Under the latest government guidelines, every school has a responsibility to safeguard their pupils and minimise the risk of serious abuse. This includes measures to prevent cyber-bullying, self-harm and predator grooming.

Guidelines laid down by the DCSF include requirements for schools to:

• Apply a policy to monitor electronic messages
• Monitor all e-communications used on a school site or as part of school activities off-site
• Work with pupils and parents to ensure communications technologies are used safely
• Teach children safe internet behaviour
• Continually update internet blocking technologies and block harmful sites

The message from the experts is clear – schools can no longer rely solely on internet blocking and filtering solutions. Systems and policies are also required to monitor and track what pupils are doing when they are using ICT systems.

Ranger Guardian monitors text in every application on your network – whether online or offline, saved, sent or merely typed.

It checks this against a series of built-in libraries to identify any “risk” situations – e.g. bullying, intimidation, self-harm, abuse or predator grooming.

Evidence of any risk activity is recorded and stored, so that you can take appropriate action straight away.

Ranger Guardian also alerts you when 'proxy’ sites are used to bypass your Internet blocking, giving you better control over your network security.

Installing a system like Ranger Guardian in your school sends out a positive message. It demonstrates that you take your duty of care seriously - to parents, education authorities and Ofsted.

For further information on any of the products available from Ranger Software, visit www.rangersuite.com