Not allowed to take a photo of school nativity..

Plans_all_plans

I can't understand why anyone would have photos of their child on facebook?!

sarahlouise210

At my daughters school only people with "permits" are allowed to take photos AND there was a DVD. Now call me bah humbug but I dont want to sit through the DVD of other peoples kids just to see mine fleetingly for a few minutes.... what I want is one photo of her each year "doing her bit" . I am not sure how they could enforce the ruling if I dared to take a photograph of my own child . The ironic thing is someone with a permit could take a picture of my child ..but I cant ! Those "with permits" were told not to upload the photos. The world has gone mad

jackieglasgow

At our school we fill in a form at the start of the year, and if any child in the class' parents have refused permission, we cannot take photos of the kids in that class. If there is anything taken for the press, the school only use children with permission, once when we discussed it at PTA, they explained that for example, they have "looked after" ie fostered children at the school, or children of parents who were the victims of DV and so for their safety they sought permission from all parent to photograph all children, and if there was any risk of a child who was in any way potentially at risk from their picture being seen by someone else, then it was easier to say no to everyone. I accepted this quite happily, and if I were the OP I would let my husband raise his very valid points, especially about them selling pictures of your children without permission.

lindos90

onlyroz wrote: »

I was allowed to take photos at my son's Christmas play - the head stood up and told us so before it started - but she said that we were *not* allowed to put any photos up on (e.g.) Facebook etc. No idea what the actual law is though...

Yep, thats exactly what preschool said last year, 'take photos so you have a nice momento, but please be sensible and dont put them up on facebook' Much more sensible approach.

Personally Ive always limited taking photos to one or two anyway, because I would have thought it would be offputting for the kids to face constant falshes from the audience.

Its more about how the school have gone about it really, (that and the poor quality/out of focus/wobbly dvd they are selling..and if your child was on the far left or right of the stage, they are not even on it anyway!)

bylromarha

The school cannot, categorically, ban you of taking photos of your own child under DP laws. They can ban though on grounds of private property. For a teeny minority of kids, it is a real problem. Some children in hiding from a violent parent have been traced via Facebook.

Where I taught, we were up front about it and ask parents to not take any photos until the end of the performance as

1) the performance was ruined for those sitting further back by those at the front who kept standing to take shots.
2) the kids got very distracted by the continual flashes going off

However, to solve this problem we are recording the show and you can buy it from the PTA for £2.50 per copy. Otherwise, please wait til the end for photos. By doing this, the cameraman ensured the DVD did not include the children through the years that needed that protection.

lindos90

Totally agree with everyone.

Now if the school had said they had decided on a new school policy and didnt want anyone taking photos or recording anything, and then gave valid reasons why not, then begrudgingly I would have agreed (well sort of, I dont really like being told what to do;))

Its the fact they are saying it in a 'we would love you to beable to take photos, but our hands are tied, theres this new law, and we cant allow it any more' kind of way. Thats got up my nose!

The photos ive taken in the past have not been very clear or near anyway:rotfl:, its just having something to remember the day by really.

Its like when parent bring dogs into school, or smoke at school, the management havent got the backbone to have a quiet word with the individuals involved to nip it in the bud, the school just send out a 'gentle reminder about policies' letter to everyone, which is far too subtle, but avoids any 'uncomfortable conversations' directly.

Aparently one member of staff must have been feeling particularly assertive during one of the performances, as when a grandparent, (who had not directly recieved a letter about 'no photos' took a snap, they were asked to leave, and they allegedly asked the person to delete the image from the camera before leaving (dont know how true this is, as I didnt go to that performance, and I dont seem to beable to find out who the person was, to ask them myself!)

Krystaltips

Like Jackie, when DD1 was in Nursery and reception there was a child in foster care in her class, because of this we weren't allowed to take photographs during performances but we could take a photo of our child dressed up at the end if we wanted to. Now that child has moved to a different school there have not been any photo bans in place...

blue_monkey_2

I think it also depends if they have 'looked after' (fostered) children at the school, or those that are living in hiding if the family has fled from an abusive partner. Obviously, they do need to be educated. It would be so easy for the family to be found if their kids were on Facebook for all to see. If someone else videos it, the child/ren can be kept out of shot if need be.

I can understand this but I can understand that it is also frustrating for parents. We have to sign a disclaimer each year too. I can also understand why the school would not be honest as the parents would all be gossiping at the school gates about it. I used to go to playgroup with a lady who fostered and she was not allowed to go near places where the childs family lived in case they saw the child, we had a photographer come to the group from the local paper but pics of that child were not allowed, for example. I guess if those pics (and possibly names) we up in newspapers, websites and on Facebook, the children could be traced and the foster parents harrassed and maybe even threatened.

Who knows.

ETA: Took too long to post. jackie said the same thing.

lindos90

Krystaltips wrote: »

Like Jackie, when DD1 was in Nursery and reception there was a child in foster care in her class, because of this we weren't allowed to take photographs during performances but we could take a photo of our child dressed up at the end if we wanted to. Now that child has moved to a different school there have not been any photo bans in place...

Thats an interesting point, and totally valid if there is a child at risk (witness protection, or mother fleeing a violent partner etc), I can see that. Never eve crossed my mind, so thank you, its a good point.

I doubt the school would beable to confirm that with me though, probably due to their confidentiality policy:).

Also if that is the reason, then surely allowing parents to buy a DVD, where any such child could be seen, would also not be advisible.

GobbledyGook

The school my girls go to do not allow any photographs to be taken during performances as there are number of looked after children and children from a women's dv unit home at the school.

That said, however, the school are very honest that they do not allow it for the protection of some children, however not all of the parents know about the dv unit for example and think it's a piece of nonses. They also add in as well that even if it were not for those children they would not allow it because they have had problems in the past with people interrupting the viewing of the play/performance as they try to get photographs of their child without any consideration for others.

The school themselves take photographs of the children, and occasionally video footage if it can be edited as they need it to be, and sell them onto parents. They don't make profit from it - it just covers the costs.

I'm quite happy with it tbh because I find people have no respect for anyone else when it comes to places like facebook. I have a couple of photographs on there for family abroad to see, but have my privacy settings very high. Other parents in the school seem to just stick photos on without asking first and have zero privacy settings which really annoys me.