Taking digital images of my child

The Data Protection (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2017 – Guidance for parents who want to film, photograph or stream school events

We have several events in the school year including school assemblies, Nativity, Sportsday and Open Afternoons, so we would like to take this opportunity to remind you of our policy which applies to all video or audio capture of staff and pupils, both in and out of school.

This policy applies to sporting events, parents’ evenings, plays, assemblies, school trips and any other school event or gathering, whether on school premises or beyond. We appreciate that families will treasure photographic/video memories, and the general rule is that parents and carers may take photos and videos of the children in their care, for personal use only. There may be rare exceptions to this, and we will let you know in advance of particular events where no filming etc. is possible

.

This policy is in place to protect our pupils, respect parent’s wishes and comply with the Data Protection (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2017. With that in mind, we ask you to be mindful of the following:

o   The Data Protection Law does not apply to parents taking photographs or making a video recording for their own private use and does not stop parents taking photographs or making video recordings at school events. However, parents are not permitted to take photographs or to make a video recording for anything other than their own personal use. 

o   Live streaming, whether public or private, cannot be permitted and we request that you do not use any streaming platforms or ‘live’ features (e.g. Facebook Live) to stream events/circumstances as they occur. You may be asked to leave the premises or event if this takes place.

o   When you capture footage or still images of your children, there is a strong possibility that other children will also be visible or audible. For this reason, no such content should be shared publicly, unless you have the consent of the other parents to do so. You may have seen other parents share videos of school plays on social media, but this does not make it advisable or acceptable.

o   Some children are deemed at risk by local authority safeguarding and child protection authorities; their image must never be put online for their own protection. You are very unlikely to know who these children are. Others may have complex family backgrounds which mean that sharing their image could have unforeseen consequence, especially on a small island, such as Guernsey. There is the real possibility you could endanger a child by sharing their image in an identifiable context (e.g. where the school is easy to identify and locate)

o   Some children, parents or carers may not be comfortable with images of themselves or their children being shared, especially not on social media. For example:

• if a child and/or their family have experienced abuse they may worry about the perpetrator tracing them;
• children who choose not to have contact with some members of their family may decide to minimise their online presence;
• families may have religious or cultural reasons for choosing not to be photographed. 
•  

o   Sharing images of children in school uniform helps identify them so should not be done unless avoidable.

o   If you film or record for any purpose other than solely for the purposes of your personal, family or household affairs, your filming or recording may be subject to the Data Protection Law.  If it is, you will need to comply with duties and obligations imposed on data controllers under that Law, (including obtaining consent from other parents whose children may be captured on film). A breach of the Data Protection Law may result in the submission of a complaint to the Data Protection Authority or legal proceedings being brought against you. For more information on the obligations of data controllers, please see the ODPA website: www.odpa.gg

o   Parents and guardians are not permitted to sell videos of a school event.

Where possible, we will take appropriate staged group shots of pupils whose parents/carers have given appropriate photographic permissions and make these available to you. Equally, and again wherever possible, we will ensure there is time for parents to take photographs of their own children for example by approaching the stage after a performance. The same conditions apply here as are stated above.

We encourage young people at our school to think about their online reputation and digital footprint: online photos and videos do not simply disappear when we delete them from our accounts. Help us to be good adult role models by not oversharing.

Should you wish to amend the permissions you currently have in place for the use of your child’s image, please contact the school office who will be happy to help you. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the contents of this letter/consent form, please contact the school or the States of Guernsey Data Protection Team by emailing

data.protection@gov.gg

Thank you for your understanding.

Yours sincerely

 Kim Hutchison

Headteacher