Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for Irish Schools: What to Include and How the Board Approves It
An acceptable use policy explains rights, responsibilities and sanctions for school internet and digital technology use. Webwise’s AUP explanation, opening section, recommends developing one and board ratification. The mobile-phone circulars add a requirement: the AUP must be agreed and signed by pupils or students and parents or guardians (0044/2025, page 6; 0045/2025, page 5).
What an AUP covers
An AUP gives the school community a shared account of how digital technologies are used for learning and communication. It can cover internet access, school devices, accounts, platforms, images, personal devices and the response to misuse. Start by identifying the systems the school actually uses. A policy copied from another setting may describe controls or platforms that are absent from your school and leave real arrangements unexplained.
Webwise’s AUP Guidelines Booklet, pages 3–4, describes the purpose and components of an AUP. Its sample-policy page provides the booklet and generator as adaptable resources. Use that material as a framework for a local policy, with staff, parents and students able to understand how the rules work. An “acceptable use policy example” is useful for drafting; it is not proof that the example meets every school’s circumstances.
The distinction between recommendation and requirement matters. Webwise recommends development and board ratification. However, Circular 0044/2025, page 6, and Circular 0045/2025, page 5, under “Relevant School Policies”, say the AUP must be agreed and signed by pupils or students and their parents or guardians. The sources do not identify a separate universal statutory AUP provision, but that circular requirement makes describing the policy as wholly optional misleading. Record the applicable requirement in the approval paper.
What to include: an AUP checklist
The table suggests drafting questions rather than providing clauses to adopt unchanged. Webwise booklet page references identify relevant sample sections; assess the school’s own controls before describing them as established practice. Where a row concerns a separate official duty, read the cited source directly and connect the AUP with the relevant school policy.
| Section | Suggested coverage and drafting question | Primary source / section |
|---|---|---|
| School strategy and filtering | Describe learning aims, internet filtering, supervision and reporting. Who explains these arrangements to staff and pupils? | Webwise booklet, pages 4 and 6, School’s Strategy |
| Internet and email | Explain approved use, accounts, safe browsing and reporting concerning messages. What should a pupil do if material causes concern? | Webwise booklet, page 7, Internet Use and Email |
| Remote and digital learning platforms | Name approved platforms, access arrangements and communication expectations. How are new entrants introduced to them? | Webwise booklet, pages 8–9, Digital Learning Platforms and Remote Learning |
| Social media | Distinguish school communication, staff conduct and pupil use. Who is authorised to publish on school channels? | Webwise booklet, page 8, Social Media and messaging services |
| Personal devices and mobile phones | Cross-reference the applicable primary ban or post-primary restriction policy and agreed exceptions | Circular 0044/2025, opening requirement and exemptions; Circular 0045/2025, pages 1 and 7 |
| Images and video | Explain capture, storage, publication and permissions for each relevant purpose | Webwise booklet, page 9, Audio, images and video; DPC school-event photography guidance, school publication and consent sections |
| Online bullying | Explain reporting and connect the response with the school’s Bí Cineálta policy | Webwise booklet, pages 12–13, Cyberbullying; Bí Cineálta procedures guide |
| Data protection | Connect digital use with privacy information, security and the school’s assessment of lawful processing | DPC Data Protection Toolkit for Schools, Data Protection Basics and Key Elements of a School Privacy Policy |
| Legislation | Check relevant references against official sources rather than copying an old list into a new policy | Webwise booklet, page 17, Legislation; DPC toolkit, Data Protection Basics |
| Sanctions and support | Describe the school’s response to misuse and connect it with behaviour procedures | Webwise booklet, page 17, Sanctions and Support Structures |
| Parental permission | Explain what parents acknowledge and which permissions are sought, keeping distinct purposes clear; retain the circular-required agreement and signatures | Webwise booklet, pages 18–19, Permission Form and parent letter; Circular 0044/2025 page 6 and 0045/2025 page 5; DPC photography guidance, consent information |
Work through the checklist with the colleagues responsible for technology, teaching, safeguarding and policy administration. As a practical exercise, test the draft against a few ordinary situations: a pupil receives an upsetting message, an account is inaccessible, a teacher wants to introduce a new platform, or an image is proposed for publication. Identify where the policy gives an answer and where an operational procedure needs clarification.
Keep the document readable. A parent should be able to find the personal-device rule and the route for raising a concern without interpreting technical infrastructure terminology. A staff member should know which platforms are approved and where to refer a request for an additional service. Consider a short pupil explanation alongside the full policy, with language appropriate to pupils’ age and understanding. These are suggested communication choices, not separate mandatory AUP formats.
Connect the AUP with other school policies
The Code of Behaviour can explain the wider behavioural expectations and procedures to which the AUP refers. Compare the documents before approval so the AUP does not introduce a contradictory sanction or an unexplained alternative process. A useful local check is to ask the policy owner to trace one proposed response from the AUP into the behaviour procedures and explain who makes the decision.
