Student Management - Discipline Guidelines (AVN)

Rationale

All children have a right to a discipline system that is based on procedural fairness and expressly prohibits the use or corporal punishment or the implicit sanctioning of such. As school staff, we have a legal and moral responsibility to ensure that a fair and redemptive and restorative discipline system is in place and well understood by students and staff.

Aims

To ensure that a procedurally fair discipline system is in place.

Implementation

Avondale School will abide by the legislation pertinent to the provision of a discipline system that is based on the principles of procedural fairness. This includes the right of the student to:

  1. Know the allegation and any other information related to it;
  2. Know the process by which the matter will be considered;
  3. Make a response to the allegation;
  4. Know how to have any process or decision reconsidered;
  5. Expect impartiality in the investigation and the decision making; and
  6. An unbiased decision-maker.

The School endeavours to give students the opportunity to practice and develop leadership skills. It also sees value in providing students with avenues through which they may make positive contributions to the School as well as providing opportunity for them to seek redress for problems they perceive to exist. Consequently, the School operates a Prefect System and a Student Representative Council.

Philosophy

Avondale School endeavours to meet the needs of every student and encourage them to live, work and behave in a positive manner. The School encourages each student to develop and adopt a set of values in harmony with the Christian ethos and the accepted standards of society. It is recognised, however, that students will not always respond appropriately to all the situations they will encounter at School, nor will they always exhibit an appropriate level of self-discipline. In such situations the following Behaviour Management Policy is enacted.

The aim of the Behaviour Management Policy is enacted to assist students to become self-disciplined. It’s intent is to encourage the student to recognise the inappropriateness of their behaviour and modify it accordingly. The emphasis in the following policy is on positively reinforcing acceptable behaviour and responding too and correcting unacceptable behaviour.
Avondale School complies with the NSW Educational Reform Amendment Act (1995) which forbids the use of corporal punishment in schools. 

Principles Involved in Discipline Procedures 

  • Fairness and consistency are always sought.
  • All processes commence with a preferred redemptive and restorative outcome.
  • Sensitivity to others’ needs is emphasised.
  • Cause and effect relationships are explained to the students.
  • Responsibility and self-discipline are to be developed.
  • Clarity of expectation in disciplinary outcomes is given.
  • Principles that govern appropriate behaviour should be more important than rules.
  • Students should be made aware of the reasons behind rules.
  • There should be openness to listening, considering and responding to student appeals.
  • A statement of expectations and penalties should be readily accessible.
  • Consequences should be appropriate to age and circumstance.
  • Communication is open and clear.
  • Student input to the Behaviour Management Policy is invited through appropriate student body forums (Prefects, SRC).
  • Students should be treated with dignity and respect.
  • Consideration of students with special needs is always considered.

Managing Student Behaviour

Within a whole-school approach, it is expected that teachers will take active responsibility for behaviour management, using redemptive and restorative practices both in the classroom and in the wider duty-of-care role.

1. Positive Behaviour Management

All teachers will clarify the common rights, rules and responsibilities at the classroom level, and general duty-of-care level. Positive behaviour management is based on a balance of rights and responsibilities. Fundamental rights need to be balanced by responsibilities. Rights can be protected, in part, by rules and consequences, but rights also need to be taught within the context of a supportive school environment.

2. The School’s Rights-Responsibilities-Rules-Routines Code

The school’s rights-responsibilities-rules-routines code forms the basis for all behaviour management and discipline. The 4Rs are the rights, responsibilities, rules and routines referred to when managing students. Teachers are encouraged to:

  • enforce rules
  • establish routines
  • encourage responsibility
  • acknowledge rights
  • apply consequences.

The emphasis of management and discipline needs to focus on individual rights. Students’ thinking and attention should always be brought back to how their behaviour affects others:

  • whose rights were affected?
  • which rule was broken? (in effect, which right was affected)
  • how can the situation be fixed?

Everyone has the right to:

  • feel safe at school - students cannot learn well, or socialise effectively if they feel unsafe in classrooms or playgrounds. Emotional and physical safety, therefore, are high priorities in student management.
  • learn to the best of their ability with the best assistance without distraction or disruption.
  • be treated with dignity and respect.
3. Minimise Unnecessary Confrontation When Managing Students

Teachers need to distinguish assertion from aggression when considering management practice. Assertion is fundamentally the ability to convey one’s needs and rights in a way that does not override others’ needs and rights. 

