Rationale: (why do we need this policy?)
Cybersafety is the safe and responsible use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). It is important that we protect ourselves and the centre’s ICT system from viruses, spam and other inappropriate content.
The use of digital technologies and the Internet provides an almost unlimited educational resource and a facility to communicate, display and revisit the results of our work. It is imperative that everybody understands their responsibilities with respect to acceptable use of ICT.
The purpose of this operational policy is to keep children and adults safe by meeting Licensing Criteria HS32.
Objectives: (What do we hope to achieve?)
This centre does everything possible to keep children and adults in our centre safe whilst using ICT equipment and technology.
Guidelines: (How will we achieve it?)
- All use of ICT equipment and technology at our centre will be planned and supervised
- Only ICT equipment and technology owned or leased by the Centre may be used in our Centre and as part of our programme
- Accidental or intentional breaches of this policy by staff will be treated as a serious misconduct issue
- The centre will ensure appropriate virus, spyware and malware protections are available and in place
- The centre will ensure all system data is subject to a daily back-up that is kept off-site.
Relevant Background (including legislation/regulation references)
- Licensing Criteria 2008, Health and Safety, Child Protection: HS32: all practicable steps are taken to protect children from exposure to material (for example, of an explicitly sexual or violent nature).
- Netsafe has developed policy templates for acceptable use of ICT in early childhood services. These can be downloaded from www.netsafe.org.nz.
- The Ministry of Education (MoE) website has information and guidelines in their ICT infrastructure section www.education.govt.nz.
Review ● This policy shall be reviewed annually.
References: The Privacy Act (1993) Ministry of Education OE’s “Personnel Management” resource (2001) Ministry of Education Privacy Policy template for Early Childhood Centres Ministry of Education Education (ECE) Regulations 2008, Regulation (47)
Approved date: April 2021 Review date: June 2022