Limiting who can access School & Nursery Facebook Pages

[JadeB99]

Hello, I am a parent to two young children and I also grew up online as a teenager. I truly believe that School & Nursery Facebook pages should be aware of who they are allowing to access their pages, as most if not all are open to the public. As parents we have a duty to safeguard our children. I truly believe Schools and Nursery should be limiting who can access their pages by asking questions, on who is following them and why.

If I was to join a Facebook group for bargains, I would be asked questions before I had access to their page and I believe Schools & Nurseries should have similar practices in place.

If you believe change needs to happen or you do agree with me it would be amazing to get your support. The link to my petition is below:

www.change.org/p/limit-who-can-access-school-nursery-facebook-pages-safeguard-our-children?recruiter=1061229927&recruited_by_id=5ae59870-6baa-11ea-a6e4-d362ac8e6be3&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard&utm_medium=copylink

Why do you think this is an issue?
Parents are asked to give permission for their children to be shown on social media and this is reviewed regularly. If a parent doesn't give permission then the child is not shown.

Also, their social media is a marketing tool. Limiting access defeats the purpose.

This. Mine were occasionally used on their nursery FB page. Some children were shown only from behind or with big emoji sticker things over their faces. It's already individual parent choice to be online or not

Agreed - it's a marketing tool. There are other apps and closed groups they can use if the purpose is to update parents on what their child is doing. Parents are asked for consent and have the right to refuse it if they want their child 's images kept out of public groups.

You're confusing pages and groups.

No one verifies the info, if you had nefarious intents, you'd just lie. Fake profiles are rife.

They're for marketing. Locking them down makes no sense.

My DCs schools have generally had 2 social media channels - one public which is a kind of marketing, look at the lovely events the school is doing, kind of thing, and you sign a waiver to allow them to put your kid’s photo on that one.

And then a second which is private that you have to be approved by a teacher to follow, that they use on school trips and residentials to let the parents know what the kids are getting up to and where they are, so they don’t have to respond individually to 500 worried parents asking for updates.

My daughter’s nursery shows the children doing activities with their backs to the camera, or just their hands if they are painting etc

Most schools have internal and external groups.

the point of Facebook is marketing.

Reported spam. Change.org is the most pointless waste of space website going. If you really want to effect change, do it properly and petition Parliament.

Be ready to get torn to shreds on this...

I made a post a month or so back about a reception class teacher sharing TikToks with her class actively featured and being made to "perform". I was shot down in flames about how they must have already got parents permission and it MUST BE a school-approved page... and to basically wind my neck in.

I remember that thread and didn't recall anyone getting "torn to shreads" so I wnt back to check. 94% of the vote agreed with you and you unhelpfully never answered the multiple posters asking if it was the teacher's personal account or an official school channel. So really not how you've just represented your own thread.

I didn't really reply to the posters asking whether it was a school account or a personal one because I simply didn't know. As far as I remember, I did try and say that to the first couple of people.

The name of the account was nothing relating to the school name, or anything like that - but the userpic was the school logo. So it wasn't clear either way. I tried to explain that it wasn't clear - my gut told me it was a personal account - but I had no way of proving it. So arguing about it with strangers on the internet didn't seem useful. Especially as the majority of the commenters were all "oh, it MUST be school approved!"
I'm a 20 year primary school teacher, but I felt like saying "WELL, my gut says it's inappropriate and a personal account!" wouldn't have gone down well with the "I'm sure the parents signed the form!" brigade!

I'm afraid I didn't see the 94% who you say agreed with me. I left the thread fairly quickly as I got the impression from the comments that I was taking it too seriously and it wasn't really my business, as it involved a friends child and not mine.

I never did message the head teacher or anyone. I haven't actually seen the account since. So either I got blocked or they saw sense. :)

See its this I 100% agree with the marketing access point, but also respecting students private. I compliment your schools procedure and wish many more followed ahead

I believe it be an issue, because parents and schools are creating digital footprints. That children have not consented too. You only need to look a little further to see AI transform celebrities, into something that almost looks so real. Imagine AI having that access for people from birth its terrifying. Also someone else commented about their school having 2 platforms, one for marketing, one for parents. I truly believe that's the change that's needed.

Children are not tools for marketing

I agree with you, I am testing the waters to see if it is in the interest of people or if it isn't. Most people are turning a blind eye to social media and its impacts. I am 1 person, but I believe in allowing children to not have a digital footprint they have not consented in

Thank you both for your accounts, on social media and safeguarding children. Another commenter expressed how their school had two accounts and that is exactly the kind of change that is necessary. Children are not consenting to be apart of this digital world, it is parents. As a parent who grew up with internet safety lessons, I find it ironic that schools went ahead of opening Facebook pages, without consequence.

So how would you market a school or nursery without involving their voice?
Do you work in a school?

I have done previously but that's not why I'm passionate about this subject. Children are being shared online from birth, without consent. An entire generation are going to have their childhood, teenage years, adulthood, online, which they did not consent too. How people share their stories anonymously, using words, changing voices, showing how they have set up activities, the stories they've read the places they've been. Just without exploiting children. Talking to teachers who can consent to being shared online.

It takes a lot of courage to step back, and say actually this is not right. Thank you!

I am really appreciating the feedback I am receiving from this tread, as I will reiterate I am one person and I do not have the answers of the resources to every question. But in your feedback, your allowing me to explore areas of concern and importance and that's greatly appreciated. Change is always going to be uncomfortable

The question I'm really asking is how many people think alike and to have 41 people who have signed shows I am not alone in this thinking. Do I have a plan of action not yet, but am I taking a moment to think about where this could go, absolutely. One person created Facebook and now our entire lives have changed, but at what cost

This is the change that is needed the MOST needs to be ALL. All schools, should be allowed to promote and market their schools, without exploiting children. Parents, careers, relative friends, can also be allowed access to a seperate page, so they can control access. The problem is, not all schools are following the standard because it is not policy, but they absolutely should be!

This is absolutely brilliant, marketing the school, sharing their activities, without exploiting children. It just needs to be adopted in all schools, or at least a conversation. Because absolutely, safeguarding matters!

I truly believe that like parents, school absolutely have a rsposnibilty to safeguard children. Them saying well its up to parents, is them not taking responsibility.