Policies for Student Photography usage

At present our school doesn't have a clause in our enrolment forms that allows us to share and use photography of our students.

I found that out last week when looking for a model form as I was wanting to send pictures of our pacific island dance group to our local newspaper as a follow up from the competition.

What I've since been in the process of doing is looking for a form with our ICT DP's permission that will have all the necessary information and be adaptable enough so that we can make it apply to our school.

After much searching and wading through Netsafe's cybersafety and digital citizenship kit for schools - I was sent this document by Netsafe. 

It's a basic model form for photography use but it needs simplifying and also a few more clauses added in for our school.

Some of my thoughts at the moment (6.21am):

• needs student permission as well as whanau signatures
• needs a school-wide look over so that a good policy is thrashed out and talked about so that we all know it's needed plus give suggestions on developing it further
• thoughts from our most recent Thank-you Thursday recipient - needs to be as a clause in the enrolment form that if they're in a sports team then it's part and parcel of being in that team... 
• having team and action photography that is used by the school must be allowed as it is part of our school profile and shows off all the great extra curricular activities and opportunities we do and provide.
• thoughts from our resident nomadic colleague - needs to also have a clause where they've ok'd being filmed through security cameras at school and also cameras in class for assessment, safety, behavioural reflection, professional development and student reflection purposes
• needs to be sent out as a letter to all our whanau and brought back, checked for permission, added to a database, and if not given permission, the parents should be talked to (rung, brought in) so that we can try to sway their thoughts as we'd like to showcase how amazing their students are. This could be done by houses and htg classes to ensure it is manageable
• After schoolwide has done this, we can then put a smaller clause with conditions on another page into our enrolment form.

This policy is incredibly important that it be made and put into action for a few reasons:

• Student safety and well-being. Students need to become more aware of photo use and that they should give permission for photos taken of them and made aware of where that photo is going to be used.
• Teacher safety. Teachers may use photos and filming of assessment for marking, moderation, reflection and professional development, registration, as part of our evidence of the registration criteria, and for class purposes - through edmodo, google+ communities etc
• Community and whanau safety. Knowledge that when they see their child in the newspaper, they've consented to it and know that they're portraying our school values of being wise enough to give permission and know the power of it, honourable enough to continue to teach their children  to uphold our schools mana and whanau mana in the photo, show heights and success through efforts on the field, stage, in the classroom etc.. 
• School safety. So that if we were pulled up for photography use, we'd have solid policies backing us up - showing that we've thought through the safety issues for all involved and that we're aware of the dangers and risks as a result.

Once we've got permission then we as a school are safe, our students and whanau are safe... and I can then send photos of our amazing PI dance group photos to our local paper... and in the future we can all feel able (although still needing to tell our students that we're doing it) to showcase our schools talent and culture.

Any other suggestions for changes are hugely appreciated. Please email them to me! :)

Below is the Google Form I created... Please give your thoughts - even if you aren't from our school! :)




Thanks in advance,

Alex
@ariaporo22