Digital Safety Policy
Digital Safety Policy
Version Control
Author Original Source: Cognita Asia - Linus Chiam Terence Lim Fiona Dixon
School Iteration: Director of Digital Learning, Head, IT Operations &
Business Partnering
Version Number 03
Effective date 01 November 2023
Next review date 1. As and when needed by SAIS, or
2. Cognita next review date, as appropriate
Changes from previous version
Previous Version Author Effective Date
Approval
SAIS Leadership Team SAIS Leadership Team 01 November 2023
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Digital Safety Policy
Contents
1 INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE 3
Purposes of this document 3
2 SCOPE 4
3 RESPONSIBILITIES 5
4 POLICIES 5
The Right to Use School Network and Equipment 6
Appropriate Use of Technology for Digital Safety 6
School issued devices: Access & Privacy 8
Photographs, Images & Videos 8
5 PROCEDURES FOR REPORTING 9
6 REMOVAL OF NETWORK ACCESS/SANCTIONS 10
7 POLICY MONITORING AND REVIEW 10
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Digital Safety Policy
1 INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE
1.1 The use of technology as a tool has become an integral part of school and home life.
1.2 Stamford is committed to the effective and purposeful use of technology for teaching, learning and
administration and is also committed to protecting its staff, students, parents and visitors from illegal
or harmful use of technology by individuals or groups, either knowingly or unknowingly.
1.3 The school should actively promote the participation of parents to help the school safeguard the
welfare of students and promote the safe use of technology.
1.4 This policy is available to staff, and the relevant sections are available to students, parents, and
visitors on request.
1.5 It is the school’s expectation that all staff are familiar with this Digital Safety Policy and follow its
guidelines.
Purposes of this document
1.6 To help students use technology safely and responsibly.
1.7 To help students enhance their learning, collaboration, and productivity.
1.8 To promote responsible use and care of technology and IT services available to staff, students,
parents and visitors.
1.9 To outline the acceptable and unacceptable use of technology and IT services at the school, both on
and offsite.
1.10 To outline the roles and responsibilities of all staff, students, parents, and visitors.
1.11 To educate and encourage students to make good use of the educational opportunities presented by
access to technology at the school.
1.12 To safeguard and promote the welfare of students, by anticipating and preventing risks arising from,
but not limited to:
● exposure to harmful or inappropriate material (such as pornographic, racist, extremist, or
offensive materials).
● inappropriate contact from strangers.
● cyber-bullying and abuse.
● copying and sharing personal data and images.
● taking and use of photos, images, and videos of students.
1.13 To outline guidelines for reporting misuse of technology.
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Digital Safety Policy
2 SCOPE
2.1 This policy applies to all staff, students, parents, and school visitors.
2.2 This policy applies to the use of:
● All technology devices and equipment connected to the school network, including personal
devices.
● All technology devices supplied by the school to employees and contractors, both onsite and
offsite.
● All technology devices supplied by the school to students via our 1-to-1 device programme,
both onsite and offsite.
● All applications and IT services provided by the school for teaching, learning and
administration; and
● All applications and IT services available online and accessible via the school network or a
school technology device.
2.3 The school will take a wide and intentional approach to consider what falls within the meaning of
technology. This policy relates to all technology, computing and communications devices, network
hardware and software and services and applications associated with them, including, but not limited
to:
● the school network, WiFi and Internet access;
● desktops, laptops, thin client devices;
● tablets, mobile (smart) phones, smart watches;
● digital devices for audio, still images and moving images (e.g., personal music players and
GoPro devices);
● digital displays and smart boards;
● 2D and 3D printers;
● communication and collaboration applications (e.g., Email, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet);
● School Information Systems (SIS) and Learning Management Systems (LMS);
● mobile messaging apps (e.g., Snapchat and WhatsApp); and
● social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok).
2.4 This policy applies to any action by a member of the school community that might put the culture or
reputation of the school at risk.
2.5 This policy applies to any member of the school community where staff, students, parents, or visitors
are put at risk of harm.
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Digital Safety Policy
3 RESPONSIBILITIES
3.1 This policy document is the responsibility of Stamford American International School. The Head of IT
is responsible for publishing this policy and for the ongoing enforcement and monitoring of this policy
at the school level.
3.2 All staff, students, parents, and visitors are responsible for adhering to the policy.
4 POLICIES
4.1 The school is committed to ensuring the safe and purposeful use of technology for teaching, learning
and administration.
4.2 Staff, students, parents, and visitors are responsible for their actions, conduct and behaviour when
using technology at all times.
4.3 The school will support the use of technology and make internet access as unrestricted as possible
whilst balancing the educational needs of our students, the safety and welfare of staff, students,
parents and visitors, and the security and integrity of our systems.
4.4 Monitoring, logging, and alerting tools are in place to maintain technology safety, safeguarding and
security for the protection of staff, students, parents, and visitors.
4.5 Our students:
4.5.1 are responsible for following the Responsible Tech Use Guidelines, as agreed each academic
year or whenever a new student starts at the school for the first. time, and are required to
sign that they have read and understood the rules.
