Nursery students will take photos.

[Mamabananananana]

Ive finally found a place for my DC in a nearby nursery. DC seemed to like it and the staff all engaged with him happily
BUT the manager told me that the staff have their phones on them ,and will take photos of the children for the students courses?
why do they need photos? Cant it be recording by writing their experiences?
the manager made me feel as if i was over reacting? And it was not optional if we accepted the placement?
Surely i can not allow photos of my child to be recorded?

They are letting you know up front. It’s very usual for photographic evidence to be used for students evidence. However they should be adhering to a written policy on the use and storage of the photographs.

This is a bit odd. Any teaching placement I've done has required anonymisation of paperwork, so no names, and photos to involve hands only. And even then only on a school device. The IT policy prevents me using my personal devices for photos/videos, although I know not all schools have this and some do allow it.

Does the nursery have an IT policy? Perhaps ask how children's photos will be made anonymous, or if photos will exclude children's faces?

Do you mean for the children's portfolios or is there students on apprenticeships or similar?

For the students, its evidence of the activities etc they have provided

For the children, its evidence for them meeting their targets (such as Harry did the shape sorting puzzle, target for motor skills)

What kind of nursery allows staff to have their phones on them let alone nursery students!

Absolutely I would not be OK with that and I'm bloody amazed it's allowed let alone other parents thinking it is acceptable.

Very strange for staff to have their phones on them.

We use tablets at work with a specific app on for observations.

Currently through my course and when I've referenced a child for any reason they are just Child A?

You can absolutely refuse

They need your consent to take and use photos and videos of your child

I'm doing an early childhood degree atm and the issues around consent are really important

@Beees @RiskyCookie apparently the olf building wifi didnt work well with the tablets ?

Are they specific work phones or the staff members personal ones. Massive difference

That's not a reason for the nursery to allow staff to just walk round with their own personal phones and use them to take photos of children. It's an absolutely bonkers justification. 😮

The whole nursery ethos and attitude raises so many red flags it's making my head implode.

Many nurseries and even in Reception have staff devices.
Photos are uploaded on apps like tapestry for parents to see.

Anything other than that is unacceptable. It won't be for students courses, they'd get kicked off the course for that. Sounds extremely dodgy.

Report to ofstead and pick another nursery...

Nope. If photos are needed for their course, they should be taken on school equipment. As a teacher in a special school, I and my team had to take photos as an important part of our assessments of the children. They are required as evidence. But they had to be taken on the classroom camera, and were weren't allowed our phones during lesson time. We had to put them in lockers on the classroom walk in cupboard.

So no no no. No photos should ever be taken on personal phones. I imagine that nursery staff will take them as part of their record keeping and assessments, and yes, the students will probably need to in order to show that they know how to write up assessments. But not ever on personal equipment.

That doesn’t sound right. Staff generally aren’t allowed personal phones. My DD works in a nursery and personal phones have to be put away in lockers.

Personal phones? That’s generally a big no no.

I’ve never ever worked in a nursery that even allowed people to use their mobile phones on site while working, much less allowed students to photograph children on their own personal device.

When I’ve been in charge of a room and welcomed students in I always gave them access to our ‘observations’ sheet so they could learn to note what the child was doing and then link it to the EYFS and next-step/enhance it, which was as useful if not more useful than taking pictures on their mobile.

I wouldn’t like this being allowed, and would be very concerned at the manager brushing off your concerns/acting like you overreacted. I’d look for somewhere else.

No mobile phones allowed out of staff area in the nursery I work at.
All photos are taken on a camera and uploaded onto the computer in the managers office.
The camera is also signed in and out.

Ours is the same asn@jesusmaryjosephandtheweedonkey.

blanket ban on phones , that includes any visitors. There are two cameras between three rooms, these are booked out. The photos are then uploaded to a private group by managers

(Also I don’t work there - DD attends and their mobile phone policy is very clear)

the manager made me feel as if i was over reacting?

you aren’t.

I wouldn’t be happy with this.

I’ve worked in 2 nurseries and neither allowed staff to have their phones on them. All are left in staff room. One was a small private nursery and the other a huge company. Both policies were the same.

Oh hell no.

This would 100% not be allowed to happen at the nursery I work in, o4 any nursery I know.

Taking photos of children on their own phones?? Just no.

I'm sorry but Vanessa George springs to mind. Not saying these students are going to do anything sinister but they should absolutely not be able to have access to their phones around the children, let alone be taking photos on them.

Absolutely not. Clarify what was meant as they might take them on nursery owned devices and use them in an anonymised way, but even then this has to be with your consent (which personally I would decline for student projects although would be fine with using to update me). Definitely look elsewhere if you're not happy with their response.

I'm on an early childhood degree course and have just done a work placement in a nursery. No personal phones in the rooms at all, have to be kept in lockers and only used in staff room. Standard practice.

They shouldn't be doing this without consent from parents for each individual child in photos, and what they will be used for.

There's no reason it is necessary for student projects to take photos of children. They can take photos of activities they have set up and can write about children anonymously.

Quite irresponsible of the nursery really from a social media and safeguarding perspective.

Normally parents give individual consent which due to my job I never give as I don’t want photos of my DC out there for others to see.
Also them using their own phones would be a massive safeguarding risk to me and not acceptable. There was an awful case a while back which shows why they shouldn’t have their own phones on them

Are you sure they didn't mean a staff phone, maybe? Ours use a camera to take photos for Tapestry, but I suppose a camera phone that isn't connected to the internet would do.

Mobiles aren't allowed within my son's nursery at all, in fact I've been gently told off when I was using mine while waiting in the corridor (I was on autopilot). And they should have a media policy so you can choose what they can do with photos and videos of your child.