Should you require more information about this or any other policies
please contact the Principal at
principal@westeyreton.school.nz

School Policy Index

Procedures for the
Online Publication of
Students Images and Work

 

These procedures have been put in place to ensure that the children's rights of privacy in their personal information (including their personal images) and property rights (copyright) in their schoolwork are protected.

The school uses a range of learning technologies to enhance student learning. These include electronic mail (email) and the Internet. From time to time, we publish on the school’s Internet website http://www.chch.school.nz/westeyreton material for educational purposes, to share the results of learning within the school community, and to promote the school within the wider community. This may include examples of students’ schoolwork and images of students and groups of students in activities at the school. Images of students may include scanned, digital, or video images of them taking part in school or class activities.

There are three main reasons the school publishes student material online:

  • to educate the student in accordance with the national curriculum, including on the role and use of technology in society;

  • to encourage the student to be part of and participate in the school community;

  • to promote the school in the wider community.

Guideline 1:
The school will publish the material only on its own website (www.chch.school.nz/westeyreton/ ) and New Zealand based websites endorsed by the Ministry of Education, such as the Ministry of Education’s website The Online Learning Centre – Te Kete Ipurangi (www.tki.org.nz). The school may also recommend that student work, or the whole school website, be available through Te Kete Ipurangi. Note: This does not happen at present, but is a possibility in the future.

Guideline 2:
The student material published by the school online, will be for one of the following purposes:

  • to educate the student in accordance with the national curriculum, including the role and use of technology in society;

  • to encourage the student to be part of and participate in the school community;

  • to promote the school in the wider community.

Privacy and online publishing

Parents and students should be aware that the school cannot control who has access to the information published on its Internet website or the other websites mentioned. In recognition of this, the school takes steps to safeguard the privacy of the students and to comply with the Privacy Act 1993.

Guideline 3:
The school acknowledges that it cannot control who accesses the websites on which students’ images or material is published or the copying, by visitors to these websites, of images of the students and their work.

Guideline 4:
The school will identify students on the websites only by their first name and year at school. Students’ surnames, home addresses, and telephone numbers will not be available on the websites.

 

Copyright and online publishing

The school also publishes original material that students create at school, including artwork, such as drawings and paintings, as well as stories, poems, and other literary work. Original material created by students attracts protection under the Copyright Act 1994. The students own the copyright in their own artistic and literary works. Given the age of the students, the school has decided that it will not publish online any image of a student or work they have produced without the written permission of each student’s legal guardians.

Guideline 5:
The school will not publish a student’s image or work without written authorisation from the student’s legal guardians. The school will immediately remove all material relating to a student from its website if requested by a legal guardian of the student and, in any event, once the student leaves the school permanently.

 

Permission sought by the school

The permission the school seeks is:

  • authorisation to publish the student’s personal image or work online as required by the Privacy Act, and

  • a licence to publish any copyright work of the student online.

Guideline 6:
Consent for the online publication of a student's image or work, will be sought for each student upon enrolment or, for students already enrolled, when the issue of publication first arises for that student. The Principal shall ensure a data base of such consent is kept in the office and made available to teachers.

 

School management of online publishing

The school will set the educational purpose for publishing students’ work online. A student’s image and schoolwork may be chosen for online publication if it meets this purpose and if the school holds the consent of the parent to publish the student’s material online. The material chosen must also meet the standards required for the website on which it is to be published. For example, if the student’s schoolwork is to be published on the school website, it must not: defame anyone, be objectionable from a human rights point of view, be obscene, or infringe the copyright of third parties (for example, the work must not contain substantial portions of another person’s copyright material without permission). If the material is to be published on another website, such as The Online Learning Centre – Te Kete Ipurangi, then it must meet the publishing standards of that website.

Guideline 7:
The school will not publish material online that may defame anyone, be objectionable from a human rights point of view, be obscene, or infringe the copyright of third parties. All the student material published online will be subject to an editing process, which will include the correction of spelling and grammatical errors. All material will be evaluated by the teacher with ICT responsibility before being published online.

 

Enquiries

The school welcomes any enquiry from parents or students about the operation of these procedures.

Guideline 8:
The principal is designated as privacy officer and is available to answer any enquiries from parents or students about the operation of the school’s procedures for the online publication of student images and work.

 

Disputes

The school has a procedure to resolve complaints or other disputes. This procedure is contained in the Parents Concern Procedures.

 

Page updated May 6th 2006