4.5.2 are taught to utilise the internet in a safe and responsible manner through Homeroom and
advisory lessons, in alignment with the Common Sense Education scope and sequence.
4.5.3 are taught to immediately tell an adult about any inappropriate materials or contact from
someone they do not know.
4.5.4 are made aware of the potential use of online digital technologies to expose young people to
inappropriate contact from strangers and extremist ideas and know what to do if they
encounter such issues.
4.5.5 are taught and encouraged to consider the implications of misusing the internet and, for
example, posting inappropriate materials to websites.
4.5.6 are taught that the downloading of materials, for example, music files and photographs,
needs to be appropriate and ‘fit for purpose’, based on research for schoolwork, and be
copyright free.
4.5.7 are taught to understand what is meant by e-safety through age-appropriate delivery.
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Digital Safety Policy
4.5.8 are taught that sending malicious or hurtful messages inside or outside of the school can
become a matter whereby the school may set sanctions or involve outside agencies such as
the police.
4.5.9 are taught not to put themselves at risk online or through mobile phone use and taught what
to do if they are concerned, or if they have put themselves at risk;
4.5.10are given explicit guidelines and procedures for using mobile phones and other personal
devices in school and are expected to abide by these; and
4.6 If students or staff need to connect to the internet using a personal device, we encourage them to
connect using the Stamford Guest network. Students should avoid using their personal devices'
cellular data services to access the internet to ensure safety.
4.7 Any concern regarding unsafe or inappropriate use of technology should be reported as soon as
possible to a teacher, divisional safeguarding lead, or Digital Learning Team. Depending on the nature
of the concern, it may be escalated to the Designated Safeguarding Lead or an appropriate person on
the Senior Leadership Team.
The Right to Use School Network and Equipment
4.8 Staff, students will be allocated a unique username and password for accessing technology devices
and services. Staff are required to set up 2 Factor Authentication to augment account security.
Students in Grade 5 and younger are expected to sign in with their assigned password, while Grade 6
and older are required to create a strong, unique password for their account. Students are expected
to keep their passwords private.
4.9 All school technology remains the property of the school. The school may reasonably request the
device or withdraw access to the service at any time and, if applicable, the device must be returned
to the school.
4.10 For cyber security reasons, only school-provided devices should connect to the Staff or Student
networks. Personal devices may connect, but only to the Guest network. Where this is not
practicable, exceptions may be granted after assessment and approval by the Head of IT.
4.11 Any attempt to access or use an unauthorised user account or email address by staff, students,
parents, or visitors is prohibited.
Appropriate Use of Technology for Digital Safety
4.12 The school provides systems and applications accounts to staff, students, parents, and guests as
required. Users must:
● Not allow other people to use their user accounts.
● Not use someone else’s account.
● Lock their device or logout of their user accounts when not in use.
● Only use school applications and email for official School business
● Not send messages or emails from school accounts such that they appear to come from an
individual other than the person sending the message.
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4.13 The school provides technology (hardware and software) to support education and the running of the
school business.
● Users of school technology equipment are expected to take care of the equipment through
responsible behaviour.
● When staff and students are not using their devices, the screens should be locked to prevent
unauthorised usage.
● Anyone who deliberately damages or abuses school equipment will be billed for the full
replacement costs of the equipment.
● Do not:
o Attempt to download or access illegal software on school devices.
o Install school owned software on a personal device without written approval from the
Head of IT.
o Attempt to copy or remove software from a school-owned device.
o Attempt to alter the configuration of the hardware equipment or any accompanying
software unless instructed by the IT team.
o Attempt to access data for which the user is not authorised.
4.14 The school endeavours to mitigate safeguarding and security risks associated with technology.
● The school has IT security systems in place to block access to unsuitable material and to
protect the welfare and safety of staff, students, parents/guardians, and guests.
● The school has technology security systems in place to block and to protect against computer
viruses or other malicious software such as spyware.
● Do not:
o Try to bypass school IT security systems whilst using school devices or the school network.
o Use software or network routing designed to bypass filters and access blocked sites.
o Deliberately attempt to access inappropriate content (eg. obscene, illegal, hateful, abusive,
offensive, pornographic, extremist or otherwise inappropriate materials) that may not be
fully blocked by the security systems
4.15 It is the responsibility of all technology users to ensure the welfare of others and themselves, on both
school and personal devices. These responsibilities are described in the Safeguarding and Conduct
requirements.
● Students, staff and parents/guardians must not use their own or the school's technology to
bully others.
● Students and staff must not create or share sexualised content, including images, audio, video,
and/or text, on both school and personal devices, on school premises, or during school trips
and activities.
● Students must not use school or personal devices to make contact or engage with people
whom they do not know without parental or teacher supervision.
● Concerns regarding welfare associated with the use of technology should be reported to a
teacher, member of the School Leadership Team or Designated Safeguarding Lead at the
earliest opportunity.
