Tutor group photos, do you ask for consent?

[Gongalong]

Hi folks,

 

Like most schools I'm sure, we ask for consent to use photos for the website, socail media etc.

 

Do other schools ask for consent to take and distribute tutor/year group photos?

 

I'm not sure if this fall into legitimate interests, also bearing in mind it's shared with a limited parent/carer audience.

[Rob_D]

Short answer, yes, our photo and video consent covers all photos and videos for any use. 

 

Longer answer, we have always had a general consent to be photographed/videoed in school, with one-time consent for students to appear to promo, website/prospectus photos.

More recently, our general consent has expanded to include consent for the publication of photos (for example on social media).

 

If a parent doesn't agree to the general consent, they CANNOT be photographed or videoed, ever, for any reason, and if they are found to appear in any photos or videos, they should either be removed or the photo/video destroyed*. They should never appear in any school photographs or videos, even if they're just slated for internal use. Realistically, there's a chance that these photos might end up on displays for opening evening, or just pinned up in a classroom and seen during a parent tour or by and external contractors.

A list of students without photo consent is available for all staff to check before they take any photos to help with this.

 

These cases are comparatively rare for us (maybe 1-2 per year group), and AFAIK when they come up the school reaches out to ask if we can keep a single ID photo just in our MIS for safeguarding. Which is IMO, the only place where legitimate use could be cited. In the 10+ years I've been here, this has been denied once.

 

Consider that if you share something, even just with parents and carers, you loose control over it.

 

*The only exception I know of is the CCTV which is restricted and all access documented inline with GDPR etc, etc. I don't know what would happen if a "no-photo" student wanted to take GCSE PE or drama where they're filmed for assessment. I guess it would be discussed with the family when the student is choosing their GCSE options. 

[PotNoodleTech]

1 hour ago, Rob_D said:

Short answer, yes, our photo and video consent covers all photos and videos for any use. 

 

Longer answer, we have always had a general consent to be photographed/videoed in school, with one-time consent for students to appear to promo, website/prospectus photos.

More recently, our general consent has expanded to include consent for the publication of photos (for example on social media).

 

If a parent doesn't agree to the general consent, they CANNOT be photographed or videoed, ever, for any reason, and if they are found to appear in any photos or videos, they should either be removed or the photo/video destroyed*. They should never appear in any school photographs or videos, even if they're just slated for internal use. Realistically, there's a chance that these photos might end up on displays for opening evening, or just pinned up in a classroom and seen during a parent tour or by and external contractors.

A list of students without photo consent is available for all staff to check before they take any photos to help with this.

 

These cases are comparatively rare for us (maybe 1-2 per year group), and AFAIK when they come up the school reaches out to ask if we can keep a single ID photo just in our MIS for safeguarding. Which is IMO, the only place where legitimate use could be cited. In the 10+ years I've been here, this has been denied once.

 

Consider that if you share something, even just with parents and carers, you loose control over it.

 

*The only exception I know of is the CCTV which is restricted and all access documented inline with GDPR etc, etc. I don't know what would happen if a "no-photo" student wanted to take GCSE PE or drama where they're filmed for assessment. I guess it would be discussed with the family when the student is choosing their GCSE options. 

 

So if they don't consent you don't have a photo of them in your MIS?

[synaesthesia]

If they don't consent, they shouldn't be on your school site (premises), period.

Edited May 8, 2025 by synaesthesia

[Rob_D]

38 minutes ago, PotNoodleTech said:

So if they don't consent you don't have a photo of them in your MIS?

 

2 hours ago, Rob_D said:

These cases are comparatively rare for us (maybe 1-2 per year group), and AFAIK when they come up the school reaches out to ask if we can keep a single ID photo just in our MIS for safeguarding. Which is IMO, the only place where legitimate use could be cited. In the 10+ years I've been here, this has been denied once.

It might be more in line that the parents are told that we will have a photo of them in the MIS, but it will just be in the MIS (I'm not invloved in that part).

 

In that one case where the parent did kick up a fuss about the MIS photo (which was about 10 years ago and they didn't think they were with us for that long), no I don't think we had a photo of them in the MIS and it was pre us having an CCTV, so the school really didn't have any photographic record of them.

[Gongalong]

My issue was more to do with tutor/class and year group photos, which are only shared with the parent/carer audience (for those that buy them). For website/socials etc. usage we of course ask for consent, because they aren't covered by another lawful basis. Both these and ID photos are covered in our privacy notice.

 

I asked the ICO helpline, and they agree that tutor/class/year group photos are covered by "legitimate interests", specifically this bit from the ICO's page: "It is likely to be most appropriate where you use people’s data in ways they would reasonably expect" https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/lawful-basis/a-guide-to-lawful-basis/legitimate-interests/ We of course tell parents/carers that their children are about to be in that sort of photo. Data subjects can of course object to data being processed for legitimate interests, and we already have a statement in some of our comms to ask them to let us know if they don't want their child included in the photo. So we are going to firm up all of our related comms to include this and update our privacy notice to have mention.

Edited May 8, 2025 by Gongalong

[enjay]

22 hours ago, PotNoodleTech said:

 

So if they don't consent you don't have a photo of them in your MIS?

 

Student photos in MIS is a safeguarding thing, also part of the basic operation of the school. Consent doesn't come into it.

[PotNoodleTech]

16 minutes ago, enjay said:

 

Student photos in MIS is a safeguarding thing, also part of the basic operation of the school. Consent doesn't come into it.

Well I know that.  You know that. ...... it appears ROBs school may not  - and thus may not comply with safeguarding requirements.

Edited May 9, 2025 by PotNoodleTech

[enjay]

On 08/05/2025 at 09:36, Rob_D said:

I don't know what would happen if a "no-photo" student wanted to take GCSE PE or drama where they're filmed for assessment. I guess it would be discussed with the family when the student is choosing their GCSE options. 

 

You would film them anyway. It is part of the delivering a public task (or whatever the wording is) exemption, which bypasses consent. Same with MIS photos, which (I hope) you're also storing regardless of consent.

[SamanthaD]

On 08/05/2025 at 09:36, Rob_D said:

*The only exception I know of is the CCTV which is restricted and all access documented inline with GDPR etc, etc. I don't know what would happen if a "no-photo" student wanted to take GCSE PE or drama where they're filmed for assessment. I guess it would be discussed with the family when the student is choosing their GCSE options. 

 

I was a "no photo" student. I did GCSE Drama, I wsa given an exemption and allowed to be assessed live rather than filmed. There is always an alternative and school staff should not be preventing a student's education because it might be inconvienient to try and work around a restriction.

 

My days as a student were pre-safeguarding as we know it know, but during my time in school my photo was never taken and nver filmed. But those saying consent isn't necessary in certain situations really ought to think about why these students are "no photo" identified, maybe your safeguarding training needs updating?

[mthomas08]

On 09/05/2025 at 09:33, enjay said:

 

Student photos in MIS is a safeguarding thing, also part of the basic operation of the school. Consent doesn't come into it.

This. MIS is not classified as social media or website etc. It's a secure portal and quite crucial for safeguarding.

 

Consent for public bits is a very different thing to consenting for MIS photos. If parents really wanted to remove it, this would be a decision involving the DSL. Teachers and crucial support staff need to identify students.

 

My daughter is in school photos often and other pupils/parents not wanting to be publicised will have their faces filtered out. You can't ID them. Quite a simple thing to do.