The first few days of school are extremely busy. We suggest your tamaiti leaves their device at home until their classroom kaiako tells them to bring it to school. No child will need a device on day one – this includes Year 8 ākonga.

Kaiako will discuss the “do’s and don’ts” and procedures with their classes over the first few days of the term.

All classrooms have a lockable space for ākonga to store their devices when not in use. Each ākonga is expected to “sign” their device in and out each day as part of our safety requirements. The kura accepts no liability for any device at any time so please check with your insurance company as to whether the device is covered by your contents insurance policy.

Each device should come to kura in a custom case/cover or bag.

The kura has no facility for battery charging so we recommend fully charging your device before bringing it to kura each day. Power adaptors should be left at home.

Unless under the direct supervision of a kaiako, devices will not be used at intervals and lunch.

Cellphones can be useful for on-the-spot learning or the recording of learning but have a higher risk during use as the cellular network bypasses the firewalls and content filters that Maidstone Intermediate has set up.

Ākonga are expected to hand in their phones to the kaiako at the beginning of the day to be locked away in a secure cupboard. Kaiako can give permission for cellphone use during class learning time as appropriate.

We remind parents that it is their responsibility to monitor young people’s activity on social media.

We discourage any ākonga from creating accounts on social media for which there are age restrictions. If you have concerns regarding social media and its use, contact your child’s classroom kaiako who will be able to advise appropriate action.

The kura actively blocks many of the more well-known social media sites as they come to our attention.

Our kura provides access for all ākonga and staff to the Google Apps for Education suite of products. This includes Mail, Drive (including Docs, Sheets, Slides) and Calendar; all platforms that kaiako use to engage ākonga.

Our internet supplier provides a modest level of cyber protection by blocking inappropriate content and keyword email filtering.

Maidstone Intermediate has a Responsible Use Agreement (RUA) that ākonga and parents are expected to read, sign, and return to the kura. This document details the kura's expectations for the use of devices at kura, and how ākonga should act online.

The internet is made available to staff and ākonga at MIS under strict access conditions. Ākonga are required to sign a copy of the Cybersafety Policy.

All computers are protected against inappropriate websites and the kura has its own internal audit procedure to monitor website use.

Ākonga and staff are made aware that regular and random audits will be carried out to monitor usage. On occasion, the kura is made aware of issues that occur on home email, chat rooms, and other social media.

Parents are asked to assist in keeping our ākonga safe by regularly checking on how their tamaiti are using the internet.