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1.1         ICT Policy

Information and Communications Technology is fundamental to the achievement of the school’s aims.

The ICT Policy covers the provision and use of computers, printers, associated peripherals, the Internet and the school network.   It does not cover calculators, electronic music instruments, audio-visual devices, telephone systems or photocopiers.  All employees of HCS are required to sign up to an acceptable use policy.

Departments are expected to use ICT in teaching whenever it can enrich the learning experience and to have ICT use flagged in their schemes of work..

Administration Implementation

Financial systems are the responsibility of the Bursar although technical help and maintenance will be available from the IT Department.

Security

The school network is protected from outside interference by a firewall, managed by the ICT Systems Manager.  Anti-virus software is installed on all terminals and servers.  It is updated daily or, in the event of a new virus outbreak, as soon as a patch is available.  Updates are held on a server and applied automatically to terminals when they log on.

The allocation of access rights and staff training are the responsibility of the Deputy Head (Academic)

No-one is allowed to connect a computer or other device to the network without the permission of the Systems Manager and Deputy Head (Academic).

Internet Use

All pupils and their parents sign an acceptable use agreement that includes sensible use of the Internet.

The use of chat rooms is banned because of the possibility of “grooming” by paedophiles . Research has also shown that excessive use of MSM and chat rooms has a detrimental impact on a pupil’s academic performance and pupils should be actively discouraged from using it as their main out of school pastime.

The school issues pupils with a school e-mail account and does allow pupils to use school machines to access their own e-mail.  However, we prohibit pupils’ use of Hotmail because of the nature and volume of junk mail it attracts and suggest alternative mail providers in the IT Acceptable Use Policy.

Pupils, parents and staff are warned that Internet use may be monitored for security or legal reasons.

Pupils will receive instruction in the safe use of the Internet.

All members of staff are given a HCS e-mail account.  E-mail will be stored on the HCS mail server from which it will be backed up daily.  Staff using the system should be aware that the IT Department can access anything stored on this server, that e-mail might have to be monitored in certain extreme circumstances and that it would be unwise to use e-mail on a computer available for pupil use.  Staff concerned about privacy are advised to use an e-mail account from their own ISP or a free web-based one.  It is not felt necessary to employ an e-mail disclaimer and it may well be that parents receiving e-mails embellished in this way would find the communication rather off-putting.

The HCS website

The member of staff in charge of the website and the Systems Manager are responsible for formulating and implementing a website security policy to protect pupils and staff.  Staff contributing to the website must adhere to the guidelines as detailed in the full ICT Policy.

1.2         Rules for Responsible Use of the School’s Computer System

The computer system is owned by the School and is made available to pupils to further their education.  The School's Computer Policy has been drawn up to protect all parties - the pupils, the staff and the School. Access must only be made via an authorised pupil’s login and password, which must not be made available to any other person.

·        The School reserves the right to examine or delete any files that may be held on its computer system and to monitor any internet sites visited.

·        Activity that threatens the integrity of the School Computer system, or that attacks or corrupts other interlinked computer systems, is forbidden.

·        Internet use is solely for enhancing a pupil's education. Sites and materials accessed must be appropriate to work in School.

·        Games, personal sites such as Myspace, Bebo, Facebook and instant messaging services such as MSN must not be accessed on the school’s system. Use of these web based accounts increases the risk of exposure of the school to malicious electronic attacks.

·        Users will recognise and report inappropriate sites to a member of staff so that these sites can be blocked.

·        Deliberate access to unsuitable sites may result in the right of computer use being removed and will be treated as a serious breach of school rules.

·        Pupils must only use their school’s email account on the school system. Hotmail and similar web based accounts, like MSN, increases the risk of exposure of the school to malicious electronic attacks.

·        Users are responsible for any e-mail they send and for contacts made that may result in e-mails being received.

·        The normal rules of social interaction apply to e-mail. The remoteness of the recipients must not be used to excuse anti social behaviour: harassment, intimidation and bullying behaviour.

·        Copyright of materials and intellectual property rights must be respected.

·        Use for personal financial gain, gambling, political purposes or advertising is forbidden.

Pupils requesting computer access at school sign a copy of these Rules for Responsible Computer Use and return a completed form to their Form Tutor for approval and access rights.