We are acutely aware of concerns about internet safety and security, and we have taken extensive measures (both technical and practical) to make sure that our users (that’s you and your children) are safe on this site.

Security Basics

  • All content is approved

  • No contact through the site

  • Writers and Approvers CRB-checked

  • Full confirmation of registrations

  • An Email address is the only required data

  • Strong technical backup

Security - Practical Measures

Approval

Anything – that is anything at all - which appears on this site has been approved by an member of our kidscapism staff, or by a registered teacher in a UK school.  No story, text, image, or comment will ever be published directly to the site, without going through this approval process.  We use the highly-regarded Ektron content management system to manage these processes.

 

No Direct Contact

We do not have chat rooms or forums on this site, and there is no mechanism for children contacting each other or interacting live.  The email address you submit is for us to contact you – it will never be used for any other purpose.

 

CRB

The approvals process described above is carried out by individuals (either teachers or kidscapism staff) who have been fully checked by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).  These are the police checks which is carried out for people who work with young people.  We use the ‘enhanced’ checks (as do schools for their teachers) which represent the highest level of check that can currently be obtained.

 

Teacher and School Registration

If a school wishes to register to use the kidscapism service (and to pay our small annual fee), we always telephone the school before confirming their registration.  This is to ensure that the registering teacher is a bona fide qualified teacher working at that school.

 

The Importance of the School

Kidscapism is popular in schools (especially UK primary schools).  You may find your child coming home and wanting to show you their work, or the work of their schoolmates.  This is why the school they attend is very important.  Your child, in identifying themselves with their school, then can get access to any work that has been submitted by children at that school.  Additionally they might be able to see other work, if it has been approved (by a teacher or kidscapism) for more general web access.

 

Pseudonyms

If you are concerned about your name, or that of your children, being visible online, please do use a pseudonym (anything will do – although it needs to be something relevant to you or your child, and something you will remember!).

 

The only actual information we ask you to enter is your email address – this is so that we can confirm your registration by sending you an email.  This also enables us to send you a note if your child’s work is featured, or if someone adds to it.

 

Registration Confirmation

You will notice when you register that there are three stages.  You fill in the form, and then you confirm your registration after you have received an email from us.  Finally you click on an 'activate' button.  This enhances the security of the registration process.

 

 

Technical Stuff

Servers

We have invested significantly in the latest secure web hosting.  Our servers are hosted with Dedihost, a UK-based hosting company, and are unique to Kidscapism.  No-one else uses them.

 

Firewalls

The servers use both software and hardware firewalls (provided by Cisco) to protect our site from attacks by hackers or senders of elicit email.

 

Email

Our email servers are fully protected (using anti-virus and anti-SPAM software) against sending SPAM (rogue email) and any viruses or other malicious threats.

 

SSL

When you submit personal information – your email address, or a story, or any personal details (even if they are pseudonyms), it passes through a ‘secure socket layer’ which guarantees the security of information passed between you and our server.  This is a standard service (we have purchased the Versign EV version) which most modern websites dealing in personal or financial data should have.  It ensures your data and your identity remain 100% secure when you are using our site.

 

When you are being asked for this kind of data, you will see a small padlock sign in the address bar of your browser.  This signifies that any data passed between you and this page is encrypted and thereby protected.  If you use Internet Explorer 7 you will see the padlock in the green address bar.

 

Please read our full Privacy and Data Protection statements for details.