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Primary education

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Original poster

Class photos on Facebook

28 replies

DubaiChick · 04/11/2010 08:35

Hi I am class rep for my dd (in FS1) and I have been asked to mail quite a few class photos to parents.

Although I don't mind doing this, it would seem quite an onerous process. So I was thinking of creating a FB page/group with special security settings to share pics more easily.

For obvious reasons, I would not like the kids' details to be accessible on internet to anyone other than the parents.

Parents in Dubai (where I am located) tend to be less paranoid than in the UK but I still do not want to upset anyone!

I would like to hear from anyone who has done this in the past. I have heard that I can just set up a group from my own FB and set it as 'secret'. Would this achieve the same effect as setting up a separate account for the class?

Thanks in advance - am a bit of a novice on FB.

Cheers x

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admission · 04/11/2010 09:53

I think you have to consider not the immediate set of parents that may receive these photos but how far the photos may potentially spread in terms of facebook accounts that are not "secret".
Do you have permission also from all parents to put the info on facebook?
Whilst I do find the level of paranoid thoughts of what I assume are innocent photos to be rather high I do think there is a high likelyhood of upseting some parents if you go ahead and put it on facebook. Let the parents themselves make the decision to put it on facebook, not you.

Feenie · 04/11/2010 10:49

This would be against mine and many other schools' internet safety policies - you need to check

Callisto · 04/11/2010 11:07

I would be very, very unhappy if DD's school posted pics of her on Facebook.

roadkillbunny · 04/11/2010 11:33

I have no problem with pictures of my child being on facebook but that is not everybody's view and that needs to be respected, there can be all sorts of reasons you may not know of why a parent does not want pictures of their child on the internet.
When my dd finished her reception year last summer a CD of class pictures was given out to parents, each CD was tailored to the individual child but as you would expect the vast majority had at least one other child in the picture. All parents had to agree to the CD idea before it could go ahead, if one family had not been happy no CD's would have gone out even then we had to agree that non of the pictures would be put on the internet of transmitted electronically.
I don't feel that a facebook group even set of hidden and private would be a good idea, you can save images to your computer and then they can be passed on and on to many people, there is no control and I think that is one of the things parents a weary of.
The same issues exist also with email, have the parents already agreed that this is okay in writing? If they have it is really no more bother (in fact I think less) to send out a group email with the pictures.

ForMashGetSmash · 04/11/2010 12:05

I would not be happy at all...I don't allow any family or friends to post pics of my DC at all.

mummytime · 04/11/2010 12:47

I would be extremely unhappy and would complain if it was my DCs.

brimfull · 04/11/2010 12:49

I wouldn't mind.

SuePurblybilt · 04/11/2010 12:50

I would be very unhappy if anyone posted pics of DD on t'interweb, FB or not.

brimfull · 04/11/2010 12:53

dd's face all over facebook anyway

mumtryingtodotherightthing · 04/11/2010 14:23

what's the problem? I mean assuming you don't have mad ex trying to steal child as part of custody battle?

does anyone seriously beleive some peados are frantically trying to get hold of school pics? it all seems a bit PFB to me but happy to be corrected.

tikkapots · 04/11/2010 14:51

Hia, we set up a closed FB group for our class when they started reception and all parents on GB joined.

We all post class photos on the group also photos of parties and plays etc.

I am happy that the group is secure and only those invited to join are able to do so and that the photos can only be viewed by those that are members of the groups (the group cannot be fiund by anyone searching for it).

SuePurblybilt · 04/11/2010 15:47

mumtrying - I have no rational reason and I don't think paedos are targeting school pics! I hate FB and just really object to DD's picture being all over the place. Once a local photographer snapped her and blew up the pic and displayed it in the window. It really freaked me out to come across it without expecting to. There's a woman locally who attends days out - fun dog shows and the like - and tries to sell the pictures to local papers and I'm told as library images (not sure if that's the term) who always targets DD. I hate it.
So no real reason but I don't like it. FWIW a class picture would bother me less than a picture just of my child.

