eSafety

At St Virgil’s College we work to ensure our students are not only safe when they are physically present but also when they are online.

Strategies we have implemented include:

Education through the Think You Know (Federal Police program) which provides students with strategies to keep themselves and others safe online and how to report if necessary
Providing internal short courses on social media and cyberbullying to inform students of appropriate online behaviours and the effects of negative/harmful/inappropriate online behaviours on others
Using technology to monitor and filter website content, blocking inappropriate sites
Ensuring data collected by the applications we use in the classroom meet school expectations in relation to how they handle and secure information
Including learnings about how students can keep their online privacy secure
Reinforcing to students that personal information they share online has value, and to be selective about what is shared
Maintaining up to date policies, such as the school’s Privacy Policy, Acceptable Use Policy, and Information Security Policy to clearly outline school expectations towards online safety and security

Our expectations of students and families include:

Following our school values when physically present but also when online
Ensuring students interactions with each other online outside of school hours are respectful and safe
Supporting the College policies and expectations of students
Educating their children around appropriate online use and monitoring their online usage
Notifying the school of any cyber bullying and/or inappropriate behaviour when engaging online
Having conversations at home about safe and respectful online activity, and what this looks like

For external support around cyber safety students and families can contact the eSafety Commissioner. The eSafety Commissioner is an independent regulator for online safety. They have substantial powers to protect all Australians – adults as well as children – across most online platforms and forums where people experience abuse or harm. The eSafety website also provide a number of useful resources to help keep people safe in online environments.

A useful tool is the eSafety Guide - https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide. This is a one-stop-shop for parents to refer to if they want to understand a little more about the online applications their children are on, how safe they are to use, and more importantly, how to report to the eSafety Office any cyber bullying behaviours.

For more information visit https://www.esafety.gov.au/.