Opting out of photos/Official use

[DrCheese]

Hi all,

 

We've got a student who has opted out of having their photo taken around the school which we are legally obliged to acknowledged - However we need to their photo for our official records, can I just confirm that we are still able to do this despite the opt out? It was my understanding we're able to do due to safeguarding & other concerns.

 

Thanks

[pete]

Yes. Just ensure it's only used for that and no-one exports from SIMS for other purposes.

 

Your use case is "the school needs to know what Fred in 7J looks like for identification purposes".

[AJWhite1970]

Exactly that.

 

We have several students who have opted out, some just being stupid and ticking the box, one or two for far more serious reasons. With all of them just the one photo in SIMS is kept and all our staff with school twitter accounts have it drilled into them not to include them in any posts/pictures etc.

 

So far not been an issue

[DrCheese]

So legally we'd be ok to ask/insist the parent allow us to do this for our records? We didn't take their photo today due to not wanting to put distress on the student but I know it's something the head will raise as management are very strict on having all our students photos on SIMS.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that says under the DPA we're allowed to do this, just want to make it watertight!

[GrumbleDook]

You need to be clear as to why you are taking the photographs, who is going to access them and how.

 

https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1136/taking_photos.pdf gives guidance on when the DPA may apply.

 

Is it being collected to allow you to comply with legislation? Identifying a pupil so that their safety can be protected is a valid reason. The school may already be collecting their image for this reason via CCTV. Deciding to use it for other reasons, such as press, promotional materials, etc. would be outside of this and refusal could be made on those grounds.

[deano3693]

What about third party systems that pull photos out of SIMS such as Show My Homework etc?

[DrCheese]

Ok thank you all - The parent in question understands why we need them for safeguarding so is ok with it.

 

Deano3693 - In the past we've just put a note on the account saying the photo is with IT if required and left it off SIMS.

[enjay]

What about third party systems that pull photos out of SIMS such as Show My Homework etc?

 

Why do you need photos in Show My Homework? I've not used SMH so might be missing something, but I'm unclear on the purpose of the photos. Could be the solution there is to stop SMH extracting photos.

[enjay]

Here's a thought which has just hit me - we use Google Mail here and some people have added photos to their profile image. Generally these are not photos of themselves anyway, but if they were, where would we stand? We haven't added the photo, but we are providing the system which is sharing it, so does that make us the data processor of that image?

[SamanthaD]

Instead of taking a photo yourselves - I'd suggest asking the parents to supply a recent image, preferably in their uniform. This will show the parents you are respecting their wishes and not putting any undue stress on the pupil?