Feenie · 04/11/2010 16:17

Have you checked your school's internet safety policy, tikkapots? This will almost certainly contravene it - internet safety is a hot topic atm, and Facebook is not suitable for primary schools.

tikkapots · 04/11/2010 18:01

Hia Feenie,

The group is not run by the school, it does not publish the school name or address and it cannot be searched for and found by anyone.

It is run by like minded parents of one class sharing photos of their kids growing up together on a secure site. Most of the pictures are of the children at numerous parties outside of school, football matches, ect. There are a couple of group pics from plays. All photos are personal property of parents.

The schools internet safety policy is not being breached in this instance.

Hia DubiaChick,

I am unsure as to whether you work for the school or are a parent? If you work for the school then the purpose of your proposed group would be different to our group which is purely personal.

Feenie · 04/11/2010 19:05

Are you absolutely sure - have you checked with staff? Because it would definitely breach our policy because it is on Facebook.

Does every single parent in the class photo agree to this?

stoatsrevenge · 04/11/2010 19:24

Definitely not - there may be a child in the group whose location needs to be kept secret. You may not know about that.

Poppity · 04/11/2010 21:03

You could PM them all using Facebook and attach the message, but it does downgrade the quality afaik.

It would be better to email them direct as then the quality will be adequate if they want to print the picture.

Could you not message them in FB to ask for their email addresses and do it that way?

tikkapots · 05/11/2010 08:23

Feenie, our group is secure and everyone knows about it. Just as we have a list organised by parents with all home adresses,chldren's birthdays and home telephone numbers on it which ALL 30 parent/s have personally agreed to sign up to. But we are a small community and everyone knows one another, I can see that this would not work for every school and some on here will be horrified.

Thinking about it, I see pictures all the time on other friends and relatives FB pages containing their children as well as others at various events. These photos are not secure and permission is definately not asked of parents of the other children, so I can see how using FB to store and share photos is a big issue.

Thinking about it, DS's football club publish pictures of them at matches in the local press and on their website all the time. DDs ballet group have a FB group and they put pictures of of the kids dancing at events. I was not asked permission (although I would have said yes) by either of these organisations. I do see how this would upset some parents.

gremlindolphin · 05/11/2010 10:35

I would imagine that the school would not be happy about this. I set up a parents group of FB (no photos) and the school was contacted by the police to take it off!

Feenie · 05/11/2010 10:50

And you still haven't said if you've checked with the school!

arfasleep · 05/11/2010 10:58

It would be a no-no at our school too. Its been mentioned in letters home not to put any school photos/videos on facebook. Have seen people put childrens party pics on too & don't think that appropriate unless only family/close friends and you know they're ok with it.

tikkapots · 05/11/2010 12:21

Yikes guys, your scaring me now what with a mention of the police and all !! Did one of the parents complain gremlindolphin?

I personally have not checked with the school and am not inclined to. However, I will check with our "organiser mummy" and see what she says as if there's a problem she'll be the woman if fix it

SE13Mummy · 06/11/2010 16:22

Does the school have a website? It might make more sense to ask whoever runs the website if they could set something up on there; perhaps something that requires a log-in so only relevant people can see the images. It would also be possible to have the pictures watermarked to help keep track of them.

At my/DD's school there are numerous photographs on the school website but they are watermarked, are of a reduced quality (for website purposes and to reduce passing on) and we have written consent for every child whose photo appears there. No names are used, ever and parents/children can arrange for any photographs to be removed. This isn't particularly 'maximum security' but it's quite different from FB!

DanceInTheDark · 06/11/2010 16:54

I think it would breach our schools internet policy.

I have photos of my own children on there. Sometimes with other children in the photo too but i have my settings different for every album. And on top of that i have a default list in case i forget to set it properly.

There is no such thing as secret on the internet though. Just a thought.

AdelaofBlois · 07/11/2010 12:03

Beyond ensuring the group is closed, you would need, at very least, to establish a system whereby any parent had a confidential right of veto-the simple ability to put a note in a box saying 'no' without any reason being given. One veto=no picture.

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