Assertiveness involves a firm, decisive tone focused on addressing the behaviour without attacking the student. This, along with a restorative conversation, is a fundamental premise of positive behaviour management and conflict resolution.

4. Use Positive Corrective Practice Wherever Possible 

A good deal of corrective discipline and management concerns misdemeanours such as calling out, lateness, not having equipment, task avoidance, talking out of turn, chair leaning. When dealing with this kind of behaviour, it is often possible to be both positive and corrective. 

5. Keep The Focus On The Primary Behaviour – Avoid Argument

Refocus the secondary dialogue:

Student: ‘Other teachers let us chew gum.’

Teacher: ‘Maybe they do (partially agree), but the rule is clear in this class. Chewing gum in the bin, thank you’.

6. Invite, Model, And Expect Respect

Respect involves:

  • Separating the behaviour from the person. (This is not easy to do but keeps the respect of the person in focus.)
  • Using private, rather than public, reprimands where possible to consciously enable face-saving.
  • Taking students aside where possible (in on-task time) to focus on what they should be doing.
  • Seeing students through a professional lens, not an emotive state as you interact throughout a day, or from day to day.
  • Reestablishing the relationship after correction.
7. Utilise Related And Reasonable Consequences

When students do not respond to positive restorative correction, it is important to clarify consequences and apply them where necessary. For consequences to be effective, staff need to agree on some preferred practices in setting up and applying consequences and positive restorative correction. This is particularly necessary for common, disruptive behaviour as well as behaviour which significantly infringes on the safety and fair treatment of others.

Consequences can be immediate or deferred. Examples of immediate consequences are:

  • sitting away from others 
  • working away from others 
  • cool-off time in the room
  • time-out, potentially away from that classroom or activity, but only to a prearranged supervised area in alignment with our duty of care.

Deferred consequences range from staying in after class, through to students doing work in their own time.

8. Emphasise Logical Consequences

Some logical connection between the disruptive behaviour and the consequence applied by the teacher is developed or negotiated between teacher and student. For example, rather than writing a hundred lines, students ought to be writing about their behaviour:

  • What I did.
  • Why I think this happened (their right of reply).
  • What rule (or right) I broke or affected.
  • What I need to do to fix things up.

This challenges students to think about and reflect on their behaviour and consider how they might fix it. It can be used as a teacher-student exchange to resolve a behaviour problem and to initiate appropriate consequences or restitution.

If considered, in our professional judgment that correction needs to be followed up by some sort of consequence, and aims to teach students:

  • About the relationship between their behaviour and the outcome applied.
  • That the students, in effect, choose their own behaviour (the YOYOB principle: You Own Your Own Behaviour). The teacher’s job is to help students to make better behavioural choices.
  • To work for reconciliation and restitution rather than revenge. Reparation between student and student, student and work, student and teacher should be the goal of applying consequences. In other words, we go beyond the actual consequence to ask how we can help this student to repair and rebuild damaged relationships or attitudes. This approach is longer term than just applying punishment.
  • About the need to allow cool-off time when applying consequences. Some consequences cannot be applied effectively while a student is still angry. Apart from the need for immediate consequences such as relocation or time-out, deferred consequences work more effectively because we’ve allowed cool-off time.
9. Actively Promote, Teach And Support Positive Behaviour

All students need to learn responsibility in a school climate that enhances personal responsibility and cooperation.

This can be done in a variety of ways:

  • Acknowledge students when it is appropriate to do so. Observe students doing the right thing and affirm their behaviour. 
  • Build a positive working environment in the classroom through positive rules, simple and clear routines, maximum use of seating plans, effective monitor systems, a balance of cooperative learning and teacher redirected/individual learning.
  • Gear the curriculum and the teaching and learning environment for maximum success in a wide range of academic and non-academic activities. While a program cannot, of itself, guarantee success, it can promote it by the way it is planned, structured and delivered. Staff teams can plan for good-practice models by collaborating on successful programs, lesson units, styles of group work, special elective activities, and by rotating key lessons such as science and music with teachers who are specially talented in those areas.
  • Give regular encouragement (verbal and nonverbal) and descriptive feedback. When considering positive behaviour it is important to consider feedback from students. 

Discipline Level System

Avondale School complies with the NSW Educational Reform Amendment Act (1995) which forbids the use of corporal punishment in schools. 

Avondale School expressly prohibits corporal punishment in response to the Act. Further, we do not explicitly or implicitly sanction the administering of corporal punishment by non-school persons, including parents, to enforce discipline at the School.

