02 Online Safety Policy: Live Lessons and Recordings

Purpose

This policy keeps pupils safe online across the school's learning platforms, including live group lessons, chat and question features, and recorded lessons that pupils can watch later.

Scope

It applies to all staff, pupils, trustees and anyone using school systems, and to the third-party platforms and learning systems the school relies on.

Roles and responsibilities

• Designated Safeguarding Lead: overall lead for online safety concerns that touch pupil welfare.
• Online Safety Lead: a senior member of staff named in the Safeguarding Register, who keeps platform settings, moderation rules and access checks under review.
• All staff: model safe behaviour, keep to the boundaries in the Staff Code of Conduct, supervise sessions, and report anything that worries them.
• Pupils: follow the rules in the Pupil Acceptable Use Policy and tell staff quickly when something is wrong.

Teaching safe behaviour

Pupils receive age-appropriate guidance on:

• respectful conduct in group chat and lesson discussion;
• never sharing personal information, their own or anyone else's;
• reporting concerns quickly, and knowing exactly how to do it.

Allowed and prohibited behaviour

Allowed: appropriate answers in group chat, raising questions publicly, and using the approved platform tools as taught.

Prohibited: sharing personal contact details; sharing explicit or harmful content; attempting to bypass moderation controls; encouraging others to do something unsafe; and cyberbullying, including within chat.

Live lesson controls

• Every live lesson is supervised by teaching staff from start to finish.
• Staff use the platform's moderation tools where they exist, and controls that reduce disruptive behaviour, such as moderated chat and restricted participant permissions.
• Pupils take part in public or group chat only. Private channels are not opened for pupil use.

Recording controls

Because recordings are viewable by pupils, the school:

• stores them securely and keeps them access-controlled, so only enrolled pupils in that class can reach them;
• uses them for education only;
• avoids publishing pupil-identifiable content unless there is a clear educational reason;
• avoids creating recordings that include sensitive personal data unless it is required and properly safeguarded.

Access management

• Pupils receive individual accounts. Shared logins are not used.
• Staff accounts are role-based and protected with strong passwords, and multi-factor authentication wherever the platform supports it.
• Access is checked at the start of each term and whenever a pupil leaves or a member of staff changes role.

Monitoring and reporting

Online safety incidents are reported immediately to the Online Safety Lead or the Designated Safeguarding Lead, depending on how serious they are. Incidents include bullying, harmful content, grooming indicators, account misuse and data breaches.

Handling incidents

When an incident happens, the school will:

• secure the platform where it can, for example by muting, removing or suspending access;
• preserve evidence such as chat logs or screenshots appropriately for safeguarding;
• assess the risk to pupils;
• follow the school's behaviour and safeguarding procedures.

Training

Staff receive regular training on safeguarding online, safe moderation, and recognising the risks that belong to live and recorded sessions.

Review

This policy is reviewed at least once a year and after any significant incident.