Social Media Conduct Policy

Co-op Academy Woodslee Statement of Intent

Co-op Academy Woodslee understands the benefits of using social media; however, if misused, the academy community can be negatively affected, such as damage to the academy’s reputation. This code of conduct sets out clear procedures for how we expect parents to conduct themselves on social media and when using messenger apps, with regard to the academy and its reputation. We ask that parents read this document and ensure that they always act in accordance with the stipulations detailed below.

1.  Legal framework

This document has due regard to all relevant legislation and statutory guidance including, but not limited to, the following:

•        Data Protection Act 2018

•        UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

•        Protection of Freedoms Act 2012

This document operates in conjunction with the following academy policies:

•        Complaints Procedure Policy

•        Social Media Policy

•        Data Protection Policy

•        Pupil Code of Conduct  

 Trust Code of Conduct

2.        Online safety and social media conduct

The academy expects parents to behave in a civilised nature online and will not tolerate any of the following online behaviour:

•        Posting defamatory content about parents, pupils, the academy or its employees

•        Complaining about the academy’s values and methods on social media

•        Posting content containing confidential information regarding the academy or any       members of its community, e.g. a complaint outcome

•        Contacting academy employees through social media, including requesting to ‘follow’ or ‘friend’ them, or sending them private messages

•        Creating or joining private groups or chats that victimise or harass a member of staff or the academy in general

•        Posting images of any staff members or pupils without their prior consent

Parents’ social media usage will be in accordance with the Academy’s Social Media Policy. The Academy retains the right to request that any damaging material is removed from social media websites. If parents wish to raise a complaint, the academy has the Co-op Academy Trust Complaints Procedures Policy in place.

Breaches of this code of conduct will be taken seriously by the academy and, in the event of illegal, defamatory, or discriminatory content, breaches could lead to prosecution. Parents are instructed not to post anonymously or under an alias to evade the guidance given in this code of conduct.

3.        Online messaging

The academy expects parents to use messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, for purposes beneficial to themselves and the academy, and will not accept any of the following behaviour:

•        Sending abusive messages to fellow parents

•        Sending abusive messages to members of staff

•        Sending frequent messages to members of staff

•        Sending abusive messages about members of staff, parents, pupils or the academy within WhatsApp Year groups or other online communication groups

•        Sharing confidential or sensitive information about members of staff, parents, pupils or the academy

•        Bringing the academy or its staff into disrepute

The academy appreciates the simplicity and ease of instant messaging; keeping in contact outside of the academy can benefit the academy community by keeping it closer. The academy does not, however, condone parents sending frequent and unimportant messages to staff. Parents should understand that staff should not be contacted outside of working hours. If parents wish to talk to staff, parents should arrange a meeting with the teacher by speaking to the office staff. Should any problems arise from contact over messaging apps, the academy will act quickly by contacting parents directly, to stop any issues continuing. The academy can request a meeting with parents if any misconduct, such as sending abusive messages or posting defamatory content, occurs online. The academy’s complaints procedure will be followed as normal if any members of the parent teacher association or governing board cause any issues through their conduct whilst using online messaging.

The headteacher can, with the permission of the parent, view messages sent between members of the parental body to deal with problems quickly and effectively.

The headteacher can request that ‘group chats’ are closed down should any problems continue between parents or parental bodies.

4.   Photography and images

Parents may be permitted to take photos of their children at certain academy events, such as sports day or during a theatre production; however, parents are only able to take photos of their own children, and should only share photos of their own children on social media if they wish to. Parents must be mindful that they are only sharing a photograph of their own  child.

Parents must not take photos of other children, staff members or volunteers, nor post them on social media without the consent of those within the images or, where applicable, their parents.

During events outside of academy, such as dropping children off at the academy gate, or whilst visiting the academy, parents must not take photos of any members of the academy community, nor share these photos on social media.

