It is Panto season after all !!!

Well it is our daughters nativity play soon, I think you know what is coming next!

Parents are not allowed to take photographs or video during the performance, if you wish to photograph your child, you can make arrangements to do so in a separate room.

What annoys me is that as parents we had to sign disclaimers saying it was OK for the school take image your child.

Also the previous year in the nursery, video and photography was allowed.

What is the inference here if there is one at all?

DavidBloor said:

Well it is our daughters nativity play soon, I think you know what is coming next!

Parents are not allowed to take photographs or video during the performance, if you wish to photograph your child, you can make arrangements to do so in a separate room.

What annoys me is that as parents we had to sign disclaimers saying it was OK for the school take image your child.

Also the previous year in the nursery, video and photography was allowed.

What is the inference here if there is one at all?

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Hi & Welcome to TP David!

Personally, I would assume this is result of pedophile paranoia maybe.
My Mom is and has been a head teacher for nearly 35 years and some of the things she has had to endure at work and the stories she's told me has literally made me sick to my stomach.
Schools have such pityful budgets and funding these day's coupled with the intense investigations by over zealous bureaucracy, I can understand where the school's are coming from and why they seem to be overly cautious and paranoid.

It's a shame really.

T.

It seems it is down to the school and the LEA policy (if they have one). There can also be restrictions on the individual production (sets, costumes etc may be copyright the creator). In broad terms there are no restrictions that the school must follow other than protecting children who may be on a 'Child Protection Register'.

I would suggest writing to the head and ask for the reasons they restrict photography. Raising it at the next PTA is also an option. You may find that it is a misinterpretation of the LEA guidelines.

I know of schools that have exclusive contracts with photographers. There are also issues with parents who are photographing/videoing interfering with other parents enjoyment/view (this is easily resolved by having an area for those who wish to photograph).

It is in my view just another example of an interfering and over cautious culture that has been promoted by scaremongering media and a 'protect the child' hysteria which seems to be running amok. They are effectively taking away the innocence of childhood and our children's right to have records of the memorable moments of their childhoods.

Take your child to another room??? If I want a picture of my child in another room I can do that at home. The whole point of a photograph at these events is to capture a moment in the context of the event.

You may have gathered that it really does annoy me when I am told I cannot take pictures of my own children

John

jpwone said:

It is in my view just another example of an interfering and over cautious culture that has been promoted by scaremongering media and a 'protect the child' hysteria which seems to be running amok. They are effectively taking away the innocence of childhood and our children's right to have records of the memorable moments of their childhoods.

Take your child to another room??? If I want a picture of my child in another room I can do that at home. The whole point of a photograph at these events is to capture a moment in the context of the event.

You may have gathered that it really does annoy me when I am told I cannot take pictures of my own children

John

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Excellent way of putting it John.

I making assumptions here but if I were to ask why I guess it would come down to child protection, I am also guessing that they would have no issue with me taking pictures but they have to be careful, I am also guessing that if every other parent asked about taking images they would also be told that it would be ok but they "have to be careful"

If this was the case then surely there is no reason to be careful !!

David, I had exactly that at a football session my son used to attend. Was informed that there was a 'no photography' policy. Pointed out that we were in fact on a public ground and regardless of whether I was a parent or not I could take pictures if I wanted. Was then told that they would need the permission of every parent to 'cover themselves'. Myself and another parent then went around and asked every other parent. Everybody agreed that we could take pictures if we wanted. The organiser then told us that if we took any pictures he was calling the police!! I did ask him what he was going to say.

"Hello police? We have a bit of a problem here. We have a parent trying to take pictures of his child. No,no, everybody clothed, in fact its quite cold so we are all in tracksuits and coats. Yes, that's right on the public playing fields. No, no-one objecting. Sorry??? You mean parents really can take pictures of their children and there's nothing I can do about it? Aren't you going to come and arrest him?"

my wife owns a dance school, and at the presentation days she does everyone entering the hall has to sign a disclaimer issue by her national association,if they are taking photos etc, also at competitions there is no photography or videoing( if that is a word) allowed. All to do with child protection, advice was taken from the police, so i`m led to believe. it is very sad that we are not able to record child hood memories to look back on in years to come, i know my parents have loads of embarrassing photos of me.(no they will not turn up on here.)

It's crazy isn't it, anyone would think that hundreds of pedophiles live in every dark corner, around every turn and in every neighborhood. It's ridiculous.

Parents should be able to take photo's of their kids. No questions asked!

Saying that though if there were a real threat of a pedophile then you can guarantee that if anything bad happened the first blame would fall on the school and it's staff.