The Discipline Level System is designed to be a redemptive and restorative process. In support of this, a drop off process is set in place. A Caution Card (Primary School), a Reflection (Primary School) and a Detention (Secondary School) stays active on a students record for 10 weeks/term, then after that set time it lapses. A lapsed Caution Card/Reflection/Detention is not included in the active status of a student. A Suspension (Primary and Secondary) remains active on the students record for the 6-12 months depending on the severity of the incident. Where possible students are given a clear record as they recommence each new school year. 

Classroom Discipline

Each teacher has the authority to maintain discipline in the classroom. In the course of normal tuition, a teacher has the authority to require a student to report at a recess or a lunchtime if a student’s behaviour or performance so indicates. Caution Cards (Primary) and Classroom Detentions (Secondary) are used by the teacher where a student is in breach of school rules and regulations.

Included are such things as:

  • Failure to follow instructions or cooperate during lessons
  • Failure to seek permission to move, leave or use classroom equipment
  • Failure to complete tasks or homework
  • Behaving in a manner that interferes with class activities
  • Failure to respect others and their property
  • Misuse of classroom equipment and property
  • Lateness to class.

Behaviour on Buses

As a very large proportion of the students at Avondale School are transported by bus, the behaviour of students on the buses is a significant consideration in terms of supervision and disciplinary procedures.

Supervision on the Bus
  1. Bus drivers and the operators have direct control over the students on buses.
  2. Given the difficulty and responsibility of the task of driving a large passenger vehicle as well as maintaining order on it, the school cooperates as closely as possible in helping the drivers by disciplining students for inappropriate bus behaviour.
Bus Rules
  1. Use appropriate language not offensive or racist language 
  2. Fighting, spitting, feet on seats, throwing things in or from the bus is not permitted
  3. No eating or drinking (other than water) – unless for medical reasons or the bus operator gives written permission 
  4. Offer seats to adults including people with a disability, elderly or expectant mothers
  5. Do not touch, push or shove other people 
  6. Do not bully or harass other passengers or the driver. This includes photographing, making lewd or suggestive comments, acting in a manner or participating in activities that may be deemed inappropriate or of a sexual nature. 
  7. Avoid attracting the attention of the driver except in the case of emergency 
  8. Do not play music at such volume that it may distract the bus driver or other passengers.

Primary Campus Rules

Out of Bounds
  1. Outside school property - fence or gate during school hours.
  2. Secondary Campus including their canteen.
  3. Dam area.
  4. Bush area between Primary ovals and tennis courts.
  5. Bush area off the far end of ovals.
  6. All classrooms unless a teacher is present.
  7. Roofs of all buildings.
  8. Bus area, carpark area and caretaker’s yard.
  9. Behind demountable classrooms and/or including sheds.
  10. Out of the appropriate stage area.
  11. Before 8.30 am and after school - All areas except concrete and paved areas, the Office side of the Infant Shelter.
Eating
  1. Years 3 - 6: Remain seated until the 1:05pm bell rings. Leave the area clear of rubbish and wait for permission to leave.
  2. Kindy - Year 2: Remain seated until your lunch has been checked and the 1:05pm bell has rung.
  3. Students remain seated to eat at recess (11:00am - 11:05am).
  4. All food must be eaten in the eating areas only.
General Playing
  1. No games that involve throwing things over buildings, shade cloth or roofs.
  2. No games that involve throwing things at another person unless under teacher supervision.
  3. No climbing trees or swinging from trees.
  4. Seats are for sitting on.
  5. No dangerous play, especially with sticks, stones, hoops and skipping ropes.
  6. No games involving aggressive play, eg. hold football, tackle football, branding.
  7. No playing after the line-up bell has rung.
  8. After school, no running or sport equipment in the assembly area.
Playground Equipment
  1. Wait your turn.
  2. Don’t interfere with others.
  3. No playing tag on, under or around the playground equipment.
  4. One at a time on slides and flying foxes.
Use of Sporting Equipment
  1. Years 3-6: before school, recess and lunchtime on ovals or courts (not near, in or between classrooms). 
  2. Infants: kicking/bouncing/throwing games with sport equipment on Kindy field or infant basketball court (not near, in or between classrooms). 
Playing Near Buildings
  1. No running on concrete paths around buildings and under verandahs.
  2. No playing active games under verandahs. This includes ball games.
  3. No swinging from verandahs.
  4. No sporting equipment other than handballs.
Sun Safety - No Hat, Play in the Shade
  1. Hats on at all times when in the sun at recess and lunch.
  2. Sit/play under the verandah or in the iCentre if you do not have a hat.
  3. Teacher supervised sport activities may be played without a hat at teacher discretion. This discretion is based on duration of play and UV ratings.

