Microsoft Family Safety Blocking Random Educational Websites

Question

Microsoft Family Safety blocks access to Educational Websites and assessment tools like

https://scipadonline.co.nz/

on student owned devices. As a school we do not manage student owned BYOD devices and Microsoft now requires under 16 year olds in New Zealand to have parental approval. This also enables Microsoft Family safety and safe searching / filtered web browsing by default.

As a result students are unable to access content without parental approval during the day if a site is automatically blocked by the filter.

Advising parents to turn on safe filtering is not a valid option.

If Microsoft permitted educational school accounts to be used as a separate login for Windows home this issue would be alleviated. alternatively if the computer is registered with a Work or School account the ability for a school to approve sites on a temprary basis should be enabled.

Currently Mirosoft through Microsof Family Safety is making BYOD devices unusable in a school environment.

How can a school request a website be added to the approved list of sites on Microsoft Family Safety?

Answer 1

Microsoft Family Safety does not provide a central “global allow list” that schools can submit sites to. Web filtering decisions are enforced per child account and managed only by the family organizer (parent/guardian) through Family Safety.

From the available documentation:

• Web and search filters only work when the child is signed into Microsoft Edge with their Microsoft account, and Family Safety is configured for that account.
• The family organizer controls which sites are allowed or blocked by adding URLs to Allowed/Always allowed or Blocked/Never allowed lists.
• Organizers can also enable Only use allowed websites or similar settings, which further restrict access.

Because of this design, there is no documented mechanism for a school or organization to:

• Override or bypass Microsoft Family Safety policies on student-owned devices, or
• Submit a website to Microsoft to be added to a global “approved educational sites” list that would automatically be allowed for all children.

The only supported way to allow a specific site is for the family organizer to:

• Open the Family Safety app or go to family.microsoft.com,
• Select the child,
• Go to Content filters → Web and search (or Edge as platform), and
• Add the site URL to the Always allowed/Allowed sites list, or disable/relax the filtering setting.

There is no documented school-side control for BYOD devices in the Family Safety model; approvals must be done by parents/guardians on each child account.

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References:

• Filter websites and searches using Microsoft Family Safety
• Set up web and search filters for Family Safety
• User data and privacy in Microsoft Edge
• Windows 10, version 22H2 known issues and notifications
• Windows 11, version 23H2 known issues and notifications
• Windows 11, version 24H2 known issues and notifications