Web filtering for remote learners – Suffolk County Council

Overview
– During Covid-19 school closures, Suffolk County Council provided 1200 laptops to vulnerable children to enable them to continue their education from home.
– This presented a unique challenge – Ordinarily web filtering is a service provided as part of a school’s internet connection, however in this scenario the laptops     would be connected via a variety of different home broadband providers.
– Schools Broadband worked closely with partner JC Comtech to provide a solution.

Our Approach
Combining Schools Broadband’s transparent proxy filtering solution and JC Comtech’s ability to centrally control all council-owned laptops via their cloud set-up, meant together a pioneering filtering solution was developed.

Each child is given a specific login which connects directly to JC Comtech’s secure cloud. The logins are categorised into year groups and key stages and this determines the appropriate level of filtering delivered to the laptop. All 1200 vulnerable children are now protected from harmful and inappropriate online content, regardless of their internet access provider.

Outcome

Schools Broadband’s web filtering solution provides schools with one of the most comprehensive sets of education specific filters available. Subscribing to the Internet Watch Foundation URL and image hash list, as well as the Home Office Terrorism Block List, our service fully supports schools’ Prevent Duty Compliance when it comes to online safety.

Because this solution is cloud-based, JC Comtech is able to apply web filtering to any Local Authority owned laptops loaned to children, regardless of location.

“The provision of laptops for use at home during the lockdown posed us with a unique challenge and straight away we knew we could turn to Schools Broadband to offer a bespoke, innovative solution, tailor made for Suffolk County Council, to ensure that children could continue their education safely from home.”
Kathy Judkins, Finance Director, JC Comtech