Parents offered class photo with no 'complex needs' pupils

[BlowDryRat]

This is appalling. A school photographer offered class photo options with SEN children removed. The kids and parents involved must feel so hurt.

Agreed .
Alternatively, they might have merged two sets of photos. What should have happened is 3 links, with both sets separately, then one together. However, they might have missed out the ones of just the SEN children.

That is unbelievably shitty. I really hope this starts a conversation about discrimination by photographers in schools and beyond. I know it's nothing like as bad but for my DS's year 11 prom last year, a local photographer was brought in. Loads of photos were taken. I went along on the evening when copies of all the photos were being displayed so I could buy some that had him in. I was pretty shocked at the obvious discrimination shown towards any kids that didn't look perfectly conventional. The sporty laddish boys, the pretty girls with long hair and lots of make-up had so many photos individually, in groups and in couples. The unconventional kids, barely any. They'd even taken a single group photo of all the 'weird' kids together in a group! They weren't a friendship group, they'd just rounded them all up for an awkward looking photo! There were literally only two photos of my DS, one of him alone and one with the aforementioned group. I'm afraid being an anxious introvert I didn't feel able to say anything. There were a few of them sitting behind the table and I was on my own. I wish I had though, it was so blatant. I'm also reminded of the local press photos on any exam results day, just the pretty girls asked to jump in the air for the photographer... 😕

I also suspect it is this - a basic mainstream class photo and then the option of an extended group photo including the SEN hub peers.
That seems like the only way the photographer could group them to end up with this outcome without knowing confidential data or being deliberately inflammatory.

That's very good of you. Impressive handling of the matter

I also suspect there is something behind this and it’s not what the inflammatory headlines are making out. Likely two different teaching units with two seperate pictures and then one all together, so you can buy any of the three.

If done with small groups and then edited as one.

How would a photographer know what kids have complex needs? Is there a heirachy of who "looks normal" Vs a child in a wheelchair with an obvious disability?

Is there a thread hold for who meets this description?

How would a photographer know who had complex needs and who didn't.

It's an awful thing to happen and it bloody well shouldn't happen but I think there must be more to this we aren't hearing about.

And I say this as a parent to a child with complex needs.

Well yeah it's obviously down to his additional needs but he leans right over to spit on the smaller kids heads its not accidental.

They would have said there were 3 options then and explained it

Also the parents of the children without SEN. Obviously not as upsetting but if it was me with a child in the school I'd be thinking, "who the hell has requested this? I hope they don't think it is me"

I think that this is very much the most likely scenario. There's no other way that the photographer would know which children were which.

It sounds awful, but I suspect that the reality is that there were two distinct groups that were photographed together and separately.

as a parent with a daughter without complex or additional needs I am equally as horrified

Yet the school and everyone else involved didn’t mention this at all?

the article makes it very clear that two versions of the same photo where sent out to buy, and that the second version deliberately removed one group of pupils, I can’t believe some people (thankfully a minority) are trying to go around in circles to justify this.

According to the daily mail one of the kids was in a wheelchair.

Fury as photo firm offers to DELETE disabled children from class photo https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13250857/Erased-girl-Mothers-fury-photo-firm-DELETE-disabled-children-class.html?ito=native_share_article-nativemenubutton

No one knows what the facts are though

Its perfectly feasible that there were options to buy various configurations of classes, why wouldnt there be. And one of those classes might be the SEN group. But if your child isnt in that group why would you want a photo of your child's class and a different class together.

I'm not justifyng anything. I'm simply pointing out that we don't know the full story, and those who are familiar with how the company creates photos have put forward what might have happened. A scenario that sounds more likely to me than that they actively airbrushed children out

It's early days in this story, so a news story is unlikely to have the full background at this point.

All of you reaching for the 'two different groups' explanation are wrong.

If you read the Daily Mail piece it is clear there was one little girl erased from one class photo, and a girl and a boy erased from a different class photo. The parents heap praise on the school for being inclusive so this approach to class photos was a particular shock.

I'm so sorry for those two gorgeous girls (and for the boy who we know less about), poor kids. How great that the school community has rallied round though.

Well if that is absoutely the case that is dreadful. What on earth were they thinking?

Yes I mean it is the daily fail and it doesn't include comment from the photographer firm as they are investigating but imo if there is an "innocent" explanation for this they need to put it out there quickly

I think its absolutely fair to assume no ill intent and an "innocent" explanation until all the facts are known. But it's looking increasingly unlikely.

the article makes it very clear that two versions of the same photo where sent out to buy, and that the second version deliberately removed one group of pupils,

No it doesn't. Nowhere does it say that the children were removed from the photo.

From what people have said about the photographers method, it seems more likely that the specialist provision children were added for one version, rather than removed from the original.

There's no point in being irate until the details are out there. If indeed they were airbrushed out, I'll be leading the fury. But as a teacher who's been involved in group photos (of highly complex special needs children) I'm reserving judgement at this point.

I'd like to know why it was even an option to not have them in the photo though. Why have two photos

Ah, I've just seen the mail link. I was going by the BBC one. This is now looking now worrying.

@vanillawaffle the children with special needs are in a specialist provision at the school. So essentially a different class. So there'd be individual class photos and year group photos. So the hub children would be in the year group photo, but not in the mainstream class photo. I'm guessing. That's what happened in a school where I worked in the specialist provision.

@Pigriver bloody hell that's appalling!