Pupils at Cornish School Shown Porn

Children at Padstow Primary School in Cornwall have accidentally been shown porn

It happened during a lesson when they were asked to research a subject they were studying on the internet 

Officials say it was a problem with a couple of search engines, which led to offensive thumbnail images being displayed

A detailed investigation was carried out immediately, which saw access blocked to the two search engines involved for all schools throughout the region

Heart got in touch with The South West Grid for Learning who sent us this response on the incident;

We were very concerned when we were contacted by Padstow Primary School; we urgently undertook a detailed investigation and established that a problem existed with the Bing and Yahoo Images Safe Search feature that led to offensive thumbnail images being displayed. Access was immediately blocked to both these search engines for all schools throughout the region. As the source of the images (tumblr.com) was already on the SWGfL global filter list, click through access to the source web site was already filtered. We apologise that the children at Padstow School encountered these images; we have robust mechanisms in place to ensure that any issue is dealt with immediately and appropriately. We take any matter which involves the safety of children online extremely seriously, and indeed our unique mechanisms have helped to ensure that, when extremely serious issues occur such as those involving attempted access to illegal material they are given the highest priority by all organisations involved. This issue was not caused by a failing of our filter system. And the problem isn't unique to our filter system: we have also tested a number of other filtering systems and discovered the offensive images are not filtered by these either. However, as mentioned earlier even in very unique circumstances such as this we have the capability to react immediately and block access to such images across all our schools to ensure that this is not repeated. The South West Grid has pioneered a whole range of online safety tools, one of which is our multi-award winning 360 degree safe tool for schools that supports and underpins our filtering. We recommend that schools foster a holistic approach to online safety that develops the right culture beyond the school and that goes beyond filtering. No filtering system is infallible. We advocate the use of moderated image libraries such as the SWGfL Media Gallery which can be accessed via www.swiggle.org.uk a free safer search engine aimed at key stage 2 students and schools also have administrative control of their filter system including the ability to set unique filter policies. This includes blocking access to any un-moderated image library or other online resource that the school may deem to be of little or no educational value. The South West Grid for Learning is a charitable trust dedicated to the advancement of education through information and communication technologies. We have pioneered work in the field of Internet safety since 2003 with huge success. We work tirelessly to ensure that not only children are safer whilst online but also their parents and those working with them, where ever they are. Our dedicated and expert team includes a full-time seconded Police Officer, and schools have benefited from free online safety parent awareness sessions and we work hand-in-hand with the police and child protection agencies to manage incidents as and when required.