Case Study:
Henley-in-Arden School
Henley-in-Arden School is a 650-pupil secondary school which is located in Warwickshire.
Like all schools, safeguarding is at the heart of what they do and, with the online world rapidly evolving, they were seeking a way to empower the whole school community in online safety.
A whole school approach to online safety
For John Insley, E-safety Lead, Head of IT, Computing and Years 10 & 11 at Henley-In-Arden School, National Online Safety has been the perfect platform to educate and inform governors, staff, parents and carers with the dangers that exist online. He said:
“National Online Safety has given us that whole community approach towards online safety, which we feel is so important.
“I’ve been teaching for 11 years at 4 different schools. I have a degree in Computer Science and Business, and I’m a Computing at School Level 2 master teacher.
“I have been an e-safety lead in two different schools for 4 years and I’m currently still e-safety lead. In addition, I’m currently Head of IT, Computing and also Head of Year 10 & 11.”
Taking a proactive stance towards online safety
Through our weekly #WakeUpWednesday series, Henley-in-Arden School have been able to proactively inform parents and carers, as well as children, about current topical online issues, in an easy-to-read and concise format.
“The #WakeUpWednesday guides are great, we look to share these on our social media platforms and newsletters when we can,” Mr Insley revealed.
“The guides have also allowed us to be proactive in how we tackle online safety issues, rather than reacting when these do occur.”
Ease of access for all staff
Time is of the essence for school staff and, with this in mind, Mr Insley stated that the ability to track all staff progress through a centralised hub has been a major plus point.
“As an e-safety lead, the hub also gives me the possibility to track which staff have logged on and completed the training which is available on the platform.
“It was great to get the approval to go ahead with the package over the summer and, in my role, it’s great that we can present to Ofsted what we’re doing in order to combat online safety.
“All staff who are enrolled onto the training gather together to complete it, so that we’ve got a collective approach to online safety.”
Collective validation
A major draw for the school was the eventual validation, which is accredited at the conclusion of training, through our certified school programme.
Mr Insley says everyone is excited by the prospect of achieving the recognition in the future, as they work towards enhancing their online safety proficiency.
“Also, it’s really good that we’re working towards something, in respect of the certified status which you receive upon completing the training.
"It’ll be fantastic to be recognised as a certified school for 2020/21 when we do achieve this!"