Online Safety


The Frances Xavier Warde School makes the safety of our students a top priority. We have several systems and tools in place to ensure that our students can access as much of the valuable information on the Internet and as little of the inappropriate content as technically and humanly possible.

FXW uses the Cisco Umbrella service and protects all school owned devices both on and off campus. Our Responsible Use Policy must be signed by a parent/guardian during the enrollment/re-enrollment process before the student may use the Internet. Students and their Parents are informed that students are expected to exhibit responsible behavior when accessing the Internet. Teachers consistently deliver instruction throughout the year on responsible uses of the Internet as part of the curriculum–and clearly identify consequences for misuse.

Legal requirements
Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA, passed in January 2001) requires all computers at FXW with Internet access to be filtered. Sites blocked are those that are categorized as objectionable or obscene, hate speech, pornography, violence and others as determined by the school administration. “Internet filtering” is consistent with good classroom management. Teachers have the primary responsibility to help students find appropriate resource sites on the web.

What happens if your child goes to an inappropriate site?
FXW Principals and Assistant Principals will investigate further with students and parents and a consequence applied at the discretion of the FXW leadership team.

Filtering at home
Staff & students using an FXW issued device will receive the same filtering experience both at home and at school.

If families are looking for ways to protect their home network and devices, both OpenDNS and Bark are services that have come highly recommended.