This document discusses data protection and computer misuse policies for staff at The Howard School. It provides information on rules regarding appropriate use of the school's email system, internet access, and computer systems. Staff are not allowed to use school email for personal matters, access inappropriate content online, hack into other accounts, or use work computers for outside businesses. The document warns that these systems are monitored and breaking these rules could result in suspension, firing, or criminal charges. It provides an example of a staff member being suspended for circulating pornographic material via school email.

1. LEWIS APPLETON Unit 4 P5
Staff Newsletter
The Howard School
2012
LEGISLATION QUESTIONS
The data protection act was introduced so
that customers and anyone else with
information kept on them have protection in
regards to their personal information and the
way businesses use it so that they do not feel
vulnerable to other people knowing about
them.
The act states that any organization that
holds information on someone cannot use
the personal information held on the person
against their will or inan unfair and
unnecessary way.
We as a school keepinformation on our
students on a database and therefore we are
impacted on by this act.
This means that it is important us when
reviewinginformation kept on the students
to make sure that we do not distribute the
data. There are eight rules in this act and
they are;
The information has to be obtained lawfully
and fairly meaning the information has to be
obtained from the person and it has to be
obtained withthe person’s agreement.
The information may only be used for
specific purposes and the purposes can only
be those that were stated during the
collection of the information.
The information has to be adequate and
relevant to its purpose and it cannot be too
much information on the student in relation
to what the school needs to use it for.
The information has to be accurate and also
kept up to date where it is necessary to
ensure that the information on the student is
correct.
The information is only to be kept inthe
database while it is needed and must be
disposed of after it is no longer required.
The information must only be processed with
permission from the student’s guardian and
must be in coordination withtheir rights.
The information has to be protected from
unlawful processing, accidental loss of the
information and also any changes or damage
to the data.
Has it been broken?
ThisAct hasbeen broken beforeby NewsCorp in the
phonehacking scandal, it isimportant that staffdo not
hackor distributethedatabaseinformation including
student computer accounts.
What this means
If any staff memberswereto breakthisAct then they
could becomefired and even faceseriouscriminal
chargesdepending on howserioustheissueis. Ifthe
issueissmall you will bewarned first.
Data Protection Act 1998

2. LEWIS APPLETON | Unit 4 P5 2
The purpose of this act is to prevent access
that is unauthorized into the HowardSchool
computer systems whichcan also include the
internet in form of website domains.
The act is used to combat crimes but is also
applicable inthe school environment; it is not
acceptable to hack into any school
computers or the website.
There has been evidence to suggest a
member of staff hacking into a student’s
account which is against this Act. There are
three different definitions of this Act being
broken. These are on the right side of this
page.
Has it been broken?
This Act is currently being broken by a member
of staff at this school. That staff member is
currently unnamed and has a chance to not
continue withwhat they are doing before
further action is taken. This Act is being broken
because that member of staff has hacked a
student computer account without
authorization.
What this means
Staff members should only access what they
are given access to; they should not access the
accounts of other staff members or of
students.
Breaking the Act
1) A computer to access unauthorized
program or data held in a computer.
2) Unauthorized modification to contents of
any computer.
3) Impairment to operation of any computer.
The act means youcan be facing an
imprisonment sentence for up to 5 years for
breaking this act and you can be fined.
Staff do not have to do much to make sure
that they do not break this act, all that is
needed is to deter from accessing what is not
allowedto be accessed including other staff
accounts, computers, and student accounts
and to deter from modifying any database
information without authorization.
For example staff caneasily find information
that their account gives them access to but
they cannot use another staff member’s
account login to find out the information as
this breaks the act.
If you know someone or have suspicions of
any member of staff breaching this act then
please notify us immediately so that the
situation can be resolved.
What you can’t do
According to this act there are many things
that cannot be done; staff are not able to
access anything that they have not been
authorized to access. This includes things
such as student accounts; evenif the staff
member has suspicions of something such as
indecent content on the account they are not
to take matters into their own hands.
If a member of staff has these queries then
they should report to the IT staff as they have
the authorization to access and edit the
student accounts, this would stop you from
breaking the act and causing your job
position tobe threatened.
Finally you cannot access other staff member
accounts; this may be seen as a form of
fraud. Evenif they ask youto login to their
account for something such as marking the
register it is not acceptable and it breaks this
law. If you do this there may be
consequences.
Computer Misuse Act

