The issues of Y2K compliance are minor and our testing has shown no problems with the curriculum software. Any crucial programs such as FTP clients are placed in a teacher's only folder that the children do not need to touch. We can report that after a year of extremely intensive use by children - we have never had a single problem with missing files or deleted programs on our curriculum computers. It is clear from our experience that children have a greater respect for the technology if they feel they are trusted to use it without over the top security. In fact, much of what we have achieved would not be possible with high security software in place.
Teachers can add sites to the filter list from school.
The address bar on the Browser is usually disabled, in order to prevent children typing in address that they may have brought from home. The Intranet pages are designed to provide all the tools necessary to search the web safely. Children are not permitted to use Search Engines other than those that provide Safe links - See our Internet Page and Our Rules for more info. For example, we will never use 'Yahoo' with children since it is unmoderated. Certain areas of the website that involve interaction between children on the web are protected by passwords only known to the children at Ambleside.