Do schools post videos/photos of pupils on social media?

[RetrainRetrain]

I'm just trying to work out if this is normal really. I've been following our prospective school and they post videos of the children on open social media and the school website. Our nursery never does this so I was surprised but maybe it's standard?

Our school does but you can opt out.

Yes ours does. I think I signed a consent form when they joined primary school. The very occasional post on twitter of a school initiative with whole classes. Not pics of small groups or individual children though.

Yes but only of children who's parents have given permission and never with names as well.

As a parent you can opt out of this and not give permission. Most parents give permission in my experience.

My dcs school does, but you need to give permission.

Yes, you have to give consent. It’s just pictures of them doing sport or charity events.
You can refuse if you’re not happy with it.

Yes, you need to give consent though

Same - opt out close and only on closed sites.

same for images used for marketing - open days etc.

Lots of schools do but you can refuse consent. Under GDPR rules they need to get your consent BEFORE they post so should not without written permission.
I am a privacy nut when it comes to my kids, so do not allow any images.

Yes but you have to give permission.

We've not given permission so our son never appears on any blog or social post.

Yes they do at ours. I agree with you though - utterly bizarre to post videos of children on social media. Even with the parents’ permission - the children haven’t consented and are too young to understand 🤷🏼‍♀️

Yes but with permission, my kids nursery does as well- again with permission

They can with written permission from you or other legal guardian.

If they upload (a lot) you are dependant on the school to have a strong control system to make sure there are no mistakes.

Yes, ours do with permission. We sign a new consent form each year. Same at our nursery too, they post pictures with permission although not as frequently as school. School put up photos quite frequently, which I love. I love seeing snippets of school life as DD tells me nothing 😂 Last term, they had some farm
animals come to visit. Picked up DD who said ‘no, nothing exciting happened mummy.’ .. got home, had a glance at the school website & there’s a photo of her walking a goat, feeding a sheep .. 🙄😂😂 Oh yeh, a boring day!

Yes they can , if the parent/guardian gives permission.
There are also various types of permissions. Some of our kids are allowed to be in pictures for books, displays anything physically in schools but nothing online (like on the school website,social media etc).
Others can be on the school website/class pages but no social media.
Others can be in anything except promotional material.
Some children might get specific permission for a one off event.
Various other combinations as well.

At the beginning of the year you get the form with the various possibilities and then you just tick yes or no depending on your wishes/needs.

I can just imagine that @Daqqe !
At the previous nursery there was a closed group for sharing photos which I liked but I'm a bit uncomfortable with things in the social media feeds. I guess we can just opt out though

Our primary posts photos regularly on Twitter if the parents have given permission. It's visible to anyone (i.e. not a locked account). For example, if they go on a school trip you can see photos of what the children are doing during the day.

I have had to email them a couple of times about the photos from assemblies however, as they posted photos of the children holding up certificates with their names clearly visible. This goes against the policy that children will never be named in photos.

Our school doesn't really do this. We have consented to photos so for example DD has been in a group photo in a newsletter that was emailed to all parents. I'm fine with that but not keen on lots of photos or videos on social media. I'm glad I don't have to opt out, as I'm happy with their more minimal use.

My private prep ( our DD is 3 at the pre-prep attached) and she's splashed all over a recent re-vamp of their website. I was a bit P'd to be honest, as although I did the generic consent and don't mind her pic on their social media and parents emailed magazine, it's a bit different when essentially their using your DD image for marketing.

I don't care enough to kick up a fuss or withdraw consent, but somehow I think the school website is a different kettle of fish to social media feeds that can be closed groups where you request access etc, the school's main website is , lets face it, marketing for new parents, especially as it's a private school.

I gave consent. There are a lot of lovely activities they do and the teachers do well to safeguard anyone who had opted out. I appreciate being able to see. And can imagine prospective parents also appreciate seeing it too

Primary schools local to me do, I assume like my DCs old primary that they have all the necessary permissions, quite normal ime.

Ours does but you need to consent to it.

We originally opted out for DS1 (long story). Then the school accidentally included him in a facebook post. Poor HT freaked out and rang us in utter horror to apologise. But the reasons for our opting out were actually in the past at that point and we reassured her it was fine and then gave formal consent. Cue one mightily relived HT and many more interesting social media posts for us to follow with him in it.

Yes. Totally normal. But you can opt out