The College adheres to the DfESC acceptable use policy for students and staff. All students must sign up to the policy before using any IT facilities within the College or use their own mobile devices.

Some guidelines to keep you e-safe

• Keep passwords secret and protect access to accounts.
• Be careful of submitting personal information.
• Not friending pupils on personal social networking services.
• Keeping personal phone numbers private.
• Keep a record of your phones (IMEI) International Mobile Equipment Identity number, and keep phones secure. *#06#
• Only post what you are happy for everyone to see or read.
• Ensure that guidelines on the use of ICT are adhered to.
• Do not retaliate to any incidents.
• Keep any evidence of an incident.
• Report any incidents to an E-safety co-ordinator.
• Be very careful when replying to emails or messages from unknown senders.
• Be very careful if you agree to meet somebody whom you have only known online: remember that online identities are very easy to fake and the person who you are planning to meet may not be who he/she claims to be. Always tell somebody where and when you have arranged a meeting and take a responsible friend with you.
• Do not make hurtful comments about another person: cyber-bullying and online bullying will not be tolerated in Highlands College.
• Remember that everything you do in cyberspace leaves a “digital footprint”. If you post a silly or potentially embarrassing photograph of yourself, or somebody else, online then that image may be copied, changed and distributed without your control and for a long time into the future. It is frequently impossible completely to remove any material that has been uploaded to the Internet.
• Be very careful about discussing any aspect of the Highlands College community on other websites as this may lead to accusations of inappropriate behaviour that could result in you being punished under the terms of this Acceptable Use Policy.
• In the context of this Acceptable Use Policy, “unsuitable” material is any material that a staff member says is “unsuitable”. If you are not sure about whether a specific item (document, image, audio file, video clip, etc) is “unsuitable” or if another person has any doubts about whether material is “unsuitable” then you must not continue to access the material until you have been given permission to do so by a tutor.