City of Edinburgh Council has issued the following message with regard to an identified filtering issue with Empowered Learning iPads:

Keeping our children safe online is central to everything we do as part of delivering digital learning in our schools. Filtering and blocking inappropriate content is always a priority but it needs to be balanced with the need to enable teaching and learning to take place and also the rights of children to access information. It can be a difficult balance to achieve, no technical solution can ever guarantee full safety, and as such, we also have to educate our learners in the appropriate behaviours required to allow for safe internet use.

We have been provided with information about particular content  which could be accessed on Empowered Learning iPads.  We have taken immediate steps to ensure that this content cannot be accessed and will be conducting further investigations into this matter. An urgent review of the solution will take place to ensure that this is resolved. We are continually monitoring the situation to ensure the on-line safety of our children and young people.  We will take additional steps as deemed appropriate. Going forward, it is our intention to meet with parents and carers so that we can work collaboratively with them to shape and inform Digital Solutions within schools.