We at Gen Alpha Education consider online safety to be a very important part to safeguard all the stakeholders- students, staff and parents from potential harm online. We also empower the students regarding the online safety and develop strategies to prevent risk online. The issues classified within online safety can be classified into three areas of risk for Content, Contact and Conduct.

This policy applies to all our Stakeholders- staff including teachers, support staff, external contractors, other individuals who work for, or provide services on behalf of the school (collectively referred to as ‘staff' in this policy) as well as students and parents/carers. It applies to the whole school starting from Primary Students .It applies to access to school systems, the internet and the use of technology, using personal devices.

1. Roles and Responsibilities

1.1 The Principal

• The Principal is responsible for the provision of online safety
• Ensures that online safety is viewed as a safeguarding issue and that practice is in line with Gen Alpha Education.
• Ensures the school follows the policies and practices regarding online safety
• Arrange Training and support to the online safety in co-ordination with the Technical Head.
• Ability to handle online safety incident
• Ensures that online safety practice is audited and evaluated regularly in order to identify strengths and areas for improvement.

1.2 The Technical Team and the Technical Head

• Takes day to day responsibility for online safety and promotes awareness regarding the same in the school
• The technical head is responsible for any contact on all the issues connected to the online safety
• Arranges training for the staff and students regarding the online safety in co-ordination with the Principal
• Provide technical support to all the staff , students and parents
• Report any safeguarding concerns and breaches on the same to the Principal
• Monitors the student’s usage of the Learning Platform
• Apply appropriate technical control to ensure that the school’s infrastructure is safe
• Maintains the online safety incident log and record of actions taken, and reviews the log periodically to identify gaps and trends

1.3 All school staff

• Read, accept and follow the Privacy Policy, Online Safety Policy and Terms and Conditions
• Teach and create Awareness among students regarding online safety
• Take responsibility for the security of school systems and the data they use, or have access to
• Model safe, responsible and professional behaviours in their own use of technology
• Supervise and guide students regarding online safety
• Identify online safety concerns and take appropriate action by reporting the same to the Principal
• Participate in the professional development concerning online safety conducted by the school.

1.4 Students

Participate and engage in age appropriate online safety education opportunities.

• Read and adhere to the school’s Privacy Policy, Online Safety Policy and Terms and Conditions
• Take responsibility for keeping themselves and others safe online
• If there is a concern online, report to the Technical Head of the school.

1.5 Parents and Carers

• Read and accept the Privacy Policy, Online Safety Policy and Terms and Conditions
• Participate in Discussions regarding online safety with their children and reinforcing appropriate, safe online behaviours at home
• Appropriate usage of technology, social media. No image of students, videos or videos of online content can be shared online. Strict disciplinary action will be taken in this case. permission before taking and sharing digital images of pupils other than their own children
• Seek help and support from the school, or other appropriate agencies, if they or their child encounter risk or concerns online
• Use school systems, such as learning platforms, and other network resources, safely and appropriately with responsibility and awareness to the risks of technologies.
• Any external individual/organisation must accept the Privacy Policy prior to being given individual access to the school network.

2. Education and Engagement

2.1 Education and engagement with Students

• Ensuring education and awareness regarding online safety, use of online platform of the school
• Never share the login id or password with anyone and understand the importance of safety
• Keep your video off while attending the class to ensure safety
• Always logout after you use the E-platform of the school
• The students will be taught about the Online Safety Policy
• Educating the students regarding the effective usage of e-learning platform
• Teaching pupils to acknowledge the source of information used and to respect copyright when using material accessed on the internet so as to prevent plagiarism

2.2 Training and engagement with staff

The school will:

• Provide training and discuss the Online Safety Policy and Privacy Policy
• Monitor the E-platform of the school along with the videos, classes and chats in the recorded classes as well as the live classes
• Make staff aware that their online conduct out of school, including personal use of social media, could have an impact on their professional role and reputation within school
• Ensure that all the members of staff are aware of the procedures regarding online safety

2.3 Awareness and engagement with parents and carers

• Providing information and guidance on online safety by training
• Drawing parents’ attention to the school online safety policy and expectations in newsletters and on the website
• Requiring parents to read and accept the

3. Managing Personal Data Online

Personal data will be collected, processed, stored and transferred and made available online in accordance with the privacy policy of Alpha International Education.

4. Usage of the Online Platform

• Always log on through your School Platform account and use your Gen Alpha Education Portal and email for school
• Always be present for the class on time. Any student who logs in after 10 minutes of the class will not be allowed inside and will be marked absent
• Do not make recordings, take screenshots/screengrabs or photographs, or store or distribute footage of teachers or other students
• Be aware that live online sessions are recorded by the teacher and will be made available in the School Portal
• The video should be off and audio muted unless asked by the teacher.
• Follow the school rules for conduct during online lessons .Do not undermine in any way the technology used to offer video lessons
• If you have concerns about online safety, or if you feel you are being bullied, you can contact your class teacher or the Principal
• The students should respect the need of others to work in an online learning environment and help to maintain it positive and supportive.
• The students can access the E-Campus /E-platform any time.
• The students can inform the school on Portal regarding the absence in case which it will be considered as authorized leave.
• The students should respect the integrity of all online systems and networks, respect all copyright laws, and respect the personal information and privacy of others.
• The students should complete the assignments, projects on time and should not copy other’s work. After the due date, the assignment or the project will not be open for submission. In case , due to an emergency, if the student has missed to submit the same, they can inform the class teacher and the class teacher will decide regarding the extension of due –date for submission, if the reason is found appropriate
• The students should not share login credentials with anyone else.
• The students should not Write/Send/Post/ Display/share anything off-topic, insulting to others, abusive or illegal, threatening, or otherwise offensive.
• The background for Online classes of the students should be plain or they should use the background provided by Gen Alpha Education
• The Parents and students agree, confirm and undertake not to disseminate/share/circulate/post/access/store/upload any audio/video/image of the teachers conducting virtual classes/online teaching on any social media or on any other online platform.
• The students should not discuss in any open forum information that is critical of another student or teacher. Discussion forums and chat threads are open to all teachers and students; and not appropriate mediums for private correspondence.
• Students are advised to not share any sensitive information and personal data in the chat, classes or discussion.
• The students should not Engage in any of the following acts of academic misconduct, Cyber bullying and /or harassment/ Abusive, Bullying, assaulting and ragging other students in any form. Strict disciplinary action will be taken by the management in case of such a misconduct.

