Tameside SCB

Guidance on writing E-safety/acceptable use policies for schools and other agencies that work with children and families

The e-safety Scaffold is a document to assist schools, agencies and organisations to write e-safety and acceptable use policies. From page 3 of this document you can lift the material and adapt as you decide is appropriate for your agency.

There are notes in the margins of the pdf version which are shown as Comments in this html version. These comments help you decide whether the particular content is appropriate for your policy.

When drafting your e-safety and acceptable use policy you should also refer to the TSCB Guidance – Safeguarding Children Online This provides principles of best practice and policy-making that you should consider when producing your e-safety and acceptable use policy.

You can also use the TSCB Guidance - Safeguarding Children online to ensure that you have in place the correct systems and strategies for creating a safe environment for the use of electronic media.

It is very important to recognise that E-safety is not an ICT issue. It may involve the use of ICT but it is about protecting children and young people from harm. If you have a concern about actual significant harm to a child or young person, or the risk of significant harm, then you should immediately activate your own agency safeguarding children or child protection procedures, use the TSCB Safeguarding Children Framework and make a referral to Children’s Social Care. Again this is no different to concerns in other situations. If a child or young person is in immediate danger then contact the Police on 999.

Read the full E-safety Scaffold - Guidance on writing E-safety/acceptable use policies for schools and other agencies that work with children and families here:

For further useful guidance and information please visit the E Safety section in the safeguarding library.