5.        Responsibility

Parents are responsible for supporting the academy by monitoring their own use of social media and online messaging. Parents must adhere to the Social Media Code of Conduct for Parents at all times.

Parents are responsible for ensuring they support the academy by monitoring their children’s use of social media and online messaging. Parents must support their children in adhering to the Pupil Code of Conduct.

6.        Monitoring and review

The headteacher will review this code of conduct on an annual basis and will communicate any changes to all teachers and parents.

The next scheduled review date for this document is September 2025.

Acceptable Use of Social Media Letter to Parents

RE: Parents’ use of social media

Dear Families,

Co-op Academy Woodslee understands and appreciates the benefits of social media; however, there may also be some significant negative impacts, such as cyberbullying, which the school does not tolerate.

For us to set the best example possible to pupils at the school, we would like to invite parents to also lead by example. The school urges parents to review and sign our code of conduct, which outlines how to act when using social media.

Should the school be subject to any online abuse, we will take the appropriate action, which may include considering our legal options to deal with any defamatory or libellous activity on social media.

If any parents do have any concerns to raise, or would like to discuss this subject further, please contact the school office to arrange an appointment with a member of staff.

Kind regards,

Julia Haggett

Head of School

Appendix ii

Parental Declaration Form

I __________________________ (name), parent of ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­____________________ (name of child), declare that I have received, read and understood the terms and conditions of the Social Media Code of Conduct for Parents.

I understand my obligations under this code of conduct and agree to comply fully with them. I will ensure that my conduct does not breach this code of conduct in any way, including:

·         Sending abusive messages to parents or teachers.

·         Sending abusive messages about parents and teachers.

·         Posting defamatory content about other parents, pupils, teachers or the school.

·         Using social media to complain or post any grievances about the school’s values and methods.

·         Posting content containing confidential information to do with the school or any members of its community, e.g. regarding a complaint outcome.

·         Contacting school employees through social media, including requesting to ‘follow’ or ‘friend’ them, or sending them private messages.

·         Creating or joining private groups or chats that victimise or harass a member of staff or the school in general.

·         Posting images of any staff members or pupils without their prior consent.

Signed: Parent 1: _________ ________________Parent 2 :______________________________

Date: __________________________________

Co-op Academies Trust Social Media Principles

We have a set of principles which we expect anyone engaging with us on social media to follow.

• Be yourself, let your personality shine
• Use sensibly, if you don’t want the world to know, don’t post
• Respect everyone, play nice, be fair, assume best intentions
• Protect yourself, privacy settings are there for a reason
• Don’t swear (obviously)
• Listen, sometimes the hardest thing to do
• We keep these in mind when we’re responding to you and monitoring your posts, too.

Monitoring our social media communities

What we expect from you and what we’ll do to keep our social communities open, positive and welcoming.

Be respectful

We welcome your opinions, both positive and negative, but we expect everyone to treat each other (including the Social Media team and other social responders) with respect.

Don’t share personal information

This means your own or other’s personal information. If you do, we may ask you to remove it. Personal information can include, but isn’t limited to:

• names
• postal and email addresses
• phone numbers
• your work address or somebody else’s
• We might ask you to share personal information, such as your name or your child’s name, with us in a private message (PM) or direct message (DM) but never in public. We will ensure your personal information is kept safe and only use it for the purpose you intended.

By sharing personal information with us on social media, you are also sharing this with the social media network you’re using. If you want more information about how they use this information, see their terms and conditions.

We’ll remove unacceptable posts

We’re building open, positive and welcoming social communities and will block your account or remove any comment, image or video which:

• feature images or names of children we believe have been shared without consent
• is abusive or threatening
• is offensive
• incites hate
• is unlawful (for example, they are defamatory, fraudulent or violate of intellectual property rights) are purposefully deceptive

We will remove posts if you post repetitively with the same point (after we’ve made an effort to address your issues).

Where we can’t remove your posts or block your account from engaging with us, we may flag your account as inappropriate to the relevant social media network.