Independent schools: what are you doing to protect pupil identities on websites and social media?

[atfnet]

We are reviewing our approach to pupil images and identities on public-facing platforms and I'd be interested to hear what other independent schools are doing.

KCSIE 2025 places clear emphasis on safeguarding, online safety and protecting children from exploitation, abuse and misuse of personal information, but it doesn't prescribe a specific rule for school marketing images. That leaves schools to balance safeguarding, GDPR considerations, parental expectations and the practical reality that independent schools often rely on pupil imagery for admissions and marketing.

I'm particularly interested in what policies and technical measures schools are adopting, detailed in the Poll

Edited June 5 by atfnet

[Danp]

Mostly faces with no names for a long time anyway, if name it was only every first name.

 

Going forward, will be looking at lower res pictures.

[atfnet]

Anyone else got views on this ?

[TechMonkey]

We are in the first stages of this.  We have been first or no names with pictures for a long time, with the added random order if a group photo.  We have low-res images, and ensuring images aren't actually massive just shown as low res on the page. We've done a LIA and have added entries in our risk register covering it. New images are attempting to be far away, over shoulder shots or abstract if possible.

 

Ultimately Marketing has said it would be too much work to not use pupil images due to their catalogue of assets and current campaigns. We are in the mode of minimise risk, but not eliminate it.

 

One concern we have is that if we use AI models, or even the software that subtly adjust the images, there is still a potential reputational risk of those images being used, as they can be associated with the school.

 

It is a very interesting one. How do you celebrate achievements without being able to show the participants or the achievement, especially in the very visual world we live in. How do you market a service without being able to show the 'product'