St Mary's C of E Primary School & Nursery

Filtering and Monitoring

St Mary's CE Primary School and Nursery is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, including when they are using technology.

To help keep pupils safe online, the school uses a combination of filtering and monitoring systems in line with the Department for Education's Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance and the Filtering and Monitoring Standards for schools.

Filtering

Our filtering systems help to prevent access to illegal, inappropriate and potentially harmful online content. Filtering is designed to protect pupils while allowing access to resources that support teaching and learning.

Monitoring

The school uses Senso to monitor activity on school devices and networks. Senso helps the school identify potential safeguarding concerns, including:

• Exposure to inappropriate content
• Online bullying
• Harmful or risky online behaviour
• Searches relating to self-harm, violence or extremism
• Attempts to bypass school filtering systems

Where concerns are identified, alerts are reviewed by appropriate members of staff and acted upon in accordance with the school's safeguarding procedures.

Roles and Responsibilities

The school's filtering and monitoring arrangements are overseen by senior leaders, the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), our IT support provider and our Computing Curriculum Lead. Filtering and monitoring systems are reviewed regularly each term to ensure they remain effective and appropriate for the needs of our pupils. Reports on Filtering and Monitoring are presented to the Governing Body on a regular basis.  

Review

The effectiveness of the school's filtering and monitoring arrangements is reviewed at least annually as part of our safeguarding and online safety procedures.