For online bullying, connect the AUP with the Bí Cineálta procedures and school policy. The AUP can explain digital-use expectations and reporting, while the bullying policy sets out the relevant response. Do not present disabling an account or confiscating a device as a complete response to a bullying concern. Use the official procedures linked from that guide and the school’s established reporting arrangements.
The Child Safeguarding Statement review guide helps connect digital activities with safeguarding governance. Check that staff can identify the appropriate reporting route when a digital incident raises a child-protection concern. Avoid turning the AUP into a second, inconsistent safeguarding procedure. Keep the current documents and contact arrangements connected through clear references rather than repeatedly copying passages that may later diverge.
The mobile-phone policy is a separate requirement to address explicitly. Circular 0045/2025, page 1 and “Relevant School Policies”, page 5, concerns recognised post-primary schools and links restriction arrangements with existing policies, including the AUP. Its closing date line is June 2025, on page 9. The document does not state a precise September 2025 commencement date, so this guide does not invent one.
For primary schools, use Circular 0044/2025, rather than treating the post-primary document as the primary authority. In each school, reconcile the AUP wording with the applicable phone policy and its exemptions. A practical cross-check is to compare the scope, storage or access arrangements, parent communication and response to a breach across the two documents.
Images, permissions and data protection
The Data Protection Commission’s school-event photography guidance, in its discussion of school publication and consent, explains the importance of identifying an appropriate lawful basis and giving clear information where consent is sought. A general AUP signature should not be treated as a complete answer to every proposed use of a child’s image. Distinguish learning use, school publication and other purposes in the school’s assessment.
Use the DPC toolkit, particularly its data-protection basics and school privacy-policy material, for the wider assessment. In the AUP, link to the school’s relevant privacy information and explain whom parents or staff can contact about digital-data questions. Keep detailed assessments and controlled records in the school’s data-protection process rather than assuming a paragraph in the AUP replaces them.
As a practical drafting check, list the proposed information collected by each approved platform, the school colleague responsible and where its assessment is recorded. Use that list to identify unanswered questions before the policy is ratified. Do not claim that an application is compliant merely because it is educational or widely used. The AUP should describe the school’s considered arrangements in terms its community can understand.
Board approval, communication and review
Webwise’s booklet, page 5, “Suggested steps”, recommends consultation, presentation to the board of management for ratification and communication to parents, students and the wider school community. It also recommends regular review and evaluation, at least annually, in line with the digital learning plan. Describe that annual cycle as a Webwise recommendation rather than a separate statutory AUP interval.
For a practical approval record, retain the draft consulted on, feedback summary, final version, board decision and communication plan. Use the guide to evidencing policy approval in board meetings to connect the decision to the version approved. Distinguish approval of the final policy from an earlier discussion of the draft, and assign ownership for any remaining implementation action.
After approval, make the ratified version available through the school’s usual arrangements and explain material changes. Consider new pupils, new staff and families who may need a different communication format. Keep the record of what was circulated and when. A website link can assist access, but local planning should also consider whether the people expected to follow the policy understand the applicable rules and reporting routes.
For review, ask what changed in devices, platforms, school practice or guidance, what issues were reported and what feedback the community offered. Record amendments and actions rather than simply changing the cover date. The Irish school policy review guide helps organise the wider schedule. An earlier review may be useful after a significant change; that is a suggested planning response, assessed locally.
Primary and post-primary differences
The Department distinguishes the primary-school mobile-phone ban in Circular 0044/2025 from post-primary restrictions in Circular 0045/2025. Use the correct circular’s scope and exemptions when drafting. Webwise provides a framework adaptable to the school; it does not require identical wording for infant classes and senior post-primary students. Keep any age-based communication choices clearly identified as the school’s decisions.
As a practical final check, read the policy as a pupil, parent and new staff member. Each should be able to identify permitted use, the personal-device rule, the reporting contact and the relevant supporting policies. Bring unresolved drafting questions back to the policy owner before ratification. Edvance helps organise policy review, board approval and evidence records; the school remains responsible for its policy and decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an acceptable use policy in a school?
An AUP sets out rights, responsibilities, permitted use and sanctions for internet and digital technology use in school, online and offline. Webwise recommends developing it through consultation and seeking board of management ratification.
Is an acceptable use policy mandatory in Irish schools?
Webwise recommends an AUP and board ratification. The mobile-phone circulars add a specific requirement: Circular 0044/2025 page 6 and Circular 0045/2025 page 5 say the AUP must be agreed and signed by pupils or students and their parents or guardians. Do not treat the AUP as wholly optional.
What should a school AUP include?
Include school strategy, filtering, internet and email, digital learning platforms, social media, personal devices, images, online bullying, data protection, relevant legislation, sanctions and permissions. Adapt Webwise’s template to the school’s actual practices.
Who approves the school’s acceptable use policy?
Webwise’s AUP Guidelines Booklet, page 5, recommends presenting the policy to the board of management for ratification after consultation, then communicating it to parents, students and the school community. Record the approved version and decision.
How often should the AUP be reviewed?
Webwise’s AUP Guidelines Booklet, page 5, recommends regular review and evaluation in line with the digital learning plan, at least annually. This is guidance rather than a separately established statutory AUP review interval.