Policy statement
At Roots and Wings Community Preschool we recognise that social media is fast becoming a large part of our lives both personally and professionally. With this in mind, this policy was written to ensure Preschool Team members, families and children are all protected when using or being featured on social media.
As a setting, we use Facebook and our online learning journal platform Tapestry to share children’s experiences with their families. We also run an Instagram and Facebook page which is open to the wider community, as well as prospective families, which features some of our room setups, learning provocations, and general informationbut does not include pictures of current or previous children.
Social media can also be used for advertising jobs when looking for new team members. For these reasons, we must ensure a Social Networking Procedure is in place to do this safely online
Procedures
At Roots and Wings Community Preschool we want to keep the families, children and Preschool Team members safe when using social media by:
- Making sure we gain parental consent for the use of social media and sharing photographs and recordings of their children when they first start at the setting
- Only Preschool Team members are allowed to post on the setting’s social media pages
- All comments will be monitored be the Preschool Team to ensure nothing offensive is written. Anything that we consider to be unacceptable will be removed
- All Preschool Team members must be aware that no confidential information about the setting or the children is to be shared on social media. This includes any information shared in comments
- Preschool Team members must not ‘friend’ parents of children in the setting. Exceptions apply where a personal connection existed before the child started at Preschool
- We will ensure that there is no promoting of any form of hate or discrimination anywhere on our setting social media pages
- All Preschool Team members know to report any concerns about what families are commenting or posting on social media to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
- If any of the above points are found to have been breached, the team member involved will face disciplinary action, which could result in dismissal
Any communication with families should always be professional and managed through the correct and official platforms and not through social media. An example of this would be speaking to the keyperson at the beginning or end of the day, ringing, texting or emailing the setting, or making an appointment for longer conversations.
All of our families are aware of our Social Networking Policy and have been informed that they are not to post information about any child other than their own on social media. All of this is to ensure that the children are protected and their information is kept safe.