This afternoon I sent each student home with a copy of the Kawa of Care agreement. Click here to see the notice. Please fill this out and return it to school asap. Read more below about Being Cybersmart at Yaldhurst Model School.
Being Cybersmart at Yaldhurst Model School
Yaldhurst Model School is determined to provide our students with a vibrant and safe online environment. This is done via a combination of technical and educational measures outlined below.
YMS is part of the Network for Schools (N4L) which provide security filters and proactive blocking in response to email compromises, phishing scams and malware incidents. N4L have published a detailed Email Protection Overview for those who wish to be reassured with more detail.
YMS has a contract with Fusionnetworks.co.nz who oversee our systems and ensure that they are up-to-date and provide the best services and protections for our students. A Fusion technician visits YMS each week and responds to any technical concerns that have been logged during the week. Fusion can also respond immediately either online or in person if required. Fusion states on their website that they ‘thrive on connection and build trusted relationships which allow us to deliver a transparent, committed, wrap-around service for teachers and students.’
YMS employs Google Applications for Education which provide students with the ability to collaborate in real time with Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and other applications.
In conjunction with Google Applications YMS employs Hapara which works seamlessly with Google. Hapara is a document and user management system that enables teachers to distribute learning materials at the push of a button while observing students are engaging online behaviour.
Alongside maintaining technical protections our staff put a great deal of effort into ensuring our students are aware of how to be cybersmart digital citizens. Digital Citizenship lessons are presented to all students throughout the year and the cybersmart practices are reinforced when necessary. Our cybersmart lessons are couched in positive and empowering terms and focuses on how our students can make the most of their Chromebook or iPad and Google Apps.
The most powerful component for our students are the superb lessons and support provided by our teachers. YMS students are taught to tell their teachers immediately about anything that makes them feel uncomfortable online.
All staff at YMS thank our families and whānau for supporting their children to learn to be cybersmart both at school and at home. Please see the information about being Smart Parents if you would like ideas about reinforcing cybersmart behaviours in the home.
The final piece to our measures to ensure CyberSmart Digital Citizens is The YMS Kawa of Care agreement. The Kawa of Care covers the responsibilities of students, parents and school. It ensures that students will get the best use of their device during their time on the programme, and that schools and families understand how they can best care for the devices.