A Practical Guide to Photography in Schools
Photographing students, classrooms and school events for prospectuses, websites and news.
Imogen Clarke
The key figures
- Parental consent
- is normally required for publishing images of minors
- Opt-outs
- some families decline photography
- Identification
- names alongside images raise additional concerns
- School policy
- sets what may be published and where
Why this is worth getting right
Images of children require parental consent, and schools have their own policies about identification and publication.
Do this, not that
Do
- Work from the school's consent records
- Confirm which students may not be photographed
- Avoid publishing names with images unless agreed
- Keep image use within the agreed purposes
- Delete images when consent expires
Don’t
- Photographing without checking consent lists
- Publishing full names with photographs
- Reusing images in unrelated campaigns
- Retaining images indefinitely
When to bring in help
Our advice Bring in help when producing school marketing materials.
Where this comes from
- Federal Trade Commission — Children's privacy
- Federal Trade Commission — Advertising FAQs: A guide for small business
The figures and practices above come from the sources listed.
Working on something like this?
We take on Photography & Product Visuals work for teams who want it done once, properly. Tell us what you are building and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right studio for it. Start a project.
Where to go next
Spotted something wrong? Report an error on this page. We correct on the page and say what changed.
