Parents offered class photo with no 'complex needs' pupils

[p858snake]

A council has apologised after parents were offered a choice of class photos with or without children with complex needs in them.

 

Parents at Aboyne Primary complained after being sent a link from a photography company offering them alternative pictures.

 

Aberdeenshire Council said the decision was not taken by the school and the link to the photos was immediately removed.

 

Tempest Photography told BBC Scotland in a statement it was investigating the matter, that it had spoken to the photographer involved and the school, and that at this stage there was no further comment.

 

Tempest is one of the biggest school photography firms.

 

One of Natalie Pinnell's daughters, who has additional support needs, attends the school.

 

"I was unsure why two options were given," she said of her daughter's photos.

 

"To say I was shocked is a massive understatement.

 

"I can't understand how a human can think it's OK to effectively give people the choice to erase children from their class and their history."

 

She added: "The school were amazing, they were absolutely appalled."

 

'Totally unacceptable'

Aberdeenshire Council said in a statement: "We are aware that following Aboyne Primary School’s recent school class photographs, links to purchase the pictures included images with and without complex needs provision pupils.

 

“Whilst this was not a decision taken by the school, we absolutely appreciate the distress and hurt this has caused some parents and carers and we are sincerely sorry.

 

"The issue has been taken up with the photography company directly as this is totally unacceptable."

 

The council added: "Aboyne is an inclusive school and every single child should be included, engaged and involved in their learning and school experiences."

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce5epgp2zdno

[Edu-IT]

No words for this.

[3s-gtech]

🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️

[stevejp]

No words polite enough to be published on edugeek for this.

 

FTFY….

[Roberto]

No words for this.

 

Oh, I can think of a few.

[Homer]

Well, Tempest can jog on can't they.

[FN-GM]

How did the school let this happen?

[stevejp]

How did the school let this happen?

 

That’s what I’ve been wondering. The original press article says that the school have been ‘wonderful’ and are ‘appalled’, but how else would the photographers know who these kids are?

[FN-GM]

That’s what I’ve been wondering. The original press article says that the school have been ‘wonderful’ and are ‘appalled’, but how else would the photographers know who these kids are?

 

And surely the school would have done some kind of vetting / checks before going out to parents?

[stevejp]

And surely the school would have done some kind of vetting / checks before going out to parents?

 

Tempest are a well-known school photography company - the school would/should have done the basic DBS checks, but they tend not to get too involved in what the company are doing in terms of the service provided and communication with parents. I still say that (except in the most obvious cases of physical appearance) the company could only have known which children to ‘target’ if the school had told them.

Edited April 1, 2024 by stevejp

[FN-GM]

but they tend not to get too involved in what the company are doing in terms of the service provided and communication with parents.

 

But they should be. There should be some basic QA checks behind it as they are are working with the school. For example checking the proof pictures of the rights class are going out to the right parents. If the company made this call, the school they would have picked this and should have acted.

[Homer]

Thinking about it, to a degree the school should have known on some level as to get the photos without the students, surely they would have needed to orchestrate the session to achieve this? Thus the class teacher at the very least should have known and wondered what was going on.

 

 

Regardless, Tempest should not have opened themselves up to this.

[p858snake]

Depends if its group shots, or if they just provide a grid of individual photos to make the class photo. I'm suspecting its the later but none of the articles i've seen has confirmed either way.

[stevejp]

But they should be. There should be some basic QA checks behind it as they are are working with the school. For example checking the proof pictures of the rights class are going out to the right parents. If the company made this call, the school they would have picked this and should have acted.

 

Agreed - but the school will not know the contents of the agreement, which usually goes out to the parents in a sealed packet with the photo proofs. My focus would be on how the photo company knows which children to include/ exclude.

[jthompson]

Pure speculation this, but I'm imagining the most straightforward explaination is that more than one class/group photo was taken, perhaps owing to some SEND-based logistics on the day, but that has translated really badly into this worst-case-PR disaster.

