School photos consent: refusing public website but child excluded from events

[Rachirooo]

I'm interested to hear from primary school parents who don't post pics of their children in school uniform on their own social media, but do allow the school to post pics of them on their website and social media?

I'd love to see what my child has been up to at school. These pics used to be in a private section of the school website that we had to log in to. I didn't mind that and loved seeing the pics. The school have now removed this section of the website so any stranger can view pics of the kids. Now it feels like the kids are just being used for free advertising rather than informing us of what they're up to in class so I've removed consent.

They also post frequently with the days of the events so it's really easy for a predator to work out the school timetable, when they go to forest school etc. I think it's a safeguarding issue.

My child is now excluded from any event where pics might be taken and he gets upset, as do I, that I don't get to see what he's up to at school. He definitely feels singled out and I feel like I'm going overboard. I know that's my doing by removing consent but it does seem unfair when the website used to work so well.

He's going to be in a choir competition soon and I won't get to see anything.

Maybe how our school website used to work is unusual and most parents don't get to see what their primary age kids are doing at school?

Do any other schools break down the consent. Eg, I don't consent to website/socials/newspapers but I consent to pics up on the wall in school etc.

We ask those dc who we don’t have photo consent for to stand away whilst photos are taken. I completely understand not wanting photos on public websites but you can’t then complain they are not available to you on a private section, i suspect the password side of things caused a lot of issues regarding who could get a password eg divorce parents bickering over it, easier not to have passwords

I should also add to my earlier comment that some parents don't allow their children to be photographed because they are 'at risk'.
This was the case for two different people in my DR'S year group. In both cases, single mothers - one had fled DV and had been relocated away from her ex. However they did live in the same part of the country. Had her ex known that the child was at a particular school (they were the image of their mother) it would have put the whole family in jeopardy.
It isn't just about "not wanting" a photograph.

The same children were excluded from class photographs that were circulated at the end of each school year, for obvious reasons.

We are in the era when realistic deepfake videos can be generated from a few photos. And it doesn't have to be targeted attack anymore, now it can be done automatically at scale. Which opens the whole new world of risks and misuse.

If the school can't manage the children without consent, they need to post less photos.

I don't mention that my daughter exists on social media but have let school and clubs take her photo.

I've not seen the school upload any recognisable photos of children to their Facebook page. Most of them are action shots so you mostly see the backs of children's heads as they do an activity together.

She's in a football group and I can barely pick her out as the photos are from a distance so the whole pitch is in shot and very rarely are the children facing the camera.

I will not ever put her photo on social media myself, I only have Facebook and use it for support groups and keeping touch with others through private messages. The only people who know what town I live in never mind what school she goes to are nearest relatives.

The first day of school photos on social media make me uncomfortable and seeing children's full name embroidered on their book bags/school bags.

The way that people use random school photos to make political points or whatever other nasty stuff of you are within your right to protect him from that.

raise it with them and if it continues escalate.

I do not give consent for my children to be included in school photos due to my job. I have been threatened, stalked, followed home and harassed several times from former and current clients and due to this have a very limited social media presence and share nothing online. I have come across a few clients whilst I’ve had my children with me.

All it takes is a client to follow me home and research schools in the local areas after seeing me with my child and they will know what school they go to.

This isn’t a regular issue but has happened often enough that I have to be very aware of my children’s safety. I will not explain this to my children because there is no reason they should be unnecessarily worried about this. They know enough about my job to know I work with high risk, poorly people but there’s no need for them to carry that anxiety around. My school handle this very well by putting them at the end of school photos and cropping them out. If this isn’t possible they are blurred out.

This is a real concern of mine. I think the likelihood of predators picking school kids from photos is very slim. But this sharing of photos and AI altering of photos is very real and happens all the time. That said. I let my kids photos be published. But I do think in the future they’ll stop doing this.