5. Regarding Cyber-bullying

Cyberbullying, i.e. via social networking websites, phone calls, text messages, photographs or emails. Strict disciplinary action will be taken against students and staff regarding any unpleasant remarks or actions motivated by prejudice against particular groups, for example on grounds of

• Race
• Religion
• Ethnicity or culture
• Sex
• Gender, gender identity or perceived gender identity
• Sexual orientation
• Disability or Special Educational Needs
• Intellectual or other abilities
• Appearance or health conditions
• Being adopted or a carer

Gen Alpha Education supports students, teachers, parents and other stake holders. We are committed to eliminate the issue of bullying and child abuse as it will affect the mental health of the students. The students will be taught about anti –bullying and child abuse policy. Cyber-bullying (bullying or harassment using electronic means), which can be targeted at emotional, social or verbal level. Gen Alpha Education deals Cyber-Bullying very seriously. We make sure that cyberbullying does not happen in our school as the Principal or a designated staff monitors every class (live/ recorded). Even the chats, student and staff mail are also monitored by the technical team. Strict disciplinary action will be taken if cyber-bullying occurs as cyberbullying can also result in long-lasting emotional effects.

Methods to Prevent Cyber-Bullying:

• Staff will be given training in identifying cyberbullying and understanding their responsibilities in developing e-safety.
• We foster and inculcate the school ethos of good behaviour, mutual respect, and consideration among all staff and students so that a safe , happy and secure learning environment is created
• Monitor the class by the Principal or the designated staff. Monitoring will be done either in the live classes or through the videos available of the recorded classes in the school portal
• The chats, Mail of the student and the staff are monitored by the technical team and the Principal. Any incident of Cyber-Bullying will be reported immediately to the Principal
• The students and parents will be educated about cyberbullying through a variety of means like seminars, conferences and workshops
• The technical team will use tools like filtering, firewall, anti-spyware software, anti-virus software and secure connections to safeguard the pupils to avoid cyber-bullying
• Gen Alpha Education will ensure that the staff and children understand the importance of password security and the need to log out of accounts every time they use the online platform
• The students can contact teachers by email when they are concerned about a bullying/Cyber-bullying issue and it will be reported to the Principal
• Anti-bullying Policy will be reviewed regularly through consultation with students, parents and teaching staff.
• Educate students as how they can manage their relationship with the peers and others
• We offer emotional support and behavioural management to the students by proper counselling
• Conduct a variety of activities such as discussion, group discussion, discussion forums to raise an awareness about bullying/cyber-bullying
• Making it clear to all that there are effective procedures for reporting (including anonymous reporting), investigating and tackling bullying, and encouraging pupils to report instances of anything they perceive to be bullying
• Any report of Cyber-bullying will be taken seriously and investigated immediately and strict disciplinary action will be taken including suspension from the classes/school. Stricter methods such as removal from class, excluding student to attend a fixed period will be implemented if required.

For any complaints or concern please mail to principal@genalphaedu.com

6. Responding to Online Safety Incidents and Concerns

• Awareness regarding the reporting procedure for online safety will be given to the parents, teachers and the staff including the School’s Complaint Procedure. All members of the community must respect confidentiality and the need to follow the official school procedures for reporting concerns
• Incidents will be managed depending on their nature and severity, After investigations are completed, the school will debrief, identify lessons learnt and implement any changes in policy or practice as required
• Gen Alpha Education will escalate and report to relevant agencies regarding any online safeguarding concerns
• Any complaint about staff misuse will be referred to the Principal
• The school will monitor evaluate online safety mechanisms to ensure that this policy is consistently applied in practice
• The policy framework will be reviewed by Gen Alpha Education at least annually, and in response to any new national guidance or legislation, significant developments in the use of technology, emerging threats or incidents that have taken place

7. The role of parents regarding Online Safety

• It is the responsibility of parents to ensure that students are monitored in their use of technology for Online Learning as they would ordinarily do when their children are using technology at home.
• While students are working from home they are connected to their home broadband so their traffic doesn’t go through the school’s firewall – parents will therefore need to ensure that age-appropriate filtering or safe search is enabled at home.
• Communication during online learning is between student and teacher: parents should communicate with school/staff in the usual manner, via school email.
• Parents with queries about Online Platform should contact their child’s class teacher or tutor. Concerns related to safeguarding, child protection or online safety should be referred to the Principal.

For any complaints or concern please mail to legal@genalphaedu.com