The do’s and don’ts of sharing photos from summer holiday clubs

Photos from your church’s holiday club are likely to be some of the most youthful, colourful, and energetic that you will take all year and as such are great publicity for your church.  Sharing photographs of children doesn’t mean pixelating their faces or just showing the backs of their heads.  As long as you make sure you have the relevant permissions in place, sharing these photos on your church’s social media accounts and website will show people a fun, family-friendly and welcoming face to your church.

If you’re concerned about the rules and regulations surrounding sharing photographs of children on your website and social media, here are some reminders:

DO

• Ask the parent/guardian of every child coming to your Summer Holiday Club to sign a consent form for photos of their child to be used on your website, social media and/or publicity materials.  This doesn’t have to be a separate form – the easiest way is to include photography consent as a tick box on the main sign up form.
• Keep handy during the week a list of those children you do and don’t have permission to use photographs of, so that you can make 100% sure that you only share photos you are allowed to use. Delete any of children whose photo can’t be used.
• Ideally have one allocated person whose job is to take photos and can edit and collate these.  They don’t have to be a professional photographer or have expensive camera equipment – mobile phone photos are ideal for sharing online, and can be brightened, straightened and cropped quickly and easily with free apps like these
• Take lots of photos throughout the week – parents/carers will love seeing what the children got up to, as will the rest of the congregation who aren’t directly involved in your holiday club.
• Upload photos to your parish’s social media accounts and website as soon as you can – at the end of each day would be ideal.
• Tag or mention the Diocese of St Albans and the Church of England in your photos on social media so we can share them too.

DON’T

• Never identify children by name in the photos you use online.  Even if you have permission to share their photo, including their first name is a safeguarding issue.
• Don’t wait until after your Holiday Club has finished to try to get parental permission to use photographs – it will become a huge administrative burden as everyone is heading off on holidays.