Photo Consent
Consent to use photographs and images online and in school publications
We are proud of the many achievements of our students at St Mary’s Hare Park School and there are many activities and events for our students to get involved in. You will have seen that we often use photos of students on our website, on social media and in our school prospectus material to give people a flavour of school life at St Mary’s Hare Park, to keep the school community informed about what our students do and to celebrate achievements. We also sometimes publish photos of students in our school newsletter and on our Google Classrooms. In this digital age, many members of our school community use social media to stay connected with what is happening in school and, for those who don’t use social media, the website is an important communication tool which showcases what we do.
At St Mary’s Hare Park School, we take all matters relating to child safety very seriously. This includes the use of images of pupils. Photographs and videos can be motivating for the pupils involved, provide a good opportunity to promote the work of the school and are invaluable tools for professional training. However, schools have a duty of care towards pupils, which means that pupils must remain unidentifiable, reducing the risk of possible inappropriate contact.
Under data protection law, we need the consent of parents/carers to use photographs or video images of students in this way usually until students reach the age of 13.
There is no obligation on you to give consent and if you choose not to give consent for some or all of the options on the consent form, we will ensure that your child's photo or a video is not used for those purposes if your child can be identified from it. It may be helpful to inform your child if you decide not to give consent for any of the options below. In some cases, we may take group photos of students and we may publish a photograph if we are satisfied that individual students cannot be identified from the image.
St Mary’s Hare Park School follows these rules:
- Where media can be accessed externally, for example the school website, school newsletters and the school’s social media pages:
- o if the pupil is named, we avoid using their photograph;
- o and if their photograph is used, we avoid naming the pupil.
- Where showcasing examples of pupils work with accompanying photographs around the school, we will use only a child’s first name.
- If showcasing video work to an external audience (for example our recent TVE environmental documentaries made by our Year 5&6 classes), we take care to ensure that pupils’ images and names aren’t linked on the video, and that pupils’ full names aren't given in any credits at the end of the film.
- We would only ever use images of pupils in suitable dress.
- Staff are not allowed to take photographs or videos of pupils on their personal equipment.
Please note that there are likely to be circumstances when we may use your child's photograph for other purposes connected with the school, where we do not require your consent because there is another legal reason, which permits us to use photos or images of your child. For example, we keep a copy of the official school photo on our database (ISAMS) so that we can correctly identify students.
We would like your consent to take photographs, films and other digital images of your children and to use them in the sorts of ways described above. If you are not happy for us to do this, we will accommodate your preferences.
Please complete the Photo consent form by clicking on this link.
You may also change your mind at any time in the future by emailing office@stmarysharepark.co.uk or telephoning 01708 761220, or coming in person to the school offices.
Your consent is valid for the period your child attends this school. Any amendments will be communicated to all families and permission renewed. If you have given appropriate consent, some images of your child may be used after this time in publicity material and on the school website. If you wish these images to be withdrawn after your child leaves the school, please contact us in writing.