Primary School Behaviour Plan

Rationale

The Student Behaviour Plan is designed to foster the Christian growth and maturity of Avondale School’s primary students in harmony with the School’s mission and values.
The following Code of Christian Conduct outlines rights that are central to the Student Behaviour Plan.

Code of Christian Conduct
  • We all have the right to be able to work and learn without being disrupted by others.
  • We all have the right to be treated with courtesy and respect.
  • We all have the right to work and play in a clean and safe environment.
  • We all have the right to feel proud of this School.
  • “Treat others the way you would like to be treated.” Matthew 7.12
Introduction

Our aim is to ensure that all children at the Primary School have access to quality learning within a safe and caring environment. The involvement of both parent/s/caregivers and staff is critical for implementing this program. Please note the following:

  • The Plan recognises appropriate behaviour by rewarding the students with incentives to encourage favourable and positive attitudes.
  • Teachers will discuss the Plan with their class at the commencement of the school year. We ask that parent/s/caregivers also discuss this information with their child/ren to ensure that all understand the Plan.
  • The Plan complies with the NSW Education Reform Act (1995) forbidding the use of corporal punishment in schools.

Behaviour Management Overview

Discipline Action

Where possible, immediate consequences will be given for inappropriate behaviour both in the classroom and the playground. The School aims to ensure that the consequences are appropriate, consistent, logical and known in advance. The following procedures are observed in the classroom and playground.

The Classroom

A class meeting will be held early in the year to talk about the Student Behaviour Plan with an emphasis on the Code of Christian Conduct and our SHINE Positive Behaviour Support Plan.

Class discussion involving the students and the teacher will lead to the development of a small set of classroom rules with clear consequences for violation of these rules. The rules will then be displayed in the classroom. This will be completed early in Term 1.

Clear consequences for inappropriate behaviour will be implemented.

For minor offences a teacher may choose to caution the student and issue a Caution Card. A Caution Card results in a 10 minute time-out or another logical consequences with the focus being to restore the harm. Class teachers will document these cards on SEQTA for monitoring purposes. If three Caution Cards are issued within a ten week period for any individual student, the teacher will contact the child’s parent/s/caregivers to discuss the School’s concerns. A further Caution Card within the 10 week window will automatically result in a Reflection.

For serious offences, the teacher will clarify with the student the inappropriate behaviour/s being displayed and discuss this behaviour with the student. The student may then be issued with a Reflection or Suspension in alignment with our SHINE PBSP.

The Playground

Teachers will encourage positive behaviour. SHINE Merit Tokens are handed out to encourage and recognise positive behaviour.

For minor offences the duty teacher may choose to caution the student and/or issue them with a Caution Card. The Caution Card will be given to the student’s class teacher who will file it on SEQTA for monitoring and record purposes. 

Examples of playground consequences: no hat – no play in the sun; unsafe play – time out; littering – pick up rubbish. 

For serious or repeat offences, the duty teacher will discuss the inappropriate behaviour/s with the student and may issue a Reflection, or be referred to the Assistant Head of Primary. For serious offences a Suspension may be considered. 

Reflection Procedure

When a student is issued a Reflection the following occurs:

The Issuing Teacher will: 

  • Discuss with the student the unacceptable behaviour and get the student to acknowledge the choice made. A Reflection is issued and handed to the Assistant Head of Primary.
  • The Assistant Head of Primary will review the students behaviour record and decided who will complete the Reflection process. 
  • The issuing teacher, coordinator or Assistant Head of Primary will meet with the student to complete a Reflection. The plan identifies triggers, inappropriate choices and outcomes. It also challenges the student to identify an appropriate behaviour choice for the future.
  • Help the student to make things right through apologies, restitution and positive contributions to school life.
  • Contact the parent/s/guardian by phone or by email to advise them of the Reflection, seeking parental support for positive change.
  • All Reflections are filed on SEQTA for monitoring and record purposes by Primary Leadership. Students may have an additional consequence or consequences depending on the pattern of behaviour. Such as but not limited to, SHINE Contracts, mentor check-ins and removal for representative teams.

