Bring Your Own Device

Dealing with the issues raised with BYOD and how to include BYOD into school policies

DevicesAs budgets become increasingly challenging, many schools are looking at staff and students bringing their own device into school to help with teaching and learning.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is common in many organisations who feel that it is wasteful to supply employees with an additional device when they already own a laptop or tablet.

For schools, this brings several challenges as senior leaders must ensure that they are not compromising safeguarding procedures if staff are using these devices in the classroom. A serious case review in South West England in 2012 highlighted that all staff need to ensure that the headteacher is aware and agrees to them using their personal device in school.

Staff need to ensure that using their device doesn’t compromise the safeguarding of children. Therefore, images should not be taken on a personal device as this needs to be done on a school owned camera or tablet and kept on the school network. In addition, many documents are saved onto cloud based services and staff need to follow data protection procedures.

It is important that schools have agreements in place that are read and signed. This could be part of the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) or a separate BYOD agreement. Staff must sign this policy and it needs to include statements covering:

  • No sensitive data is kept on the device or that any important information is encrypted.
  • Log onto the device is done via a passcode or password (preferably two factor authentication)
  • If the device is lost, the staff member will inform the headteacher as soon as possible.
  • When a staff member leaves the school, they will ensure that all school information is removed from the device.

Many members of staff now use their personal smartphone to access school based emails as it is easier to do this than to log onto a computer. Therefore, it is important that the school has a wipe facility in place (in conjunction with its ICT Technical Services) so that if the device is lost, the school based emails can be erased from the device remotely.

Some schools are now allowing students to also use their own personal device in school to support them with their learning in the classroom. Schools that have developed this policy, usually implement a strategy beginning with the oldest students e.g. 6th form, KS4 and then look at phasing it in with younger students. Again, policies need to be updated such as the AUP and the school Wi-Fi infrastructure needs to ensure that pupils cannot access unsuitable content.

BYOD is a good option for schools who may not have the resources to update ICT hardware. However, it is important that policies and procedures are updated to ensure that they don’t compromise the safety of children and young people.



If you would like to share your thoughts or experiences of BYOD with fellow teachers, please use the comments section below.

Written by Tim Pinto on April 06, 2017 09:16

Apps for Teachers and Education - GoBubble

The second in our series of peer-to-peer reviews of apps being used by schools


Featured AppsHere at E-safety Support, we are regularly contacted by our members who want to know a little more about a new app they are investigating for their school.

Following our first review of ClassDojo, we received a number of comments from fellow teachers, which allowed others to make more informed decisions about whether to use it in their schools. Thank you all for your input.

As our series on educational apps grows, our intention at E-safety Support is to provide a useful arena for teachers to share their comments, allowing others to evaluate the feedback and help them decide if the app is for them.

We continue our series with GoBubble

The age limit on using sites like Facebook may be 13 but that does not stop four out of five primary school kids admitting to using social media at least once a day. Determined to give parents and teachers the tools to deal with this growing trend, former police sergeant and e-safety guru, Henry Platten took matters into his own hands, developing a safe social media platform that young children can use.

GoBubble from eCadets is designed to put an end to unwanted friend requests, dubious content and the potential for cyber-bullying. It allows children to take advantage of the best bits of social media without any of the negative aspects. With GoBubble children can chat online with school friends, share jokes, pictures or videos and learn about different cultures by making new friends of the same age from around the world.

“We need to accept that our kids love social media and will use it no matter what the age limit is, so my view is, don’t ban them, just provide them with a safe alternative that has all of the up sides but none of the down sides,” says Henry Platten founder of the multi-award winning eCadets. “GoBubble is that safe alternative.”

What are your thoughts on GoBubble?
If you are using GoBubble in your school, or have had experience of the app and would like to share your thoughts to help other E-safety Support members, please use the comments section below, or email tina@e-safetysupport.com.

Are there apps you would like to discuss?
If you would like to ask about other apps that interest you, please let us know by emailing tina@e-safetysupport.com.

Written by Safeguarding Essentials on March 30, 2017 10:35

Apps for Teachers and Education - GoBubble

The second in our series of peer-to-peer reviews of apps being used by schools


Featured AppsHere at E-safety Support, we are regularly contacted by our members who want to know a little more about a new app they are investigating for their school.

Following our first review of ClassDojo, we received a number of comments from fellow teachers, which allowed others to make more informed decisions about whether to use it in their schools. Thank you all for your input.

As our series on educational apps grows, our intention at E-safety Support is to provide a useful arena for teachers to share their comments, allowing others to evaluate the feedback and help them decide if the app is for them.

We continue our series with GoBubble

The age limit on using sites like Facebook may be 13 but that does not stop four out of five primary school kids admitting to using social media at least once a day. Determined to give parents and teachers the tools to deal with this growing trend, former police sergeant and e-safety guru, Henry Platten took matters into his own hands, developing a safe social media platform that young children can use.

GoBubble from eCadets is designed to put an end to unwanted friend requests, dubious content and the potential for cyber-bullying. It allows children to take advantage of the best bits of social media without any of the negative aspects. With GoBubble children can chat online with school friends, share jokes, pictures or videos and learn about different cultures by making new friends of the same age from around the world.

“We need to accept that our kids love social media and will use it no matter what the age limit is, so my view is, don’t ban them, just provide them with a safe alternative that has all of the up sides but none of the down sides,” says Henry Platten founder of the multi-award winning eCadets. “GoBubble is that safe alternative.”

What are your thoughts on GoBubble?
If you are using GoBubble in your school, or have had experience of the app and would like to share your thoughts to help other E-safety Support members, please use the comments section below, or email tina@e-safetysupport.com.

Are there apps you would like to discuss?
If you would like to ask about other apps that interest you, please let us know by emailing tina@e-safetysupport.com.

Written by Safeguarding Essentials on March 30, 2017 10:35


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