Data, consent, and photos

What is personal data?

Personal data is anything that allows one person to know who another person is.

Consent: when the law says we need it

There are some things we can do with Personal Data without asking for consent.

There are some things we can do because we have a contract with you.

There are other things which we can only do with your consent.

Examples where the law says we WILL NOT need your consent:

We take photos of your child to record their learning. We stick these photos in their Special Book. This is part of how we track their learning. It's called a public task: it lets us do our job as a school.
Sometimes we have a concern about a child's safety. We can share our concerns with people or agencies who will support the child without getting consent in these situations:
- It's not possible to gain consent.
- It can't be reasonably expected that we would gain consent.
- Gaining consent would itself place the child at risk.
We send data to the Department for Education. We have a legal obligation to do this: we must.

Examples where the law says we WILL need your consent:

to put photos of your child where anyone might see them. This could be on the classroom wall or on their name card.
to post a photo or video of your child on Class Dojo. Class Dojo is a password-protected learning platform. We use it to extend learning outside the school. Only current families and staff can access it.
to use your child’s photo to advertise the schools or to show our work. This could be on the school website, on leaflets, or when we train other settings.

We ask all new parents/carers for consent for the things we do often. We ask again when something unusual happens.

At any time you can:

change your mind about what you have consented to
ask to see any photos we have taken

To do this, please email the school.

Photos in particular

Photos we take in school

We check your child is happy. We only take photos when they are OK with it at the time.
We only take images of children in suitable dress.
When we display children's photos, we only use their first name. This happens on their name card. It helps them learn to read their name. Most of the time we don't label photos with names at all.
When we save photos, we don't include names. This stops us sharing names linked to photos by accident.
Staff must not take photos or videos on their own phones.

Photos you take

At some events, we say you can take photos or videos. BUT:

Your child wants to see you looking at them, not at your phone.
The British Psychological Society says you remember things better by watching them.

Why not take photos of them before or after the show? This also helps you avoid taking photos of other children.

You must not share photos of other children:

There may be cultural reasons why sharing photos is not OK. There may be legal reasons why it would put a child in danger.
Legally, you need formal consent from the parents/carers of each child to do this.
Photos and videos don't disappear when we delete them. Be good role models: don't overshare. Don't store up embarrassment for your future teenage child.

Live-streaming, public or private, is never allowed in school. We may ask people who stream events to leave the premises.

Taking care of other personal data in school

Our privacy notice lists the laws that let us handle personal data:

with consent
without consent
how we keep data safe.

Read the full Online Safety Policy on the Our policies page. It tells you even more about online safety in our schools. You can also read other relevant policies, e.g. Safeguarding or Behaviour, there.

vodafone_digital_parenting.pdf