Notices from Amesbury School in Wellington were republished on an RSS website next to adult advertising. Image / Supplied
Notices from Amesbury School in Wellington were republished on an RSS website next to adult advertising. Image / Supplied
Schools are being warned to be careful what they publish online after a primary school's newsletter was republished on a commercial website next to adult advertising.
A parent at Amesbury School, a decile-10 school of 300 students in Churton Park, Wellington, spotted a newsletter from the school on a website that collates material from RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds.
A notice from the school dated June 1 this year appeared on the website next to an advertisement for "Sexy Asian women in Wellington".
The parent notified the school and the Amesbury School "channel" on the RSS website was removed, but the parent said the incident highlighted the risks for all schools in publishing online.
"Children should be able to go to school and participate in school activities without every activity being posted online - often including their name (first and last, first, first and surname initial)," the parent said.
"A simple google search using a name and the school is all it takes."
Netsafe chief executive Martin Cocker says every school should have a policy about what they publish online, including the use of students' names. Photo / File
Netsafe chief executive Martin Cocker said this was the first time he had seen school material reposted alongside adult advertising, but he warned that it could easily happen to other schools.
"Where you own your own website, like most schools would, you can control the advertising, but it's really hard if your content is placed on to third-party platforms," he said.
In this case the website, rssing.com, reposted material that anyone could sign up for from RSS feeds - automated emails when new material was posted. Cocker said few schools still used RSS.
"RSS was popular going back a few years. People were using it as a way to distribute information and make it available, and people like rssing were picking it up and re-using it."
He said every school should now have a policy about what they published online, including the use of students' names.
"Schools can make their own choices. But our advice to schools is to make those choices in consultation with their parent community and give parents the opportunity to opt out for their own children," he said.
"Using first names only is a safe starting point, certainly for younger children."
Amesbury School acting principal Urs Cunningham said Amesbury's policy is to use only children's first names and the initial of their surnames.
"Our school policy includes asking all parents upon enrolment for permission to publish images and work of students. If permission is given, we publish only on forums recognised as belonging to the school (such as our school website and blog)," she said.
"Information is shared with our school community on our website. We only share information we consider to be sensible and appropriate. Other information that we do not want out in the public realm is shared privately with our school families, and not posted online."
Katrina Casey, pictured (right) with former Education Minister Hekia Parata, says schools should abide by the Privacy Act. Photo / File
Ministry of Education deputy secretary Katrina Casey said schools should follow the principles of the Privacy Act 1993.
"The Privacy Commission has guidance to support schools to manage student information and privacy, including considerations before putting information and pictures on the internet."
Perry Rush: Avoiding using full names of students is good practice. Photo / File
Principals' Federation president Perry Rush said Netsafe policies don't ban full names of students but "encourage schools to set expectations with their community that protect privacy and manages risk".
"So while it isn't an expectation for every school, avoiding using full names is good practice," he said.
"Every school has a digital management safety plan and policy. Such policies are agreed with the board of trustees and as such there should be clear expectations around non-identification of students online.
"In practice this means measures such as seeking parental permission to publish images on school platforms, use of first names only, and no specific name solely associated with any particular image."
