Industry News
Independent schools tackle internet misuse
Posted on 4th June 2007
In a bid to tackle internet misuse independent schools are spending thousands of pounds on security software and imposing harsh punishments on pupils who access restricted websites.
Headteachers across the country are banning their pupils from accessing popular social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook on school computers amid concerns that they may be targeted by bullies and paedophiles.
But The Guardian reports that many children are managing to bypass internet filters and access the sites, prompting some independent schools to take tougher action.
"We use an advanced firewall and download blacklists every hour," Martin Taylor, director of IT at Heathfield St Mary's in Berkshire, told the newspaper.
He explained that the school has bought a new security system that costs £2,000 to set up and almost £700 a year to run in a bid to tackle the problem.
And he said that pupils who continue to try to crack the security will be punished, citing one example of a sixth former who had been kept behind after school for trying to break on to one of the banned websites.
A recent poll conducted by the NSPCC found that over 50 per cent of children who use the internet have suffered an unwanted experience such as exposure to pornographic material or cyber-bullying.