From the Deputy Principals

Restricted social networking platforms for students.

The NSW Department of Education is making an important change to help keep our students safe online, reduce the risk of cyber threats and make sure student email accounts are used for their intended educational purposes only.

From Day 1 Term 4, students will no longer be able to use their school email address (@education.nsw.gov.au) to access social media, gaming, instant messaging and similar platforms. This means they will also not be able to retrieve password-recovery emails and the like from these platforms.

List of restricted social networking platforms

Platforms that will be restricted include:

• social networking, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X
• instant messaging, such as Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, WeChat and Telegram
• online gaming.

What students need to do

If your child has signed up for a social media, gaming, instant messaging or similar account using their student email address, please have them change it to a personal email address on each platform by Sunday 13 October to make sure they don't lose access to the account. 

Here’s how they can do this:

1. Log in to each account.
2. Go to the account settings and update their email address to a personal one. Add a mobile number too, if they haven’t already.

The department is making this change to ensure all student accounts are being used for their educational purposes, and to help protect your child from risks online. Using their personal email address for these platforms instead of their student email address reduces the chances of someone gaining access to information in their school account.