Secondary Campus Behaviour Plan

A teacher may choose to use the School’s discipline system of Detentions as described below or work within their Department and with their Coordinator. The following notes are by way of amplification and explanation of the procedures.

  1. Misdemeanours - A misdemeanour is an offence initially not worthy of a Detention, but at the teacher’s discretion they may lead to a Detention being issued. Misdemeanours are managed by the class teacher, through a restorative process.
  2. Detentions - School Detentions are issued for misbehaviour that is considered of sufficient gravity to require a school record. Detentions stay active on a student’s record for 60 days, at which time they lapse, though the tally is reset to zero at the start of each term.
  3. Discipline Supersedes all Aspects of School - Students are required to deal with discipline issues before all other aspects of school life. First responsibility is to the school then to individual teachers.
Levels of Discipline

The Discipline Level System is designed to be a redemptive and restorative process. The offending student is encouraged at each stage or level to make the correct decisions which will return them to a higher level. In support of this, a 60-day drop off process is set in place. A Detention stays active on a student’s record for 60 days and then lapses. A lapsed Detention is not included in the active status of a student. Therefore, when a student makes the active decision to adhere to the Student Code of Conduct and return to a satisfactory level, they can keep their record clean for 60 days.

Students accumulating 4 Detentions or engaging in more serious misbehaviour will find themselves placed on one of the Levels of Discipline.

Lunchtime Detention Procedures

  1. Teacher fills in Detention Form.
  2. White sheet is given to the student.
  3. The teacher processes Detentions onto the computer (SEQTA database).
  4. Detention is to be carried out the next available Detention day 
  5. Detention list for the day is generated by the Detention supervisor on that day.
  6. Detention supervisor checks that students have attended and provides standard activities for them to do.
  7. If students are late, the supervisor gives a Failure to Report which may result in another Detention.
  8. A Detention period is for approx 30 mins. Students are expected to complete the Detention activity.
  9. The Detention supervisor returns the list to the Assistant Head of Secondary.
  10. The Detention Supervisor reconciles the list with the daily attendance list. Any student present at school who does not attend Detention is issued a Failure to Report Detention.
  11. Detention Supervisor issues Failure to Report Detentions to those who did not attend or were late to Detention and enters these into the computer (SEQTA database) and on the Detention list for the next school day.

Sport Detentions

First, second and third Detentions will be served in the Detention Room. On the third Detention the student will also serve a Sport Detention during the student’s usual Sport periods. A Sport Detention is held during the student’s timetabled sport periods. It is an opportunity to reflect on decisions which led to this consequence and consider strategies to avoid further Detentions. A fourth Detention will also be served as a Sport Detention and parents/caregivers will be notified by letter to report that the student has been placed on a Behaviour Card. Sport Detentions can be given by the Head of Secondary or Assistant Head of Secondary as disciplinary action.

Failure to report for Sport Detention will result in another Sport Detention. Failure to report for the third time will result in the student being given an After School Detention.

After School Detentions

A fifth Detention will incur an After School Detention. After School Detentions can be given by the Head of Secondary or Assistant Head of Secondary as disciplinary action. Failure to report for an After School Detention will result in a further After School Detention. Failure to report for the third time will have the matter referred to the Discipline Committee.

School Mentor Program

The Mentor Program at Avondale School is to support and encourage students who may be experiencing difficulty to adjust behaviours and cooperate with systems of the School so that they can have a positive School experience. The role of the mentor is support, advice, listening and counsel where appropriate. Mentors usually volunteer to serve and the students select a mentor from a recommended group approved by School administration. Access to the program may come from a student, parents’ request or action by the School. The Mentor Program is an option for Administration managed case by case. The Stage Coordinator’s are informed and provide support for students.

Specifically:

  1. Mentor will be given background on student and chief areas of concern.
  2. Mentor will:
    1. be available to assist student;
    2. consult with Year Level Coordinators on the Discipline Committee;
    3. be accessible to students in times of pressure and be informed by administration if problems occur;
    4. suggest ways and make a plan to assist student with behaviour modification - eg, meeting appointments, homework, tardiness, attitude, emotions such as anger, etc. – to help find ways to motivate student;
    5. hold regular meetings with student to discuss, listen and advise.
  3. Administration to keep mentor updated re student progress, i.e. discipline action, concerns from other teachers, relevant information from parents, etc.
  4. Mentor needs to establish a convenient meeting time to meet with student. Initially this may entail organising with the Assistant Head of School to do this.
  5. Mentor should report to the Assistant Head of School and the Pastoral Care Management Committee on progress of the Mentor Program.
Merit Awards

Merit Token Awards are presented to deserving students as a way to acknowledge and encourage positive contributions to school life. These tokens can be passed on to help their house accumulate points. Students earn a Merit Award Token by demonstrating exemplary behaviour, conduct, and academic achievement aligned with the school’s values.

