An investigation is under way after primary pupils were able to use a school computer to download explicit pictures of a woman.
Angus Council launched the probe after an 11-year-old Arbroath girl in class was confronted with a photo of the topless woman. The youngster from Inverbrothock Primary School reported what had happened after she logged on to a secure email account, usually reserved for coursework, during a morning lesson.
It is understood pupils in the same primary seven class managed to obtain the picture from the internet before sending it to the girl.
Head teacher Teresa Skelding contacted the parents of all children concerned to make them aware of the incident.
The girl’s father said he did not blame the children or their parents, but demanded answers from the council on how they had been able to access the images.
The email password system uses a child’s surname and first initial and is linked to the Scottish schools’ Glow network, which claims to provide “a trusted and safe environment” for pupils, teachers and parents.
A council spokeswoman confirmed the incident involved children sending “inappropriate images” to another pupil.
A statement said: “The council has comprehensive filtering services in place and provides advice to pupils and parents on the safe use of the internet.
“This includes provision of information to pupils and parents and a signed commitment to abide by ‘internet rules’. Unfortunately, it was possible for pupils on this occasion to access inappropriate materials from the internet.
“An investigation is under way and we will be looking at ways to avoid any recurrence in the future. In the meantime, internet access has been removed and the relevant parents have been informed.”
Ironically, the incident comes just two days after a new safe social networking site for children, called Kibooku, was discussed by MSPs and experts at Holyrood.
North East MSP Alex Johnstone has backed the initiative and led a parliamentary debate focusing on the system which aims to tackle cyber-bullying.
The girl’s father said he had previously been assured by Angus Council that their own internal computer system and firewalls were secure and that such incidents could not happen.
“We now know that this is not true if pupils can use it not only to download potentially offensive images but also circulate them among other pupils,” he said.
“Behaviour of this kind can have a traumatic effect on young people, especially if it forms a pattern of behaviour.
“I am deeply concerned that this was allowed to happen and Angus Council have questions to answer, not least of which is why did they assume their system was safe and what will they do to make it safe?”
Mr Johnstone said the incident at Inverbrothock effectively “makes a mockery” of what the Kibooku campaign is trying to achieve.
He said: “The sincere concern expressed by MSPs of all parties in the debate demonstrated that there is a strong political will to deal with it.
“This incident does two things in my view. It exposes serious flaws in the system currently operated by Angus Council, and also underlines the need to ensure that robust barriers are in place to stop it from happening again.”
Angus MSP Graeme Dey said he was concerned children had been able to access adult images. “It is of paramount importance that appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent this kind of thing from happening,” he said.
The incident was not reported to the police.