What expertise is there in ensuring best practice for data protection and safeguarding?
We are committed to ensuring that the project team meets (and exceeds) compliance best practice and we have designed the project to ensure compliance with data protection and safeguarding laws.
Project staff have received training on these issues and relevant staff visiting school are enhanced DBS cleared. They are visitors to the school (in accordance with the Keeping Children Safe in Education document) and will not be responsible for supervising children. As the class teacher will be present, children will not be left unsupervised with any project staff.
All of the paperwork for the project and protocols we are using are designed to ensure we comply with data protection laws, including the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. The consent forms we are using have been reviewed by the law firm Farrer & Co, regarded across the legal industry as the leader in the education sector.
We have worked closely with the NSPCC, during summer 2018, to ensure all matters of safeguarding and child protection are reflected in the written project protocols and project information.
How will schools obtain consent for children to be in the Class Photograph?
We will only include pupils in the Class Photograph if their parents or carers have agreed for them to take part. We provide schools with a template Parent / Carer Consent Form to send to parents explaining the project and asking for consent. These is downloadable from the project website and each school will be responsible for sending out and collating consent forms from pupils. Translations into commonly spoken languages in London are available on the website.
After schools have received the consent forms back, the headteacher then completes the overarching School Agreement, confirming the school’s agreement to participate in the project. This form will confirm that the school has obtained consent from the pupils who are able to participate in the Class Photograph.
Class teachers will need to try and chase up as many as possible, as only those pupils with a signed consent form will be able to be photographed (verbal consent is not sufficient). We appreciate this can take a lot of effort but hope schools will agree it will be worth it to have as many pupils as possible participate in the photograph on the day and be part of this landmark artwork. We are unable to offer reshoots, so please do remind pupils to return their consent forms and check parents have completed them correctly to avoid anyone being disappointed at missing out.
We already ask parents and carers to consent to images being used in school publications. Do we have to use the Tate Year 3 Project consent forms?
Yes. We appreciate you will have your own consent processes for images taken in school for school publications (e.g. website, newsletter), but for the purposes of the Tate Year 3 Project, we need you to use our forms. The wording of the Tate Year 3 Project consent forms was reviewed by the law firm Farrer & Co, regarded across the legal industry as the leader in the education sector.
Are translations of the parent/carer consent form available?
Yes, translations into Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Somali, Tamil, Turkish, Urdu are available to download from the website.
Does the photographer/Tate/A New Direction need to see the signed consent forms?
No. The parent/carer and staff consent forms contain personal data and need to be stored securely at school for the duration of the project. The only form shared with Tate and A New Direction is the School Agreement Form which must be uploaded to the website at least a week before the school’s booked photography session. Without it, the session will not be able to go ahead.
What else should my school consider?
As well as consent forms from parents or carers, schools should consider the appropriateness of children being included in the photograph where there are increased risks of pupil identification of, and contact with, a child:
- by someone in circumstances where there are legal restrictions – such as if the child is in local authority care or placed with an adoptive family
- where it’s potentially dangerous to reveal the child’s whereabouts to an estranged parent due to previous concerns about domestic violence or sexual abuse or acrimonious parental separation
Your school might discuss this issue with the relevant parents/carers involved rather than exclude those children from being involved. Children who cannot be in the Class Photo can still take part in the photography session discussions and activities.
What measures will the project take to avoid pupils being identified in the exhibition?
Other than the photograph of the pupil in the Class Photograph, no pupil data including pupil names will be attached to any element of the exhibition or be passed to the Project Team. In fact, it is anticipated that there will be tens of thousands of photographs of pupils within the exhibition itself and each photograph will be identified by school name only. This means that the chances of any child being inappropriately identified solely because their Class Photograph appears in the exhibition are very small indeed. There will be no digital element of the Class Photography on the project website.
Can I see the Tate Year 3 Project safeguarding documentation?
As part of the registration process for the project, your school can request the Project Code of Conduct and Safeguarding Policy and reporting procedures that the workshop and photography team are expected to adhere to.
Have the Tate Year 3 Photographers had DBS checks?
Yes. All Tate Year 3 Photographers have enhanced DBS clearance as part of the Tate Safer Recruitment processes. They always carry Tate photo ID with them that’s visible. They are visitors to the school and ask they be treated as such in accordance with the statutory guidance from the DfE in Keeping Children Safe in Education 2018 .
Please note, the photographers are not workshop facilitators or responsible for pupils at any time in school. Class teachers will need to be present throughout their class session.
Can school staff see or photocopy a Tate Year 3 Photographer’s DBS certificate when they visit?
All Tate Year 3 Photographers have enhanced DBS clearance as part of the Tate Safer Recruitment processes. They always carry Tate photo ID with them that’s visible. They are visitors to the school and ask they be treated as such in accordance with the statutory guidance from the DfE in Keeping Children Safe in Education 2018 .
‘Schools and colleges do not have the power to … ask to see DBS certificates, for visitors.’ (see page 49).
Please note, the photographers are not workshop facilitators or responsible for pupils at any time in school. Class teachers will need to be present throughout their class session.
What should I do if I have further questions?
Please do contact the project team direct at any point: year3@anewdirection.org.uk and we’ll be more than happy to support with further discussion.
Once your school has registered for the photographer visit you will also be in direct contact with the Schools Relationship Team at A New Direction for the project.