Written by Russell Langley, External Engagement Director
It doesn’t take long trawling the websites and scrolling through the social media channels of independent schools to see the preferred tactic of choice when it comes to promoting themselves. Thriving children, happy in their school environment, is exactly the image all schools want to show and all prospective parents want to see.
But, in feeding these expectations, are we inadvertently putting our pupils at risk?
In February 2025, the Home Office announced that the UK had become “the first country in the world to create new AI sexual abuse offences to protect children from predators generating AI images.” This came off the back of data from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) which showed a 380% annual increase in reports showing AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
This was shortly followed by the Independent Schools Bursars’ Association (ISBA) issuing new guidelines on ‘Taking, Storing and Using Images of Children Policy’, focused primarily on the issue of parental and, depending on their age, child consent for the use of images in marketing materials.
With my work hat on, gaining consent from parents for all digital image use would enable us to carry on as we were in terms of our marketing of the Foundation’s schools. Other than the additional administrative effort, it would be easy to implement. But would it be right? We can carry on sharing up close-up, full-face images of our amazing pupils on our website and social media channels as they showcase our schools brilliantly. However, it is this sort of imagery that plays into the hands of those looking to use and manipulate child images for their own gain.
Marketing our schools in the best possible way is a key part of my job, so on the face of it this all creates a bit of a dilemma. Indeed, this has been the cause of much discussion across the sector, with schools needing to decide for themselves how best to approach the challenge with the guidance from ISBA being just that – guidance, rather than legislation.
However, as a father of a teenage boy and a governor at a local primary school with more than its fair share of vulnerable children, it wasn’t a dilemma to dwell on for very long. Working with Marketing colleagues and the Foundation’s Data Protection Officer, a set of recommendations were developed for Executive approval ready to roll-out over the Autumn term. This includes minimising the use of close-up, full-face digital images, and never without explicit consent; the removal of all metadata from images prior to use; and the rationalisation of Foundation social media accounts.
For our Marketing team, this has been a creative challenge to embrace. Fresh thinking about our approach to photography and videography has been supplemented by the introduction of more varied visuals including illustrations and iconography. The launch of our new suite of websites last week has set a strong marker in this new phase of our visual identity, one which we look forward to continuing to explore and evolve in the months to come.
As I stated in a letter to parents last week informing them of the changes we have decided to implement: “The safeguarding of our pupils, your children, is something we will not compromise… Celebrating pupils’ achievements is incredibly important to us. We share your pride in their brilliance. We will continue to do this, but in a safe and responsible way.”
For independent schools, the challenge now is not simply compliance with guidelines but leadership in safeguarding. The sector has an opportunity to demonstrate that we are alive to the risks posed by rapidly evolving technologies – and proactive in protecting children from them. It is an opportunity we are happy to embrace.
