Northern Grid for Learning - School Broadband, eSafety, Learning Resources and More
Publications Various publications, mainly from the Northern Grid for Learning.
Behind Bars25 October 2011Northern Grid Monthly Newsletter - October 201112 October 2011Find out about our latest news, upcoming events, and some of the best educational resources on the web in our Monthly Newsletter. This MonthEnter your school for the Northern Grid Awards Will your eSafety provision deliver an "Outstanding" judgement? Creative Strategies to Support Literacy KS2
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How to Lose Your Job in 7 Minutes30 September 2011or...The Importance of OwnershipA superb eSafety video from Northern Grids' ‘Protecting Adults Who Work With Children’ event.
Also labeled: Bullying, eSafety, Guidance, Head Teachers, Learning Platform, Multimedia, News, NG Services, Northern Grid Created, Parents/Carers, Presentations, Support, Teachers, Video Northern Grid Newsletter - September 201112 September 2011Benefit from high quality services included in your broadband priceSubscribers to our newsletter were told about all of the benefits you can get from Northern Grid and the exciting upcoming opportunities throughout the region and beyond. View the NewsletterNorthern Grid Acceptable Use Policy 2011-201212 September 2011
Schools are well aware of the need to keep pupils, teachers, data and systems as safe and secure as possible. All schools need to ensure that they have an up to date Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). To support schools in meeting their eSafety requirements Northern Grid has a responsibility to ensure that the whole Regional Broadband Network continues to be safe and secure. This means that all organisations connected to the network need to abide by a common Northern Grid AUP. As technology changes rapidly this Grid AUP is updated regularly. The Northern Grid Acceptable Use Policy has been endorsed and approved by the Northern Grid Directors who are all senior managers within partner Local Authorities. Your Local Authority has agreed to abide by this AUP. This policy applies to all users of the Northern Grid broadband network whoever they are, whatever devices they are using, whenever and wherever they are connected to the network. This also includes users within a directly connected establishment or users connecting to the network remotely. Any school, LA or other educational organisation using Northern Grid for Learning's Network or Service is required to comply with this Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). Failure or non-compliance may result in the school's broadband service being disconnected and / or civil, disciplinary or legal action being taken upon individuals, groups of individuals or establishments. Head teachers must ensure that all users are familiar with the relevant sections of this AUP. This document refers to the use of the regional Northern Grid network. Schools also need their own Acceptable Use Policy covering the use of the internet and their network by pupils, staff and visitors.
Also labeled: Documentation, Governors, Guidance, Head Teachers, ICT, NG Services, Northern Grid Created, Teachers Important Information about Northern Grid Services12 September 2011
This is a collection of useful information about the services Northern Grid offers and what to do if you want to buy a service from us, or if you want to leave us to go elsewhere. The broadband Northern Grid provides to schools and Local Authorities is currently provided through Easynet. Our contract with Easynet will expire on July 31st 2012 and Northern Grid is going through a procurement process to identify who will provide our connectivity after this date This means that information in the documents on this page is likely to change. To make sure you get the most up to date information heads can complete the Expression of interest document. See the Procurement briefing note for more information. If you wouldn't stick it on a real wall...01 September 2011Privacy Poster25 August 2011A Poster About Passwords23 August 2011Click image for higher resolution or download PDF below.
How to check that your CachePilot web filtering is correctly configured14 March 2011Please carry out the following checks. If any of the tests fail then your Cachepilot configuration is not providing adequate protection. Contact Easynet Support on 08453334568 for further advice and assistance. Google Safe SearchOpen your browser and type the URL www.google.com a search windows will open click on the search settings link top right. If you can view and change the SafeSearch Filtering options SafeSearch in not enforced. YouTubeIf you have decided to allow access to YouTube for a CachePilot user group, login as a member of this group and access the URL www.youtube.com a green banner titled "Enabled Safety mode" should appear directly below the YouTube search bar. After any video is selected check to ensure that viewer’s comments are disabled. They would normally appear directly below the video. Blocked CategoriesFrom your workstation’s browser access the following URLs. All of the following URLs should be blocked if they are not your browser will be automatically redirected to the Smoothwall home page. If any sites are not blocked check you’re filtering for configuration errors!
The above categories are blocked by default on all Northern Grid Cachepilots.
Social networking sites are now the most common method of spreading malware and viruses due to their popularity and poor design. If the school allows access to these sites a rigorous security policy needs to be enforced to protect the network.
Cachepilot FAQWhat can a CP do for your school?A CachePilot can speed up the delivery of web resources to your school through transparent and advanced caching techniques. The device can also be used as a local content store. The Smoothwall web filtering solution protects web users from offensive and malicious websites and offers URL category blacklists and dynamic content control. How does the Smoothwall filtering work?Smoothwall uses two separate techniques to block inappropriate websites. A URL category blacklist database is stored and updated on the unit of well-known websites. To enhance the URL blacklist a dynamic content filter is deployed. This heuristic filter is able to identify and categorize websites in real time, and block or allow them according to the policy deployed. The dynamic content control uses a weighted phrase limit. The WPL is a sensitivity bar and defaults to 50 suitable for a primary school. Secondary Schools may wish to increase the limit (desensitize) to 120. The CachePilot has the ability to blacklist (block) or whitelist (allow) any website, webpage or file type download. Can I use Site Lists with the new Smoothwall filtering solution?We recommend you do not use site lists but they can be added to the site list permission if required. The new filtering configuration is now simpler to use and more efficient due to the separation of filtering components. To modify the filtering select User Accounts / Groups and select the group you wish to modify. The Global group policy applies to everybody and should be populated with your school blacklist. The new filtering configuration allows exceptions to be added in a group thereby eliminating the need to reduce the number of blacklisted categories for the Global group.
The Cachepilot slows down web access?A correctly configured and maintained CachePilot does not generate any significant delay. Slow Internet performance may result from a problem on your network or on the remote web server. The new web filtering solution is more reliable and provides faster performance than a CachePilot running Smartfilter. Websites on the Internet are hosted on a range of equipment resulting in performance differences to add to this geographic location and server loading can impact on the speed of your web access. If a website is generally slow to access it is a prime candidate for using the CachePilot’s advanced caching functionality. If the Internet connection is slow contact mark.vinnicombe@northerngrid.org to run a remote diagnostic check.
Also labeled: Documentation, Filtering, Guidance, Northern Grid Created, Social Networking, Teachers, Technical |
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