To ask school to remove photos

[WillowCraft]

We decided not to put any photos of our children on social media until they are old to enough to consent to it themselves. We don't have them on our facebook pages and have asked family not to either. The reasons for this are privacy mainly, although there is also a safety aspect - though this is not the main concern.

My son started school last week and I requested no photos on social media or the school website. Now the school have posted several pictures of my son on Facebook - they are taken from behind or the side so don't show his face but it's still recognisably him as several people have commented to me. The photos are of a small number of children - 2 or 3 - not as part of a larger group.

I feel they shouldn't have done this and feel inclined to ask them to take the pictures down - however unfortunately this school is constantly putting stuff on Facebook - the whole of last year's reception class were on there most weeks, often with their work and their name showing. I am worried that if I say no pictures that my son will feel singled out and will never be picked for anything - he will never get a leading role in the school play for example, and will have to stand to the side every time they take photos - which is at least weekly.

I do think the amount they post on facebook is completely inappropriate, I would be happy with photos on a password protected page visible only to parents but not open to the public. I would be less happy but ok with occasional photos as part of a large group on SM. I really hate the idea that anyone who wants can track my child's progress through primary school!

Has anyone experienced similar and what did you do?

Don't know why they need to do it in the first place

You do not know the mums, dad's and extended families that are viewing your child's photographs online.

You did not consent.

You need to challenge this now.

Your child being excluded from photograph opportunities is a sacrifice you need to take if you chose to continue to protect your child online.

Its not all about faces

Exactly. From side or behind is still a photograph

That's an awful way of doing it

This has happened a few times with DD, when reminded the teacher has always removed them. They post on the school twitter page, I don't do twitter but am always surprised when family point out that they saw DD on twitter.
It hopefully is just a very eager Teacher or TA who has forgotten to check the list.
I've never had a problem when I've brought it to their attention

There really is no need for schools to take photos of children during the school day. They are there to learn, nothing else.

If you've not consented they need to take this down.

It's really important for some children's safety that this policy is carefully followed by the school.

They should not use this to impact your child or leave him out.

Our school also has a form to consent to them sharing pic's on the website, on twitter or only on the seesaw app. I consent to seesaw because only I can see them, she doesn't put them on the class app just on the parent journal

I rarely if ever post pictures of my kids on SM. A) I can’t be arsed and B) I’m not a performative parent so I don’t seek the ‘approval’ of others to confirm I’m doing a good job parenting my kids.

However, whenever my kids have been on their school’s Facebook pages, I take great pleasure in the attention. My kids have done something outstanding and the school wants to share their achievement with the wider public. What’s not to like? And the kids like it as well - they’re getting praised on their science project, their litter picking excursion, their sporting win.

It’s not mum posting pics of them eating crepes on pancake day.

Unless there’s a veritable reason you don’t want pics of your kid on social media, it all sounds a bit precious.

The photos wouldn't be a consideration when they were picking who plays what part in a play.

But he could of course be excluded for other things which are planned to have a photo op such as special visitors to the school etc.

I think that the OPs child will feel left out.
I think consistency is important. A child in my eldest daughters class meant that no photos could be taken at in any activities throughout their time at primary (they left this year) but in the end of year photos all children from the class were in the photo that was then put on the schools website. TBH this has mean that I would be more inclined to challenge the lack of the right to take photos with my other children who are considerably younger.

I would make a fuss if I was you, this might just be a preference for you, but for another child it could compromise their safety, the school should really know this...

Ofsted always check the school's social media before they visit to get an idea of what the school is like before they visit. This has created an extra pressure for staff in schools to constantly photograph lessons. It is just more work.
Personally, I don't see the problem a photo of the back of a child's head being on a photograph. However, if you don't like it just ask the teachers not to include them at all on pictures. They won't in future.

So an employer in 20 years' time will see a 20-year-old photo of the back of someone's head and think, "Oh, that must be Jack because he's the only ginger person in the world. Hang on, are you telling me he was in school once?? I must fire him immediately."

You're being illogical.

This.

I don't agree with children being on social media anyway as the pictures are used by anyone from media organisations to people with the worse intentions.
However if someone who shouldn't know where your child is can identify them then that can put your child in danger.

Btw my DD went to a community event where they gave every child who shouldn't appear in photos to a sticker to put on their t-shirt. About 60% of the kids we saw had this sticker.

Your child won’t feel singled out because your child isn’t old enough to be looking at Facebook in the first place and school shouldn’t be telling them when a photo is going to be posted on social media. Why do schools prioritise posting on Facebook anyway, why can’t they use a locked or password protected council or school platform?

Ask them to take it down and check what the consent you signed covers, if it’s no social media then they shouldn’t include your child at all, whether it’s a view of the back of the head or otherwise. If they are recognisable in any way, then the school are not holding up their end of the agreement.

I have a friend with adopted children. For safety reasons, their biological parents cannot know where they are. If a recognisable picture of one of them, even if it hadn't shown their face, was posted by their school, that could put them at risk. (Well, probably not now, they've been adopted for years, but it could have done when they were younger and had only just been adopted.) For that reason, I think if a parent has opted out, the school need to completely respect it, not see how close to the line of recognisability they can go.

If they don’t have permission then the child shouldn’t be in photos posted online. Full stop.

I would absolutely be bringing it up. For some children being recognisable, face or otherwise, is the reason they are not to have photos posted online. Children who are at risk are most often at risk from people they know - a parent/grandparent etc so no permission should equal no photos. Not no face photos.

They’re very likely breaching their own safeguarding policy with that.

In a situation like this a teacher would be aware of this background and wouldnt post a picture at all. This is a different situation.

Who is going to be interested in a photo of the back of your child's head? Where is all this harm coming from?

Lots of fostered children have that issue.

My own DD has been threatened by someone so isn't in any social medis pictures. She wasn't in any pictures on SM anyway, but we doubled down after the threat.

He’s identifiable. She’s clearly stated that. She did not consent.

This is a safeguarding concern.

Not necessarily.

We didn't tell my DD's childcare providers about her safety being threatened until after it happened, even though we were cautious from the beginning as it was a possibility.

If there was a genuine safeguarding reason for a child to be kept out of photos then a teacher would know about this and presumably wouldn't take the risk of including a pic with the child on at all.
This is a different situation.