How long does consent last?
It is important to get consent from the parent, guardian or carer of a child or young person up to the age of 12 (this is called 'parental consent'). After the age of 12 the child can give consent themselves if they are deemed able to fully understand the issue. If it is not felt that they have sufficient understanding then parental consent should be obtained.

If you intend to obtain consent from the pupil (aged 12+) then it is recommended that you inform the parents that you intend to do this and suggest that they may wish to discuss this with their child.

It is recommended that you renew the consent form each year. You will have to be careful to record any changed circumstances. This will be easier if you keep photographs and signed consent forms together.

Don't forget that you also need consent from teachers and any other adults who may appear in the photograph or video, not just the children. A sample consent form for adults can be found at Appendix A.

You should not re-use photographs after a child (or teacher) appearing in them leaves the school, so we recommend you destroy them immediately.

Can I use existing photographs?
You may have photographs on file. If you are re-using older photographs where you obtained consent but probably only for paper publications, we recommend that you renew parental consent to use the images on your website.

If you never obtained consent, i.e. you had the photos before the Act came into force, you must apply common sense when using them. For example, never use a picture of an untraceable person, or a child that does not have special educational needs on a leaflet about special educational needs. To help you make a balanced decision when re-using photographs, it may be helpful to consider the following:

• For what purpose was the photograph originally taken, e.g. was it taken for a specific project such as your school prospectus?
• Where was the photograph taken, e.g. was it taken in a public place such as on a school trip to a museum?
• When was it taken, e.g. was it taken recently or a long time ago?

As a general rule you should not use photographs of children for which you do not have permission, or after they have left the school.

What else should I think about?
Occasionally, members of the press may take photographs or film footage at your school. For example, the mayor recently visited a school and the local press took photographs of the mayor surrounded by pupils. Although the press can claim exemption from the Data Protection Act for journalistic work (section 32), some parents may object to their children appearing in the media. Therefore, we have included this option on the consent form for schools.

Remember to include images of children from different ethnic communities in your communications whenever possible, and to use positive images of disabled children. This will ensure that your photographs are inclusive of the whole community and comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.

Only use images of pupils in suitable dress, to reduce the risk of the images being used inappropriately. For example, don't use photographs of children in swimming costumes.
You will also need to be aware of copyright implications with any photographs that you may use from elsewhere.

Websites
Due to recent negative press on photographs of children on websites, we have decided to take our lead from the Department for Education and Skills' Superhighway Safety Website at www.safety.ngfl.gov.uk/schools. This website contains lots of useful information for schools that use the Internet or have their own website.

We recommend that school websites avoid using:

• Personal details or full names (first name and surname) of any child or adult in a photograph, although first names can be used in some circumstances
• Personal e-mail or postal addresses, and telephone or fax numbers.

If you use a photograph of an individual pupil, don't include that child's first name in the accompanying text or photo caption. If a pupil is named in the text, don't include a photograph of that child. This will avoid the risk of inappropriate and unwelcome attention from people outside the school.

As an alternative, you could ask pupils to draw a picture of a pupil or member of staff for your website.

Additionally, you can use group or class photographs with very general labels such as "a science lesson" or "making Christmas decorations".

School prospectuses and other literature.
Although most school literature is sent to a very specific audience, it would be best to avoid using personal details or full names of any child in a photograph. Also avoid naming a child in the text or accompanying photo caption if they appear in a photograph - and vice versa.

Videos
Before any children or young people up to the age of 12 can appear in your video, you must get parental consent. You can do this in the same way as for photographs of children, using the relevant parental consent form. After the age of 12 the child can give consent themselves if they are deemed to fully understand the issue. If it is not felt that they have sufficient understanding then parental consent should be obtained.

If you intend to obtain consent from the pupil (12+) then it is recommended that you inform the parents that you intend to do this and suggest that they may wish to discuss this with their child.

You must get the permission of anyone in your video that is not part of a crowd and is easily recognisable.

The question arises as to whether parents can make video recordings of nativity plays and similar school events. Yes they can because there is an exemption under the Act for personal and domestic purposes. The School should inform parents who wish to do so that they should be for personal and domestic use and no other use. This should be done before the event and parents who object to their child being in a school play, which may be videoed, should express their preference when such a production is proposed.

Webcams
The regulations for using webcams are similar to those for CCTV (closed-circuit television). This means that the area in which you are using the webcam must be well signposted and people must know that the webcam is there before they enter that area. In effect, this means you are getting their consent. As with photographs, you must tell the person:

• Why the webcam is there
• What you will use the images for, and
• Who might want to look at the pictures.

MMS phones
Multi media messaging service mobile phones can take and transmit images, which may be personal data. Schools should consider banning the use of such phones particularly in situations where children are not fully dressed - changing rooms etc.

Getting consent
As mentioned above, it is important to get parental consent when a child starts at your school and to renew that consent every year. Once the consent form has been signed, you should keep it on file. You will also need to get consent from the teachers, if you wish to use their images too. The consent form must make it clear that you could use the photographs on your school website, as well as in printed publications for promotional purposes.

For example, you could ask:

• May we use your child's photograph in the school prospectus and other printed publications that we produce for promotional purposes?
• May we use your child's photograph on our school website?

It is important that you make it clear that websites can be seen throughout the world and not just in the United Kingdom, where UK law applies.

There is one sample consent form for schools - see Appendix A. It covers the whole period that a child attends that school. You will find the conditions of use for the photographs on the back of the consent form.