Parent and carer social networking guidance

Social networking is a platform to build social networks or social relations among people who share interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections. These online communications and social media include software, applications, e-mail and websites, which enable users to interact, create and exchange information online. This content may include text, pictures or video and sometimes combinations of all three.

Increasingly these sites and services are accessed and updated through mobile devices rather than desktop or laptop computers.

This guidance aims to:

• Encourage social networking sites to be used in a beneficial and positive way by parents;
• Safeguard pupils, staff and anyone associated with the school from the negative effects of social networking sites;
• Safeguard the reputation of the school from unwarranted abuse on social networking sites;
• Clarify what the school considers to be appropriate and inappropriate use of social networking sites by parents/carers;
• Set out the procedures the school will follow where it considers parents have inappropriately or unlawfully used social networking sites to the detriment of the school, its staff or its pupils and anyone else associated with the school;
• Set out the action the school will consider taking if parents make inappropriate use of social networking sites.

Parent and carer social networking guidance (PDF, 58KB)