Online safety.

Technology provides deaf children with equal access to learning, communicating with friends and family and all aspects of technological living.

At Hamilton Lodge, we are enthusiastic about learners using smart phones and social technology to enhance their lives, learning and relationships. We teach children and young people about Online Safety and ensure that they are aware of risks and take steps to keep themselves safe online. This is via direct teaching as well as whole school assemblies.

All staff across school, college and the residential departments are alert to the use of technology and are vigilant about online safety and protecting our young people. We have a external IT contractor who we can report safety concerns to, they are very responsive and will block or filter unsuitable content at our request. 

Staying safe online

At Hamilton Lodge, we are positive about the use of social media because advances in communication technology have greatly enhanced the ability of deaf young people to communicate with one another and the wider world. However, we recognise that young people can be vulnerable online and so do as much as we can to give learners the information they require to keep themselves safe whilst using the internet. The message we give all our young people is that it is important that they tell a trusted adult if anything happens online that makes them feel scared, worried or uncomfortable.

The Hamilton Lodge intranet and Wi-Fi have robust filtering and parental controls which enable us to be confident that pupils/students are not accessing inappropriate material via the school’s systems. Internet traffic via school systems are monitored and our IT consultant will flag any concerns with  the safeguarding team. 

We encourage use of our Wi-Fi and make efforts to ensure it is working and rapid. If children use the data on their own devices we cannot monitor what they are viewing in the same way. 

To help with this we spend time talking to children about their online activity, encouraging and promoting safe behaviour. 

Safe online behaviour is as much an issue for parents and carers as it is in school so in order to support parents and carers, we include some general guidelines and useful information about keeping your child safe online. This includes advice and information about configuring their child's personal device.