Online Services Management

​Online Services Consent Form

Overview

With 21^st Century learning and blended learning environments, many online services (websites and apps) are now embedded into our school curriculum, across a range of subject areas.  The Online Services Consent Form is specifically designed to request parent/carer permissions for student use of specific third-party online services.  “Third-party online services" refers to websites and apps not directly owned or managed by the Department of Education (DoE). In the interest of safety, Narangba Valley SHS and the DoE have performed rigorous reviews and implemented policies and procedures to minimise the risk of using these applications.

The Online Services Consent Form provides parents/carers with the opportunity to decide which online services they consent their student to using.  It also provides the necessary information to understand:

1. Which online services will be used by students for learning
2. What data will be stored (i.e. limited personal information or student-created content)
3. How the website/app provider manages their data (i.e. data stored on-shore in Australia, or off-shore in another country).

 The Online Services Consent Form provides schools with the required parent/carer consent to create student accounts for online learning services, in accordance with each service's terms of use and privacy policy. Some examples of online learning services at Narangba Valley SHS are Jacaranda Plus, Education Perfect and ClickView.

At Narangba Valley SHS there are two separate forms – one for junior secondary (years 7-9) and one for senior secondary (years 10-12).  This is due to the different cohorts requiring access to different online services.

We encourage all parents/carers to read the information below to better understand the form. Should consent not be given, that student will not be able to engage with those online services, which may alter their course of learning in a subject/s.

Why is consent required?

The requirement for obtaining consent to use or disclose students' personal information is prescribed under Section 426(4)(b) of the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 (Qld) (the Act). Consent is required from the individual, or in the case of a minor, consent is required from the parent/carer to use and disclose personal information. Personal information is any information which could reasonably be used to identify an individual. Examples include name; date of birth; and image, video, audio recording.

In addition, some online services specify in their Terms of Use that parent consent must be obtained for specific users (e.g., users under 18) prior to use of the services and/or account registration. The department cannot advise schools to contravene the Terms of Use for a particular service, so obtaining consent, is in most cases either a legislative requirement or mandated by the services themselves.

The Online Service Consent Form allows schools to obtain valid consent for the use, disclosure, and/or publication of students' personal information and for students' use of online services.

Completing the Online Services Consent Form

The Online Services Consent Form email

The digital consent form is emailed to parents/carers who reside with the student, sent by our school IT Technicians each year . The digital consent form only needs to be completed by one parent/carer.

In the past, some email clients have considered the Online Services Consent Form email (generated by Survey Manager) to be junk or clutter mail.  Through the period of completion, you may have to check your junk/clutter folders for the email.  Should you not be able to locate the email for your student's Online Services Consent Form, please email ictsupport@narangbavalleyshs.eq.edu.au and our school's IT Technicians can email it to you again.

Why is the consent form digital? DoE encourages all state schools to use this method when gaining parent/carer consent for online services.  The digitised form also provides schools with operational benefits, such as the bulk-creation of student accounts.  This is beneficial to large schools like Narangba Valley SHS.

Special circumstances: Paper Consent Form

Schools are expected to use the digital form in all circumstances except when either of the below special circumstances apply.  For these circumstances, a paper copy of the consent form can be requested from the student's year level Deputy Principal.

• The form is required to be read aloud (whether in English or in an alternative language or dialect) to the person giving consent and/or:
• The person giving consent is an independent student under the age of 18.

Parents/carers with multiple students at enrolled at our school

Please note that it is a requirement that you complete a consent form for each of your children enrolled at Narangba Valley SHS. You will receive an individual email and link for each child. A reminder, only one parent/carer will need to fill in the consent form for each child.

School Communications for the Online Services Consent Form

As we all know, there is a high level of malicious email activity globally. To ensure you are aware that our digital consent forms are genuine, we will clearly communicate to you the tight timeframe in which you can expect to receive that email.

Below are the important dates for communication regarding the 2024 Online Services Consent Form

 All Students (2024 Years 7-12)

Consent email sent: Thursday 15th February 2024

Form due back: Friday 1st March 2024 

When your student's completed consent form is received, it allows the school to begin creating your student's 2024 accounts.  

Timeframe of Consent

Consent for online services is obtained shortly after enrolment and can last for the duration of the student's current phase of learning (i.e. Years 7-9 and 10-12). However, it is likely that our school will issue a new consent form each year to seek additional consent for new online services.

Online Services and Student Information

For each online service listed on the Form, you will be required to indicate your choice to give consent or not give consent for the student information to be disclosed to the online service, in accordance with the approved purpose and time frame.  When making decisions to provide consent, it is important to take note of the student information required for each online service.  Please see below for some examples of student information.

Examples of Student Information

Personal Information:

• Student name (first name and/or last name)
• Sex/Gender
• Date of Birth, age, year of birth

School-based Information (generally, non-identifying attributes*):

• Student school username
• Student school email
• Student ID number
• School
• Year Group
• Class
• Teacher
• Country

*In cases where registration and/or use requires a combination of school-based information (non-identifying) and personal information, or a combination of school-based information, the school-based information may become identifiable.

Additional Consents:

If an online service records, uses, discloses and/or publishes student works, parent information or additional student information (such as photographs of students), not listed above, it will be specified as part of the additional consent requirements.

Examples may include:

• Student assessment
• Student projects, assignment, portfolios
• Student image, video, and/or audio recording
• Sensitive information (e.g., medical, well-being)
• Name and/or contact details (e.g. email, mobile phone number) of student's parent.

Further support for the Online Services Consent Form

Should you have any questions relating to the Online Services Consent Form, please contact Mr Tom Krosch (Deputy Principal) on 07 3385 4555.