Classroom Monitoring

Recognising that a teacher cannot be everywhere at once, that students will find a way to be off task and that all it takes is a quick keystroke by a student to hide what’s on a screen. Teachers will utilise monitoring software to manage learning and class behaviour.

Recognising that the classroom and/or supervising teacher is responsible for the active monitoring of, and censoring of the usage of electronic facilities (computer, internet and email) by students in their care:

  • That teachers monitor students during class. This may include observation, questioning, roving around the classroom, engaging with individual students, monitoring screen work by interacting with the laptop directly or by screen share;
  • That when other methods of focusing students to a task may appear unsuccessful, the teacher monitor student computers using LineWize monitoring / Apple Classroom/ screen share etc.;
  • That teachers monitor student computers only during the class being taught.
  • That teachers be encouraged at all times to use clear expectations and restorative justice when monitoring, managing and or disciplining students behaviour involving the use of laptops.
  • That teachers manage inappropriate use of computers during class, including games, chat, emailing within the classroom discipline.
  • That the emphasis on discipline action be on educating students in use of technology to be safe, communication etiquette and copyright expectations are in place as good digital citizens.
  • That teachers report and refer offences or issues which breech the Use of Acceptable Technology Use Policy and/or the Student Conduct Code to the Department or Stage Coordinator and/or Administration to initiate investigation.
Procedure for Addressing Computer Offences or Issues which Breech the Acceptable Technology Use Policy and/or the Student Conduct Code

That on a report made to a Teacher from a student or parent, or on becoming aware of an offence / issue outlined in the Acceptable Technology Use Policy and the Student Conduct Code:

  • That the teacher will record and assess the level of the offence.
  • That the teacher will either administer classroom discipline, refer the offence to the Department or Stage Coordinator or report the offence to the Assistant Head of Secondary.

That on a report made to a Department or Stage Coordinator from a student, parent, or teacher of an offence /issue outlined in the Use of Acceptable Technology Use Policy and the Student Conduct Code:

  • That the Department or Stage Coordinator will record and assess the level of the offence.
  • That the Department or Stage Coordinator will either refer the offence back to the teacher, administer Department or Stage Coordinator discipline or report the offence to the Assistant Head of Secondary.

That on a report made to IT Personnel from a student, parent or teacher, or on becoming aware of offence / issue outlined in the Use of Acceptable Technology Use Policy and the Student Conduct Code:

  • That the IT Personnel will assess the level of the offence.
  • That the IT Personnel will either report the offence / issue to the teacher, Department or Stage Coordinator or report the offence to the Assistant Head of Secondary.
  • That the IT Personnel will not address the offence / issue with the student directly.

That on a report made to the Head of Secondary or the Assistant Head of Secondary from a student, parent, teacher or Department or Stage Coordinator of serious offences outlined in the Use of Acceptable Technology Use Policy and the Student Conduct Code or on reliable information indicating that there is grounds for reasonable suspicion of offences outlined in the Use of Acceptable Technology Use Policy and the Student Conduct Code:

  • That an investigation of issues relating to laptops and/or the school network which breech the Use of Acceptable Technology Use Policy and/or the Student Conduct Code be initiated at Administration level. 
  • That the School Administration will use available resources to investigate— such as requesting IT personnel assistance, using ARD, appropriation of laptop, recorded logs, etc.
  • That the data collected in the investigation be made available to Administration.
  • That School Administration will follow up on any discipline issues relating to the check.
General Network Monitoring/Sweep

Recognising that students will, from time to time, breech National Copyright, Acceptable Technology Use Policy and Student Code of Conduct by downloading movies, games, images, applications, software, etc;

  • That Administration will proceed with caution, acknowledging and minimising the effect of ‘big brother’ watching on the impact of technology on the learning environment.
  • That the Administration will request IT to check the School network and computers connected to the School Network for downloaded movies, games, images, applications, software, etc. 
  • That Administration will follow up on any discipline issues relating to the check.


EVALUATION: This policy was last updated in April 2025 and will be reviewed as part of a three-year school policy review cycle in 2028.