Online Safety Message

I hope all our families are enjoying the up-side of lockdown - flexibility, family time and being able to remain in comfy, casual clothes around the house!

Our Kavanagh students should by now have had a 'check in' with their teachers in readiness for online learning which begins fully on April 15th, the start of term two. If there have been any problems with this, or you are finding technical difficulties are occurring, please let your child's tutor teacher know in the first place.

One of the concerns you may have regarding online learning, is that the filtering system that we have at school that protects your children while working on-site, cannot happen in your own homes and your child may be able to access sites that you have concerns about or are unaware of, while spending more time than usual on devices.

It is good for our young people to remain socially connected with their friends and others in their social circle. This is very important at this age and stage for mental health and positive wellbeing. But, again, you may be worried about various apps and social media they are engaging in to do this.With this in mind, please remember that Netsafe has a large number of resources and good advice for parents regarding online use. 

Our IT Technician has provided the following information that you may find useful:

"There are many applications and software available for monitoring and setting up rules and restrictions on devices, however, the majority of these are premium products which require a subscription.

I have identified a couple of software applications, where Netsafe has links to the software provider's pages (Norton Family & McAfee Safe Family). The Norton Family software has a 6-month free trial, whereas McAfee Safe Family only has a 30-day trial. The third option below, FamilyZone, is the same provider we use at school and provides software which can be used at home. They have a 30-day trial, but out of all three of these options, support the most devices.

• Norton Family - 6 month trial
  Supported platforms: Android, iOS & Windows
  https://family.norton.com/web/
• McAfee Safe Family - 30 day trial
  Supported platforms: Android, iOS & Windows
  https://www.mcafee.com/en-us/parental-controls/mcafee-safe-family.html?productid=issf&culture=EN-US&affid=0&cid=172377
  
• FamilyZone - 30 day trial
  Supported platforms: Android, Chrome OS, iOS, MacOSX, Windows
  https://www.familyzone.com/anz/families/plans
  

Also from Netsafe, I have come across an article regarding online safety.https://www.netsafe.org.nz/online-safety-for-parents/ "

As always, if you have any concerns or worries, please get in touch.

Wishing you all well

Kate Nicholson