How do we protect your children online?

We have directed you in past newsletters to our cyber safety hub through the Family Zone section of Linewize. Linewize supports the school community in our joint mission to educate our young people in their decision making around their digital world. We aim always for these decisions to reflect our school values. 

New parents to our community may not know that our school has a Linewize device that students authenticate with to access the internet. In authenticating with this device, any activity can be tracked.  Activity that breaches our school values such as adult content, hate speech and substance abuse is blocked and flagged for our attention.

Classwize is an extension of Linewize that allows staff to have visibility of supported devices in their classroom during class time only. The ability to view the screen of a student is done through the Connect for Chrome - Education extension.

The Connect for Chrome - Education extension is automatically added to Google Chrome when a student signs into their Chromebook (or a school-owned Chromebook) with their school account. On other devices such as Windows laptops or Apple MacBooks, the Connect for Chrome - Education extension is only added if a student signs into Google Chrome with their school account. The Connect for Chrome - Education extension is installed automatically on a school-owned Windows computer/laptop when a student signs in and launches Google Chrome.

The Connect for Chrome - Education extension will run if any of the above conditions are met, regardless of whether the device is on the school network or not.

If a staff member is using Classwize for their class, students should have been made aware of its use during class times, however, there is no indication for a student that a Classwize session is in progress, or their screen is being viewed unless advised by a staff member. A staff member can only view what is open in the Chrome browser.

Please be aware that staff are unable to read personal information as all screen views of their students are displayed at a size that staff cannot enlarge. This tool is used to encourage students to stay focused on their learning tasks rather than get distracted by other sites. If teachers use Classwize, they can see if a student drifts off to sites that don't support their learning as the site they have navigated to is displayed. 

If you have any questions or would like more detail, please contact our IT manager, Nathan Sortehaug.