[mikeprice]

Agreed - but the school will not know the contents of the agreement, which usually goes out to the parents in a sealed packet with the photo proofs. My focus would be on how the photo company knows which children to include/ exclude.

 

I would suspect the kids in question were photoshopped out (other photo manipulation products are available!) to create the "more acceptable" versions

 

I also suspect that the school had no knowledge and the teachers herding the kids around had no reasons to be suspicious

 

 

 

lot of "suspect" words there - naff all facts

but that is how I see it going - if the kids are disabled then they might well have been on the ends for practical reasons - making editing them out easier

which may or may not have been deliberately set up

 

 

Question I would wonder about - is this the first time this company (or any other) has offered this "service"

or is it a common thing at "some schools"??

[mikeprice]

I would suspect the kids in question were photoshopped out (other photo manipulation products are available!) to create the "more acceptable" versions

 

I also suspect that the school had no knowledge and the teachers herding the kids around had no reasons to be suspicious

 

 

 

lot of "suspect" words there - naff all facts

but that is how I see it going - if the kids are disabled then they might well have been on the ends for practical reasons - making editing them out easier

which may or may not have been deliberately set up

 

 

Question I would wonder about - is this the first time this company (or any other) has offered this "service"

or is it a common thing at "some schools"??

 

Just read some more about this

 

apparently they were not "photoshopped" out - there were 2 different photos taken - one with and one without

 

now - the obvious comment is "how did the teachers not notice!!!!"

 

well - I have been there - done that and all that - photo day is a pain

 

you have a time to get the kid sthere - the kids are excited - some of them NEED to get their hair sorted

you need to get them presentable - ties vaguely straight, jumpers levelish hair not actually weird

 

and all that

 

the photographer has done this many time and so you just herd the cats and get them into position and try to make them look reasonable

 

 

exactly what is happening is another thing

 

I can totally understand how they missed this one

 

and they are probably mortified at the result

 

and if there were any TAs or even IT technicians involved in it - because cat herding is a team activity - they are probably mortified as well

 

and it is probably not just that school

 

I do wonder what comments the photographer ( or his company???) have got in the past - there migth be a good story there for any journalist??

[Shilpasharma]

I have no Idea.

[mikes]

Agreed - but the school will not know the contents of the agreement, which usually goes out to the parents in a sealed packet with the photo proofs. My focus would be on how the photo company knows which children to include/ exclude.

 

Yeah exactly, the photography company would normally just get the students name and the unique number. They won't be told if the student has any additional needs, at least not in my experience.

So how are they doing this? by the way the student physically looks?

Or perhaps it was a year group photo, and they had the choice to include the "special needs" class in this year photo or exclude it?

Edited April 7, 2024 by mikes

[stevejp]

Yeah exactly, the photography company would normally just get the students name and the unique number. They won't be told if the student has any additional needs, at least not in my experience.

So how are they doing this? by the way the student physically looks?

Or perhaps it was a year group photo, and they had the choice to include the "special needs" class in this year photo or exclude it?

 

Call me a cynical old whatsit, but this is why I am slightly sceptical of the handwringing (‘the school were absolutely appalled’) coming from the school. There may be a perfectly innocent and reasonable explanation - but I’m struggling to think of one, at the moment!

[Guest Guest]

I’d guess that the complex kids (i work in a SEN school with a complex needs dept for kids with complex autism) wouldn’t cope with the busyness whilst everyone else was getting ready.

 

Everyone else probably got ready then the complex kids would have been brought in at that last minute.

 

Probably took photos whilst waiting for the complex kids

[PotNoodleTech]

This can be avoided by giving the photo company very clear instructions on a) what do to on the day and b) what to do with the photos afterwards.

 

Sounds like there was a lack of communication somewhere.

 

It's always a good idea to literally make it someone's job on the day to deal with the photos/pupils/and what happens to the photos after rather than just dumping them in the hall and hoping for the best.