Wessex Gardens

Primary and Nursery School

Policy on the use of photographs and videos

Principles

This policy details the rules governing photography and recording videos at Wessex Gardens Primary and Nursery School, the distribution of photographs and videos, and their publication on the internet.

Taking photographs and video images of children’s achievements and activities is an excellent way of capturing a memory and promoting successes. This policy document explains the school’s requirement to obtain parental permission (where necessary) while taking such images, and the safeguards in place to ensure anonymity (wherever possible) in their usage.

The policy applies to staff, governors, parents/carers, visitors and wider family members, and is founded on four main principles:

• Safety
  The overriding priority is to ensure that photography does not lead, either directly or indirectly, to anything that may potentially endanger the safety of the children at school.
• Privacy
  We believe that every child and parent/carer is entitled to their own privacy, and can therefore choose not to feature in photographs or videos recorded at school.
• Projecting the Right Image
  Photographs taken at school should not cause embarrassment to the school, the children or the staff.

Sharing Children’s Achievements
It is natural for every parent to want to share their children’s activities and achievements at school with friends and family. This school encourages this as much as possible, while keeping this in balance with the above principles. Parents/carers are reminded at every school event about expectations regarding the use of photos: they are for personal use and not to be published on social media.

Consent

When a child joins the school, their parent/carer is asked for consent for the child to appear in photos used by the school (and in the local press). The school encourages all parents/carers to provide consent, as it enables the school to include all the children in depictions of school life, however, we respect the parent/carer’s right to refuse consent. Parents/carers may, in writing to the headteacher, withdraw consent at any time, or grant consent if they had previously declined.

School Website and Social Media

Any material published to the website must be assessed to ensure it meets the following safeguarding rules:

1. It must not feature any child whose parent/carer has not given consent.
2. It must not offer any means of identifying a child by name*.
3. It must not in any way embarrass the school, children or staff involved.

Photos and videos intended for the school website should be taken either by a member of staff, or a person who has been granted permission by the headteacher.

* If a child received an individual award (eg. a maths competition entered through school) and the school wish to share their achievement including a photo on the school website with the child’s name, parental consent will be sought before naming the child.

Any material published to the school’s website must be assessed to ensure it meets the following safeguarding rules:

1. It must not offer any means of identifying a child (be this visually, by name or audibly).
2. It must not in any way embarrass the school, children or staff.

All material to be posted on the school’s page will be reviewed by the IT Leader or deputy headteacher first, who have access to and control of the account. If further review is required, the final decision will be made by the headteacher.

Photography at school events by parents/carers

Parents/carers are permitted to take photographs and record videos at school events, as long as they agree to the conditions described in this policy.

Examples of events are:

• Christmas/Nativity Plays
• Sports Day
• Summer Fair
• Class Assemblies
• Y6 Leavers’ Assembly

At these events, photos may only be taken at the location of the event, most of which take place in the school hall. Sports day takes place in a nearby park.   A reminder will be given at the start of each event reiterating the message that photos are not to be uploaded to any website/social networking sites or apps, and are for personal use only.

It is not permitted to take photos in classrooms or elsewhere in the school unless explicitly authorised by the headteacher. Parents/carers cannot use cameras when helping on school trips to take pictures of children. Photos of staff should only be taken when they are in a picture with other children such as giving a speech, or, for example, conducting the choir. Permission is not granted to take pictures of staff in any other situation.

If a parent/carer does not want their child to be photographed, options will be discussed with the parents and they have the right to withdraw their child from an event.  There may be occasions when the child will be accommodated elsewhere in the school.  Options have to be manageable by the school, and could include for example, wearing a mask in a play if appropriate or having a role behind the scenes.

Parents/carers who do not wish their child to be photographed will be invited to meet with the class teacher at the beginning of term to inform the teacher directly of their wishes.

Outside Designated Events

It is not permitted to use a camera on school premises at any time outside the designated events above, except for events where parents/carers are responsible for the supervision of their child eg school fairs, or it has been explicitly authorised by the headteacher.

Distribution and Publication of Photos and Videos

Photos taken at these events (of children and/or staff) are for the parents/carers’ personal use only. They must not be published on any internet website. This includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and all other social media sites. The reason for this restriction is that it is not possible for individual parents/carers to ensure that all three of the safeguarding rules described above are adhered to at the time of publication or in the future. Parents/carers will be reminded of the expectations regarding the use of photography and filming at the start of any event in school.

Withdrawal of Permission

The expectation is that parents/carers will cooperate with this policy as it is not reasonable for the school to ‘police’ every event. However, if failure to adhere to these conditions is drawn to the school’s notice it may, at the discretion of the headteacher, lead to withdrawal of permission to use a camera at future events. The headteacher may also refer the matter to the police.

External Photographers

Terms for external photographers, such as local newspaper photographers, must be agreed in advance with the headteacher. These are considered on a case-by-case basis, and must conform to the safeguarding rules described above.

Rules for children

• Children must not take any photographs or video on the school site using personal cameras at any time unless explicitly authorised by the headteacher.
• Children may take photos or video using school equipment under the supervision of staff or other authorised persons.
• Children must not upload any photographs taken within the school premises (school buildings, playground, field, etc.) on to the internet or any social media sites, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc.

Rules for Staff

• Staff may take photos and video anywhere within the school for the purposes indicated on the parental consent form.
• These may be published on the school website if they conform to the safeguarding rules described above.
• Photographs must not be published on any other internet or non-school approved social media site.
• Photographs may be shared with other members of staff to support teaching work.
• Photographs must not be shared with friends and family.
• The school cameras should be used to take photographs where possible. Staff will not use personal cameras (digital or otherwise) or any other device that can capture images, for taking and transferring images of children or staff without permission from the headteacher and will not store images at home.

  Members of staff who are also parents/carers of children at the school are permitted to take photographs at school events under the terms described in ‘Photography at school events by parents/carers’

  Scope

• This policy does not apply to events such as the school fairs, which are classed as public events.

Note. For the purposes of this policy, ‘camera’ refers to any device that can take images (mobile telephone, iPad, tablet, DS, etc).

Appendices

Appendix 1 – Photograph and video permission form

Revision History

Version	Revision Date	Revised By	Revision
1.0	May 2018	Ruth Charteris	New policy
2.0	November 2020	Ruth Charteris	Policy reviewed by GB 24/11/2020

 

Distribution

Shared with

Staff via briefings, meetings and emails.  Governors via main governing body meeting, committee meetings and emails.

Date of next review

November 2023