Managed Internet Service > Policies and Guidelines >

Minimising risk

To minimise risks to students, schools should:

ensure that students do not communicate with strangers on line unsupervised or without permission
have procedures in place so that messages which a student finds disturbing can be dealt with appropriately
warn students that they should not arrange unchaperoned meetings with people they have encountered online and
inform students to never give out personal details of themselves or others to anyone online, especially personal information such as photographs, home address, phone number or name of school.

The Australian Government has developed the Netalert website as a resource for students, parents and teachers on safe Internet usage.

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To protect against exposure to inappropriate materials, schools should:

use the MIS (Managed Internet Service)
define inappropriate materials and ensure students and staff are aware of these definitions
document appropriate actions
ensure effective guidance for, and supervision of, students
ensure Internet use is for defined educational purposes and
obtain counselling for students and/or staff, if necessary.

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Student use of the Internet

There can be risks involved with use of the Internet. Schools must develop Acceptable Internet Usage Guidelines for students when using Internet services. This policy requires schools to obtain written agreement from parents or guardians before students access the Internet.

The school's acceptable usage guidelines are used as a means of ensuring students are aware that they:

accept the consequences of breaching the agreement
do not visit inappropriate sites
know what constitutes inappropriate sites
do not publish personal information on the Internet and
report all unacceptable material, conduct or behaviour they encounter on the Internet to their teacher.

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