Primary school public Instagram account

[Hellogoodbyehowdoyoudo]

I've just come across my son's primary school Instagram account.

It's public. Not private. They share photos of the kids on social media.

Am I the only one who finds that a bit inappropriate?

I signed the consent form to allow his photo to be posted on school platforms, but I thought it was just Class dojo. Which means no one else can see them, only verified school parents.

Maybe I'm being silly. We live in a world of social media. It's the norm.

Primary rolls are in free fall across the country and schools are closing everywhere and it’s only going to get worse as the tail end of the 2010s baby boom works through. We have OFSTED excellent schools that have gone from oversubscribed to 15 children in reception in just a couple of years. It’s frightening how quick the change is.

In the next few years the number of children in school will have fallen by 900,000 due to falling birth rate

Hello! Just found this sub.
You are NOT overreacting! Schools these days are using our children as content with little regard for the potential risks. There are many risks nowadays with AI, as well as the fact it is ethically murky due to the fact children do not have the capacity to consent to something which could cause them harm and also be permanent. Sharing photos of children's faces IN their school goes against the advice schools teach them in online safety! Even without posting their names, children can often be easily identifiable through parents liking, commenting and sharing photos. Photos reveal a wealth of info including what school they're in, what class, their school routines, what they've been learning, what sports teams they're in etc. Meta are harvesting all this data to train AI, facial recognition and god knows what else. And any groomer can use it against a child. Also, at my child's school the children KNOW the photos are being taken for social media, therefore promoting and normalising the use of social media to the kids. Even if you withdraw consent your child may still absorb this message, as well as feel excluded if they are asked to step out of photos. Private platforms for photo sharing exist and the school can still market without showing faces. There's an article online called the Dark Truth About School social media, it sums it up! Some schools in Australia are moving away from including students on their public social media channels as they recognise the harm and contradiction since the under 16 social media ban. We all need to leave this practise in the past!

Yes, and then these people can then visit the school Instagram account, find out what class your kid is on, what they're learning, what sports team they're on, who their friends are, and a whole load more info and use it to gain a child's trust.

There are only back of head photos and never faces on my schools one although we have all the consent info I just don't feel like it's needed. Parents and the community know what's going on without faces.