3. LEWIS APPLETON | Unit 4 P5 3
EMAIL
Staff Login
Hereat theschool wehavean email system for useof
staff, theemail domain endsinthenameoftheschool
and isonly to beused for school businessand not asa
personal email address. Themail sent and received by
theseemail addresses ismonitored.
Email Uses
Theemail loginsprovided to you from theschoolare
only to beused for schoolbusinesssuch asupdating
guardiansof studentsand other teachersof anything
that will involvethem. Theemail system isnot tobe
used to send maliciousor disturbing emailsand ifthisis
donethen theperson willberesponsiblefor
consequences.
SECURITY
73%73% of secondary schoolsusesecurity camerasto
ensuremaximum safety.
63%63% of staff are required tohaveIDbadgesor asimilar
form of recognitionin schoolsto preventpeople
claiming they arestaff.
ALSO
In termsof security many thingsaremonitored
includingemail systems, schoolcomputerusers
and staff may bechecked on whilst teachingor
carrying out their duties.
A staff member was recently found to be
circulating pornographic material through
the school email as found from our
monitoring. This staff member has been
suspended and is currently at risk of being
removed from their position.
One of the reasons why the school email
system is not to be used for this is because it
is dangerous to students, whilst teaching a
class you may read your emails but if a
student witnesses something as serious as
pornographic content then it can have
serious consequences.
It is alsopossible that a student may manage
to hack the school email account and
therefore they are alsoat risk of seeing the
content.
If you feel the need to send such content
make sure that youdo it from your own
personal email and not whilst working.
As we are able to monitor, anything illegal
will alsobe noticed and therefore you could
be at risk of facing criminal charges as well as
losing your job.
The staff member that has been suspended
may return and this should be seen as a
warning to not use the school email system
for personal use as the emails sent and
receivedare regularly monitored.
The Howard School does not accept any
illegal or unfair activities. This is why the staff
member has been suspended; for the safety
of the students.
Use of the internet
Whilst working inthe school there is
restricted use tothe internet, this means that
certain material is not allowedto be accessed
during the school day. The computers used
at the school are regularly monitored as well
as the history of staff logins on the internet
to see which websites are visited.
Certain sites such as YouTube may be
accessed as they can be used for educational
purposes as long as only appropriate content
is displayed. YouTube may not be used to
show disturbing material or to listento
music.
Students have restrictions on what they can
access, whereas staff have no limitations and
therefore are responsible for what
they access.
If a staff member was to
access malicious or
pornographic material
they will be caught and
there would be a likely
chance of being fired
therefore it is highly
unadvisable.
The internet may not
be used for things that
are unrelated to the school
work, a member of staff has been found to
be running their own webdesign business
from the school internet system. This is not
allowed, although it is harmless it is using
school computers for personal uses and to
that member of staff we recommend they no
longer run the organization within our
organization.
Consequences

4. LEWIS APPLETON | Unit 4 P5 4
It isencouraged to makesurethat theschool
working environment is enjoyed by alland that
lawsand rulesarefollowed so theschoolcan
operatecorrectly. For thispurposewehaveseveral
policiesthat areto befollowed by school staff and
thereareconsequencesfor not following.
Oneof thepolicieswehaveisthat you cannot use
theschool email system for yourownpersonal use;
it isstrictly forschool businesssuch asinforming
other staff or student’sguardiansabout concerns
and isnot to beused for unrelated emails. To
ensurethisisfollowed weregularly monitorthe
email systems and if found to bebreaking this
policy therewillbeconsequences.
Another policy wehaveisto only spend thetimeat
workon work, the
internet cannot beused
for personal
entertainment or to run
another business, thisis
acceptablewithin your
own homebut not here.
To makesurethat people
follow thisweregularly
monitor theweb history
on staff computersand it
isstill visibleeven if
deleted. However it isperfectly acceptableto use
theinternet for educational purposessuch asusing
YouTubeto teach part of alesson.
Another policy that wehaveisthat staffareonly
ableto accesswhat isgiven to them, they arenot
allowed to useanother staffmember’saccount
and they cannot accessstudent accountsdespite
what they may suspect. If thestaff havequeries
about astudent’saccount it isadvisabletonotify
theIT staff rather than findout illegally. To make
surethat peoplefollow thiswemonitor when a
student isin and when they are accessing their
account, sameappliesto staff. If weseeastudent
account being accessed when they areabsent, we
will investigate.
Wehavean internet policy which limitswhat staff
and studentsareableto accessthrough theschool
internet system. Thepolicy statesall actionsneed
permission unlessapproved by theteacher, games
cannot beplayed, emailssent need permission,no
chat sitescan beused, not to modify other peoples
filesand that thecomputerswill bemonitored.
School Policies