AIBU re school response to Y8s sharing nude picture?

[4dogs]

Last Tuesday evening my 12 yr old dd told me that a group of Y8 children at her school are in a whatsapp chat group, she’d been invited into the chat and was worried because some of the children were sharing a nude picture of another y8 boy and discussing it (comments about penis size so sounds like a full frontal pic). They were sharing the pic via dm so thankfully she didn’t see it. From what she could gather the boy in question had sent a nude selfie to another boy who had then shared it with other children. She didn’t know who the original boy was or if he knew what was happening but didn’t think he was in the chat group.

I explained to her that she was right to tell me and told her I would inform the school. I emailed the school and next day the office emailed to say it had been forwarded to the head and lead safeguarding person. That teacher spoke to dd and said because they didn’t know who the nude student was they couldn’t do anything.

I had expected them to email Y8 parents to warn them what’s been happening and maybe talk to Y8 students about the risks, appropriateness (and legality) of sharing such material. AIBU to have expected the school to have done something to raise awareness?

Should I do anything else?

Surely this is distributing child abuse pictures? I’d check the school are involving the police on this or do it myself.

Wholly inappropriate response as the consequences of this could be devastating to the boy. The children know who he is, so they need to interview those in the what's app group. They specifically need to be told about not sharing/commenting on it and should identify the victim if they know who it is so that he can be protected. He may not even know that the photos of him are circulating. I would ask the school what steps they are taking to identify and protect the victim and ensure that the children do not continue to view or share the photo.

The police have more power to follow this up properly.

The School can only go so far as you have found out esp if they dont have all the details.

I cant help but keep thinking about this.

What if this boy ia too scared to bring this up with his parents/carers, this could be devastating.

Please OP, push thia further, for the sake of the boy involved.

The person in charge of safeguarding at school should be informed, who should contact the child‘s parents/carers and the police

You should report to the police as this is a crime.

You don't have to investigate, or know any more than you do.

This is child pornography and must be reported.

Last year a girl DS had never seen before in the year above him camebuo to him, pulled his headphones out and showed him a picture of a naked man in bath. DS immediately texted us so we rang school. By the end of the day DS had gone through photos to identify the girl, and police were involved although we never found out the outcome eg if the girl knew the man on the photo, where it had come from or the such.
I reported it to the school as my main worry was that the girl herself has been exposed to such things and I wanted it investigated so that she may be saved from any further abuse if there was any.

At the end of the day, no matter what the intentions, or the ages of the people in this group chat, they are distributing child pornography. There is almost certainly nothing sinister behind their actions, but it absolutely has to be taken seriously, as this kind of thing is so dangerous. If you inform the school that you plan to get the police involved I imagine they will suddenly take things much more seriously.

That poor child.

At worst its distribution of indecent images of a minor, at best its body shaming and sexualised bullying.

Neither are OK at all. Keep going with your concerns to ensure this boy is safeguarded. Best of luck

@user1493413286

I would expect the school are doing plenty behind the scenes such as contacting police and local authority. They’ll then be working out how to address it without making it worse for the young person in the picture. If you let them know Wednesday morning they’ve only had 3 days and need to follow a process; I’d wait until the end of the week then contact them with your suggestions around educating children

I can imagine this to be true. Sometimes people are following processes and doing the best with what they know that they are too busy/overwhelmed to get back to you. Maybe they have been advised not to inform parents about progress also. Who knows. I understand that it would be irritating though.

Police, please. This is a serious crime

If this was a y8 girl nude you would have comtacted the police straight away. Or if it concerned your dd's nude. So why wouldnt you do it now?????? Come on op. Do it for the boy😣

Definitely call the police - you may find the schools already been in touch.

I’ve emailed the police and explained the situation. Hope somehow it gets sorted out.

Glad to read your update, is all you can do and you should be pleased your child told you, that's good news for you.

This happened to a younger girl in my secondary school, she sent a nude pic (early days of camera phones) with a boy, and he sent it to all her mates. The police were in and out of the school for days, and that was before whatsapp, facebook messenger, things going totally viral etc . It does sound like the school aren't handling this well at all, I agree I'd contact the police.

*to a boy

This happened at my dds school a couple of years back, it was girls sending nudes to boys. The whole year group had an assembly with a couple of police officers there warning about sending and sharing inappropriate content.

Police called me within about twenty minutes of me making online report. They did not sound impressed by the school’s lack of response. Had to get dd to take screenshots of convo in case people delete their comments. They’re coming round this evening to get all the evidence so I’m glad I contacted them.

Good for you. God this makes me feel so sad.

@4dogs well done, the schools response was absolutely shocking! Hope it gets sorted out, the poor kid.

Well done @4dogs that really was the right thing to do and you will have protected another child.

Well done for contacting the Police. Thank you for sticking up for that boy when the school don’t appear to be.
Well done to your DD too for having the courage to tell you and follow it up with screen shots etc.

Well done for contacting them.
At least the school and children will now realise the severity of this

Good for you OP. You're doing the right thing. The school's response sounds shocking.