The UK General Data Protection Regulation came into force from the 25th May 2018. This placed additional obligations on organisations which affects how they handle personal data. We take cyber security and data protection very seriously and we have put steps in place within our organisation to ensure we maintain secure and compliant systems.
As a school, we regularly use photographs to show how our pupils and the school as a whole develop. Images can also help us illustrate and communicate with parents about upcoming events and can help advertise and market the school to prospective parents and pupils.
We are also aware that parents and pupils really enjoy being able to see their images and would like to give all pupils this opportunity.
There are a number of instances when the school may take photos of your child, specifically:
- We publish photos on the school’s website to promote the school to current and prospective parents as well as providing updates on current events;
- We publish photos on our social media accounts [such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram] to provide updates on events and news within the school. The school ensure that its privacy settings are such to limit viewing of photos to followers of the school accounts (as approved by the school);
- From time to time we put videos on our You Tube channel which can be seen by subscribers to our channel;
- Within our newsletters, we may provide photos of recent events or achievements from our pupils;
- In order to promote the school, we send out prospectuses, flyers, leaflets and brochures which contain images to show life at our school. These will be sent to prospective parents;
- We may also use other promotional materials such as banners and signs which may contain photographic images for prospective parents to view;
- We may be visited by the media who will take photographs or film footage of events. Pupils will sometimes appear in these images, which may then be published in local or national newspapers, in televised news programmes and on social media sites;
- We publish photos in and around the school building to illustrate to current pupils and parents life around the school including educational materials and images of recent trips and events. These can be seen from time to time by other parents or visitors within the school;
- In promotional materials to show the history and character of the school to future generations.
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A school photographer will visit the school and take individual and group photos of the children which will be made available to purchase. Reminders will be sent in good time prior to the photographer’s visit.
We follow guidance as set by data protection legislation (mainly the UK General Data Protection Regulation) as well as guidance set by the Information Commissioner’s Office on taking photos in schools and obtaining consent. The data protection laws give children rights over their own data where they are considered to have the required capacity to understand their data rights. Most children will reach this level of understanding from the age of 12 and so it may be necessary for the school to obtain this consent from the child directly. If this is not suitable, the school will consider preferences set out below. Usually pupils will not be named in the photographs unless they gain specific consent in the first instance. Consent to using your child’s images will last throughout your child’s time at the school and will continue to apply for a short time after they leave (except for images published for historical purposes which may be kept for an extended period of time to show the history of the school). We would like to seek your consent to the use of your child’s images and will respect your decisions when publishing photos moving forward.
You can withdraw your consent at any time and can do so by writing to Joanne Simkins asking them to stop using your child’s images. At that point they will not be used in future publications but we cannot prevent them from continuing to appear in publications already in circulation.