD@mellonsbay.school.nz

Monitoring and permissions

Google for Education and Hapara Teacher Dashboard gives us access to our learners accounts.

Students work under the direction and supervision of teachers. There is no use of devices before school or at breaks.

Expectations are agreed upon at home and school

We expect families to discuss and agree to our 'Acceptable use of the internet' document and BYOD policy.

Parents, teachers and students need to revisit the safety protocols and agreements throughout the year.

An important aim of the BYOD programme is to support our students as they to navigate the digital world.

Parent Permissions

All ipads have the ability to customise parent permissions.

Parents have the ability to control the use of certain apps during school time. Entertainment and messaging applications are not required by the school.

Visiting talks on how to be a safe digital citizen

A police educating officer takes a lesson with each class in Term 1.

Teachers follow up throughout the year on the messages shared in these lessons.

Key content includes; how to stay safe online, what not to share, respecting others, how to respond to inappropriate images, behaviour, bullying and copyright.

Looking after devices at school

Devices are locked away at break times.

Devices go home each night.

Students are responsible for looking after their own devices and ensuring they come to school charged and ready for the day.

We strongly recommend a robust case for your child's device.