People need to blame somebody. It's sad but very true.
One of the latest stories that my Mom told me was that a child had been playing about on a wall on School property after school hours, waiting for his parents to collect him, the child fell and hurt themselves while jumping off the wall.
The parents later stormed into my Mom's office being extremely abusive, threatening and violent with their complaints.
Day's later a lawsuit is filed and months later, they very nearly win. The stress and anxiety caused to my Mom and her staff was unimaginable.

The area the school is in is very poor, a lot of the parents are well below the minimum wage line and the cases of child abuse, alcoholism with parents and drug use are through the roof.

The amount of similar stories are in abundance, parents attempting to sue the school etc. Not to mention the poor kids, they have so many behavior issues, my Mom came home with two black eyes and a split lip a few years ago.

Media has more than it's fair share of cause and effect, it makes me so angry!
You'll notice that more or less every five minutes during TV commercial breaks
'Injury lawyers for you, have you suffered an accident that wasn't your fault? Has anyone in your family been hurt at work recently blah blah'

Slowly but surely the UK is becoming more and more Americanised, the paranoia, the stupidity, shameful education, the ignorance and the law suits.

No one does anything about it either, they only make things worse and worse each year round.

karate-ka said:

my wife owns a dance school, and at the presentation days she does everyone entering the hall has to sign a disclaimer issue by her national association,if they are taking photos etc, also at competitions there is no photography or videoing( if that is a word) allowed. All to do with child protection, advice was taken from the police, so i`m led to believe. it is very sad that we are not able to record child hood memories to look back on in years to come, i know my parents have loads of embarrassing photos of me.(no they will not turn up on here.)

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At our karate federations competitions, same applies, all photographers and videos have to fill in a form to cover the child protection side of matters. Other federations have their own rules, such as CRB checks being required, but its all down to governing bodies and covering their own behinds, as it were.


As for signing a disclaimer for teh school to take pics, a couple of points. Firstly, it may have been part of the data protection act, if the school is keeping personal data against a picture of the child. [the DPA does NOT apply to parents photographing the kids at nativity plays, sports day, etc, its only relevant where personal information can be married with the image and is stored]. Also, the school will be aware of any children that fall into the 'at risk' category and can therefore be selective of who they photograph, plus it gives parent sthe right to say no to their kids being pictured [though apart from a few obvious examples of reasons not to, such as maybe a mother that has escapred an abusive partner not wanting her location found by a photo of the child turning up in the local rag, I can't see why any parent would have a reason to say no]. One more thing of course, some religions do not approve of photographs, though this is possibly a moot ppoint in the case of a nativity play


So, that devils advocate....but frankly, it sucks from the rafters! They witter on about human rights, well as far as I am concerned, isn't it my childs human rights to be allowed to have photographic memories of their childhood achievements and experiences? Lets ALL praise the Daily Mail :bang:

I would ask for the reasons why. I suspect you'll be given a load of nonsense as a cover up for what is nothing more than people covering their own backs.

The ICO specifically published a document that said the DPA didn't apply to school plays/productions after all this kicked off a couple of years back.

I bet come the night there'll be plenty of parents taking snaps and video with their mobiles anyway...

pxl8 said:

I would ask for the reasons why. I suspect you'll be given a load of nonsense as a cover up for what is nothing more than people covering their own backs.

The ICO specifically published a document that said the DPA didn't apply to school plays/productions after all this kicked off a couple of years back.

I bet come the night there'll be plenty of parents taking snaps and video with their mobiles anyway...

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Doesn't really say why though. I think one valid reason not to have parents shooting events like this is when it distracts the kids because parents are waving or even calling names to get the kids to look at them for a shot, etc. I've seen that happen before and it does kind of ruin it for everyone.

At my childs school you are allowed to take photos during their play. However - they ask that you restrict photos to your child only. Plus the photos are for your own use and are not to be published in any form or manner.

Not sure how they expect to regulate this ? Check everyone's camera before they leave ?

And once you have the photo of YOUR child how can they possibly stop you putting it on a social network site for the rest of the family to look at ?

Its PC gone mad !!!!!

"It is Panto season after all !!!"

OH No It Isn't......

Sorry couldn't resist and is probably out of order...sorry

when you are allowed to photograph your kids how many other kids are in the background anyway, so this child protection milaky seems pointless( wrong choice of words but all i could think of, so appologies in advance.)

I haven't had this problem with my childrens schools or playgroups, thankfully and we have been able to take photos of or girls performances.
I have to admit though that at my eldest daughters school play it felt like the pap had come down, there were so many flashs going off all through the performance it started to spoil my enjoyment of the play.
Alex