4.16 The school supports the appropriate use of digital social media.
● Students should not use any social media for which they are under the legal age requirements
(eg. 13 years old for Instagram and WhatsApp).
● Staff, students, parents, and visitors of the school must not make inappropriate online
comments related to the Stamford Community or bring the school’s name and reputation into
disrepute on any forum/platform.
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Digital Safety Policy
● Staff should only connect with students using school accounts and official communication
channels. Contact via personal phones, social media, or non-school messaging services is
prohibited. Please see Code of Conduct (Section 7: Staff/Student Contact) for further details.
School issued devices: Access & Privacy
4.17 Access to assigned devices and IT content:
● Students in the Elementary School have Apple Classroom installed on their iPads so that
teachers may monitor classroom digital activity. For older students teachers are able to
request the use of Apple Classroom for monitoring as needed.
● Students and Staff devices are installed with Chrome Remote Desktop so that IT can provide
remote assistance. This is only used with the permission of the device assignee.
● Stamford reserves the right to access a school owned device and monitor its use and content
under circumstances including but not limited to:
o To detect and/or prevent crime.
o To enable system security protection (e.g., Virus, Malware, Hacking, or other Risk).
o To investigate potential misuse, abuse and/or illegal activity.
o To monitor compliance with employment and statutory obligations.
o To guarantee the integrity of the school devices, technology, and IT systems.
Photographs, Images & Videos
4.18 Stamford abides by all relevant personal data protection legislation (Singapore PDPA and UK GDPR)
and Stamford’s data protection policy.
4.19 At Stamford, we understand that an image or video is considered personal data. Parents and
guardians are asked during the admissions process if they choose to opt-out from use of their child’s
media in external, paid marketing. Those children are flagged in PowerSchool under "Marketing
Photos Opt-out." Parents and guardians may withdraw this permission at any time by submitting a
request on MyStamford. Stamford retains the right to use student media for internal or non-paid
marketing purposes.
4.20 Students, parents and visitors must obtain consent before taking photos or videos of staff or
students. Permission may be granted by the school in the event of performances/events organised by
the school.
4.21 Staff are permitted to take school and learning-related photos or videos of students and other staff
for internal use, with consent. If they take photos or videos using a personal device, they are required
to remove those media from any local storage or personal accounts within one week.
4.22 When the school grants consent, parents are asked to be considerate when taking videos or
photographs at school events. They are requested not to publish material of children other than their
own in any public forum without the consent of the relevant family. It is illegal to sell or distribute
recordings from events without consent. Any parent who does not wish their child to be videoed or
photographed at school events by other attendees must notify the school in advance and in writing.
4.23 Photos, images, and videos intended for teaching and learning, administrative, school prospectus,
performance purposes, after school or off campus activities, and other school-related purposes
should be retained only for the duration necessary to serve their intended purpose. Furthermore, we
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Digital Safety Policy
should ensure that any retention is consistent with the legitimate interests of the school and that
such interests are not overridden by the rights and freedoms of the individuals involved. When there
is no longer a legitimate interest or purpose, the images should be promptly deleted. Any photo,
image, or video retention longer than 5 years must be approved in writing by the Head of IT. This
approach fosters responsible data management and respects the privacy of individuals while serving
the educational mission effectively.
4.24 The staff Annual Safeguarding Declaration includes a statement saying that any photos or videos
residing on personal devices have been deleted from the device and personal cloud storage. Staff
must comply and sign off on this at the start of every school year.
4.25 IT will email Staff toward the end of each semester to delete all images from personal devices and
cloud storage.
5 PROCEDURES FOR REPORTING
5.1 Staff who witness a concern, incident, or unsuitable media regarding technology should take the
following actions:
● Attempt to stop or minimize the problem.
● Prevent exposure of the incident to others.
● Record the nature of the incident and those involved.
● Preserve evidence to enable investigation if required.
● Report the incident or concern to the Designated Safeguarding Lead or IT Team as appropriate
(through a Self Report).
5.2 Any students, parents, or visitors of the school who witness a concern, incident, or unsuitable media
regarding technology should report the incident immediately to a teacher or staff member.
5.3 Concerns regarding viruses and other malicious software on a school device or on the school network
should be reported to a member of the IT Team at the earliest opportunity.
5.4 Loss, damage, or theft of school technology should be reported to a member of the IT Team at the
earliest opportunity.
5.5 Students must take responsibility for their use of IT equipment both at school and at home; should
parents or guardians have concerns or become aware of an issue, they should communicate those
concerns with the school so we can offer advice and support.
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Digital Safety Policy
6 REMOVAL OF NETWORK ACCESS/SANCTIONS
6.1 Anyone found abusing the Digital Safety Policy may have their technology rights removed and may be
subject to further disciplinary action.
6.2 The school may inform the police or other law enforcement agency in the event of any digital use that
could be regarded as potentially illegal.
7 POLICY MONITORING AND REVIEW
7.1 The school takes its responsibilities in relation to digital safety and use of technology by staff,
students, parents, and visitors seriously and understands the importance of monitoring, evaluating,
and reviewing its policies and procedures regularly.
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