There are strengths and weaknesses to all policies and a strength to this particular policy is that there is a section of it in which pupils and parents must agree to the rules before they are allowed to use the internet. Another strength is that there will be less bullying in the school as a result of this policy and therefore the children will be able to enjoy going to school and not worry about being bullied. However there are also weaknesses to this policies; pupils may not abide by the rules and rebel against them which in cases like so, there would be no point in the policy being in place, especially if the children discover proxy’s which will gain them access to the websites anyway . Another weakness is that if pupils do not return the letter or they or parents have lost the letter than they will have restricted internet use which could in fact negatively affect their education if they had no intentions of using the internet inappropriately.
A procedure in place at my work placement is the ‘Catch the Walking Bus’ procedure. This procedure states that instead of walking alone or travelling to school via cars, taxes and buses etc, there is now a walking bus available which consists of two parents/ volunteers to be ‘walking bus drivers’ and a group of children from a certain area to be passengers and they will then all walk to school together under the supervision of the two adults. ‘’ The route needs just two willing adults and can start with just one or two days of the week. All volunteers receive training and will be CRB checked. Experience shows that parents soon get hooked on the idea and the Bus grows from just one day a week to several days with parents sharing the rota’’ That quote was taken from the letter sent out the parent explaining what the ‘Walking bus’ involves and ensuring that their children will be in safe hands. This procedure promotes health, safety and security within the care setting as children are generally a lot safer when under the supervision of adults and by taking part in the ‘walking bus’; they will be supervised at all times by caring adults and will no longer have to walk to school alone or catch buses and cross roads with no adult supervision. This procedure will protect their health and safety physically as there will be a lower risk of the children being ran over, falling over and in some cases even abducted. It promotes health to them emotionally and socially as well as intellectually too as they could make new friends on the walk and be happier people as well as them starting to enjoy school more so they attend it everyday. A strength to this policy is that all volunteers and adults leading the bus and supervising the children will be fully trained and CRB checked and parents have the opportunity to meet the ‘bus drivers’ and will be assured that their children are being looked after properly on their journey to school by good, innocent and well meaning individuals. Another strength to this procedure is that by walking to school and not using transport; there will be decreased traffic volumes around the school which reduces the risk of children being ran over and also reduces pollution which will benefit all individuals health. A weakness to this procedure is that the supervising adults may not be given sufficient and effective training on how to look after the children and lead the bus correctly. Also if one of the adults are ill one day and there is no-one to stand in for them, having just one adult supervising a large group of children creates hazards and risks right away and is unsafe so they will need appropriate back up plans and rota’s in place.
Another policy in place at the school where my work placement is set is the ‘Behaviour and discipline policy’. This policy consists of outlining what is acceptable behaviour off pupils and how bad behaviour is dealt with. It says that is expects every member of the school community to behave in a considerate way towards others and that the policy aims to help children grow in a safe and secure environment, resulting in them becoming positive, responsible and increasingly independent members of the school community. ‘’ The school policy is designed to support the way in which all members of the school can live and work together in a supportive way. It aims to promote an environment where everyone feels happy, safe and secure.’’ This quote was taken from the official ‘Behaviour and Discipline Policy’’ booklet which is available for parents and pupils to read and agree too. This policy promotes health, safety and security in the school because the safety of the children is paramount in all situations. If a pupil’s behaviour endangers the safety of others, the class teacher is required to stop any activities and prevent that pupil from taking part for the rest of the session. The policy also promotes health, safety and security because if a child threatens, hurts and/or bullies another pupil then the teacher is required to record incidents of this kind and the child is punished accordingly. However if the child repeatedly acts in a disruptive, spiteful and aggressive way and disrupts and upsets others then the school will take further action by contacting the child’s parents and asks them to make a visit to school for a meeting to discuss the situation and ways of improving the child’s behaviour. By doing this will protect other pupils from harm in cases of where the child lashes out and physically hurts other people, including class mates and causing cuts and bruises and emotional upset. Therefore, by not coming into contact with this pupil when they are behaving badly, other pupils will be in a safe environment and protected from danger and physical injuries inflicted from fellow pupils.
There are various strengths and weaknesses to this policy. One of the strengths is that the head teacher monitors the effectiveness of this policy on a regular basis and they also report to the governing body on the effectiveness of the policy and if necessary, makes recommendations for further improvements. Another strength to this policy is that once students are referred to the head teacher, they are not immediately suspended or excluded from the school but are helped in trying to change their ways and there are meetings held in which staff and parents attend to discuss how best to act up on the behaviour of the pupil and how to help improve the way the child behaves and effects other pupils.
A weakness to this policy is that because its only available to view upon request and not sent out to all parents, parents may not be aware of this policy and how the ‘Behaviour and Discipline Policy’ works and deals with bad behaviour. Therefore if action is taken against a badly behaved child, parents may not be familiar with the process and how their child has been behaving so they could complain and make a fuss of not being able to see the policy before it was put into place and acted upon. Another negative point to this policy is that if children continuously misbehave and are therefore regularly took out of lessons and banned from activities then they may not be receiving efficient education and may fall into a lower curriculum than what they should for there age and class.
A regulation which the school has in place and strongly adheres to is the ‘Fair Processing Notice- layer 2’. This regulation runs alongside and supports the Data Protection Act 1998. The school processes personal data about its pupils and is a ‘data controller’ in respect of this for the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998. It processes this data to:
- Support its pupils’ teaching and learning
- Monitor and report on their progress
- Provide appropriate pastoral care
- Assess how well the school is doing as a whole
It is necessary for the school to hold data about their pupils so they can teach them best to their ability and to ensure that they do not get children with similar names and/or addresses mixed up. They will also need names, addresses and contact information for when letter are sent out or when parents are needed to be contacted regarding there child’s welfare or if they fall ill when at school. This regulation promotes health, safety and security in the school because if they never held this kind of data on their systems and a child became ill, then they would not able to contact parents and find out further medical information about their pupils and therefore their conditions and injuries could worsen without proper medical assistance. It promotes security within the school as by holding this kind of information on a ‘need to know’ basis, so no unnecessary persons will be able to view this data and use it inappropriately. A strength to this regulation is that with it in place, it will be carefully monitored as to who can view the information and therefore can not be used in any wrong means of way. Another strength to this regulation is that information such as national curriculum assessment results and attendance information is accessible to refer to when staff are completing pupil reports and holing parents evening etc. On the other hand, a weakness to this regulation is that information could be accessible by the wrong people if the system is not quite secure enough and then the information could be used inappropriately, even causing harm to the pupils and their families.
In all care settings, including schools, it is necessary that there are specific policies, procedures and regulations enforced in the interest of service user’s health, safety and security. In all policies, procedure and regulations, there are pros and cons to each one- all of which have been discussed above in each policy, procedure and regulation that has been explained.