This departmental advice is for:

school leaders

school staff

governing bodies

local authorities

It applies to:

maintained schools

community schools

foundation schools

voluntary schools

community special schools

foundation special schools

academies and free schools

pupil referral units

non-maintained special schools

The advice covers:

powers to search without consent

prohibited items schools can search for

powers to confiscate items found during searches

Read the document here.

The Childnet STAR Toolkit (www.childnet.com/star) is a free online resource that offers practical advice and teaching activities to help secondary schools explore internet safety with young people with autism spectrum disorders.

The four sections SAFE, TRUST, ACTION and RESPECT all feature the concept of friendship and emphasise the importance of finding the balance between online and offline interaction. At the same time, the resource is continually promoting a positive, fun and safe experience for young people with ASD.

You can access the resource Here.

11 Tips For Students To Manage Their Digital Footprints

by Justin Boyle

If you've scratched your head over suggestions to manage your "digital footprint," you aren't the only one.

A surprisingly large percentage of people have never even heard the phrase, let alone thought about how to manage theirs responsibly. Among students, the percentage is probably higher. Read more here

The Social Media Myth

The myth about social media in the classroom is that if you use it, kids will be Tweeting, Facebooking and Snapchatting while you're trying to teach. We still have to focus on the task at hand. Don't mistake social media for socializing. They're different -- just as kids talking as they work in groups or talking while hanging out are different.

You don't even have to bring the most popular social media sites into your classroom. You can use Fakebook or FakeTweet as students work on this form of conversation. Edublogs, Kidblog, Edmodo, and more will let you use social media competencies and writing techniques. Some teachers are even doing "tweets" on post-it notes as exit tickets. You can use mainstream social media, too.

Read the article here

For those who want to cut the cord with their internet identities, Who Is Hosting This has created a detailed guide that illustrates how you can completely disappear online. It starts with the simple stuff — like how to delete your Facebook accounts — and then gets more extreme. There are ways to falsify un-deletable accounts and even erase search results.

See the infographic here

An online activity that provides helpful guidance on how to keep your data and personal information more secure.

Take the test