With the addition of over 300 new Year 7 students and approximately 35 new staff to Foxwell this year, our internet bandwidth has experienced some slower speeds in the first two weeks of term.  Late last week, our bandwith was significantly increased. While this has provided some relief to staff and students engaging meaningfully in digital learning in classes, the network continued to have periods of lagging internet speed.

Significant investigation has pinpointed that students using VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are the main contributer to slower network speeds at school.

Use of a VPN on a student device is a serious case of IT misconduct and places our children at serious risk of exposure to unsafe, unsecure and inappropriate material while engaging with the internet.

A VPN is used to create a private network from a public internet connection.  It masks and hides the actions of internet users and means that they are able to navigate around internet filters and controls that Education Queensland invest in to keep students safe from inappropriate content.

This week, we did a full school VPN sweep to educate students around the dangers of VPN use and ensure that all student devices do not have VPNs installed.  We ask parents and caregivers to monitor VPN use of students and delete them should students make the decision to reinstall them.  Should students reinstall or bring a device with a VPN to school, they are in serious breach of the IT agreement and will face consequences, which could include being banned from use of their iPad at school for a period of time.

Please see the attached document 'How To' for steps to support your student to delete a VPN from an iPad.  If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact our IT Manager, Mr Harper to assist you.