School child taking photos of my son and sending them around school!

[Mamovthree]

Hi all, a lad in my sons class is taking photos of him and also using pictures from when they was in primary school. He is now year 8 comp. He is sending these pictures on Snapchat to loads of other kids creating groups excluding my son so he cant see them. My son daily has kids saying they have been sent photos. I have spoken to the school they told me they need proof to be able to do anything but the thing is this lad is using a timer on the pictures so within seconds the pictures disappear. My son has told his head of year twice this week it’s continuing but she Dosent seem to care and nothing has been done. My son struggles enough in school being dyslexic and dyscalculia without worrying about who’s taking pictures of him. Surly this is ilegal no matter what age? We dont post our children on social media and at all we just don’t know who’s could be looking without anyone else posting. Does anyone have any adivice on what or where I can go to get this topped. Oh and I’ve also tried to contact the child’s guardians but have had no answer and no clue as to where they live. Thank you.

I would report to the police and ask their advice.
Who is the safeguarding lead at school?

I'd be straight up at the school and I'd want to talk to the head. If I got nowhere, I'd go to the police. Your poor boy.

You need to speak to the safeguarding lead asap - I'd be emailing them to ask for a meeting because you're unhappy with the lack of response from HOY, and I'd be copying in the Head as well.

Straight to the Head and if no satisfaction there put in an official complaint to the school governors. (I say that as a governor). Look on school website for their policy on bullying.

I think all Snapchat photos disappear.
You need to insist that the school do something here, the bullying isn't effectively happening on school premises but online, but your son is being bullied by a fellow student.
I'd bypass safeguarding and teacher and go straight to the head, and possibly the police.
I'm deputy safeguarding lead, we'd pass it up the line.

I agree, this is a police matter. The school can do very little. Is there a school police officer? Or does the local police have a dedicated schools officer?

If you are not willing or able to contact the police, then go back to the school, get an appointment with the head or the deputy head in charge of behaviour. Take as much information as you can, names, dates, etc. This is serious bullying, and the school doesn't seem to have taken that on board

Love to your son💐

I hate Snapchat, we had a similar thing at school last year with a boy taking pics of kids and sending them round to others. The head wanted proof but obviously the Snapchat pics disappear, you can change the settings between yourself and a contact to keep pics and messages for 24 hrs instead of disappearing when seen, but apparently that's "weird" and the kids don't want to do that as it makes them look bothered The other thing they wouldn't do is take a screenshot for proof, because it sends a notification to the sender that you've taken one, the kids felt that would then mark them out as a "snitch". I hate Snapchat it's a bully's dream.

In the end parents had to use their own phone to take a photo of their kids phone screens to get proof! Tricky with timing and being ready to take a pic before the snap is opened, but it worked for proof and then head dealt with it.
Not so easy in your situation op, if the pics are only of your son, you'd need to get another child and parent to take photos on their device for you. In our situation the boy was taking pics of several different kids so parents could work together.
I agree though even without any proof, find out who the school safeguarding lead is and go straight to them, it's their job to deal with this type of thing and should take it seriously, it's online / social media bullying and even without proof they need to address it. There should be a bullying policy on your school website that includes online, if not ask the safeguarding lead for a copy as there should be some info in there. Your poor son hope you can get this sorted asap

there ridiculous when it comes to bullying my oldest son was bullied which was worse that this I got police involved and only then it stopped. Ive ring again few minutes ago and again hoy is unavailable im just going over the top of there heads now, it needs stopping. And untill then I really feel like I need to keep my son home, I feel awful sending him when he’s feeling like this, i wouldn’t want to go if it was me, so why should he! Thanks all for the help xx

Oh school has just called, they have been in contact with the boys guardians and also they have the school police coming in to speak to the boy about it aswell.

Thank goodness this is being tackled properly at last.
Schools need to keep reminding pupils how serious this is (in assemblies, tutor time, etc) and where there is an incident, let all the pupils know that police WILL be involved and parents contacted.

I came online today to ask for some advice for this issue. I found out on Saturday morning that my son has been a victim of this bullying for over a year and he didn’t tell me.
he managed to get screenshots of the photos being taken of him. There are a number of children taking screenshots of him in school without his knowledge and one of the kids involved told my son what was happening. He’s 15 and has no friends in that school. He’s suffered so badly with anxiety since COVID and getting him into school has been a constant battle.
Finding out about this has just set him right back. I’m gutted for him that these kids are bullying him in this way. Having set up a discord group to share these photos and have a good old laugh at my son is heartbreaking. I don’t want to send him to school but I’ve already been in front of a judge for his lack of attendance. Neither the school nor the GP seems to be taking his anxiety seriously.
He had threatened to end his own life because of this and I’m just so lost as to where to go.
sorry for jumping on this thread…

So sorry your ds is going through this. What have the school said?