Safety in schools is a top concern right now. From Covid and online safety to emotional wellbeing, there’s a lot to consider when making sure your school is up to scratch. We’ve broken it down a little for administrators and teachers, with some helpful tips on getting your school safer for all involved.
Health and safety
Measures like hybrid strategies and remote learning are invaluable to a school’s Master Plan. Having split classes when needed is a great way to ensure learning continues when the unexpected occurs. EdTech like the ActivPanel assists in hybrid with its webcam connectivity, device mirroring capabilities, Screen Recorder that comes pre-loaded onto ActivInspire, and more.
Outdoor learning is also encouraged in states across the country wherever possible. While the weather is still fine, why not try out some of the fun nature play activities that we wrote about in this blog?
Digitally safe
Policies like BYOD and 1:1 device strategies are becoming more and more common throughout the education world today. Schools must ensure that digital safety is a top priority to protect students and their data privacy. Check out these resources from eSafety to help you create a safer digital environment, categorised into four elements: Prepare, Engage, Educate and Respond.
With Promethean Panel Management, administrators can quickly and easily deploy remote updates through the myPromethean portal when new Promethean firmware, software, and app features become available. This means you can be sure that your ActivPanels stay secure and up to date with the latest developments in security software.
There are also plenty of resources online for inspiration on teaching students about the importance of digital safety, such as these fun challenges by Grok, which include using Blockly and JavaScript for making games, learning content, even creating wireless networks to send messages within the class.
Emotionally safe
Emotional wellbeing is a hot topic of conversation at the moment, and rightly so. Making sure that staff, students, and parents feel they are being heard is an important aspect of creating a safe environment for your school.
Encourage active participation by students. Set up a message board for complaints or questions and hold wellbeing check-ins. You can create online sheets that allow students to check in anonymously with multiple-choice answers for individuals to select like “I’m happy” or “I would like to talk”. Maintain consistency with regular check-ins, and make sure to chat one-to-one with students if they respond negatively or uncertainly.
Open the lines of communications with parents – make sure they are up to date and on board with procedures. This could be anything from updates on social media or other digital platforms, to distanced meetings with opportunities for questions.
Ensuring teachers feel supported and are given space to feel and acknowledge their emotions is a positive step forward for schools. At Berkely College in the US, an “Emotional Intelligence Charter” was put in place for staff with positive results. This is a written document that details how everyone wants to feel and should be kept adaptive for future amendments and additions. This will help your school stay on track, outlining suitable responses when issues of wellbeing arise.
If you want to up your school’s safety game, check out how the device management and security of the ActivPanel can fit into your existing EdTech ecosystem by booking a free, live, tailored demonstration.
