Online Safety, Photography & Images Policy

This policy covers how technology is used at the maktab, how we communicate with children and families, and how images of children are taken, stored and shared.

Devices at the maktab

• Children should not use mobile phones during sessions. Phones must be switched off and kept away.
• Staff do not use personal devices to photograph or film children.
• Any maktab device used with children is supervised, and internet access is filtered where provided.
• Children are never left unsupervised with internet-connected devices.

Communication

• All communication with families is through the official maktab number or parent group.
• Staff never contact children directly by personal phone, private message or social media, and do not connect with children or parents on personal accounts.
• Group messages are used for announcements only, and children’s personal details are never shared in them.

Online harm as a safeguarding issue

Staff are alert to online risks including bullying, grooming, sexual exploitation, sharing of nude or semi-nude images, and exposure to extremist or harmful content. Any disclosure or concern is reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead the same day. Staff never view, copy or share a suspected indecent image of a child; they report it immediately and the DSL contacts the police.

Photography and images

• Photographs of children are only taken with the written consent of the parent, given at registration and renewable or withdrawable at any time.
• Consent specifies how the image may be used — internal records only, parent group, or public/website use.
• Images are taken on maktab-approved devices only, never personal phones.
• Images are stored securely, kept only as long as needed, and deleted when consent is withdrawn or the child leaves.
• Children’s full names are never published alongside their photograph.
• Children are always appropriately dressed in any image, and we do not publish images of a child whose parent has not consented.

Parents taking photographs

At any maktab event, parents may photograph their own child but are asked not to photograph other children and not to post images of other people’s children on social media.

Reporting concerns

Concerns about an image, a message or online behaviour should be reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead. Criminal content is reported to the police, and illegal images can be reported to the Internet Watch Foundation.