Incident Description

A year 12 (age 17) boy has been accused by two students of taking a photograph of another student on the toilet. The image was taken over the top of a cubicle as the student sat on the toilet.

It has been widely shared on social media. The alleged victim is a boy of the same age but with additional needs and an EHCP.

Guidance for Safeguarding Response

• DSL in school completed initial fact-finding exercise checking for any evidence first, witnesses and so on, determining how the image was shared?
• Staff confiscated the device and on DSL’s advice put it on flight mode to stop the image being shared further and preserve the evidence
• Reported to police as a crime has potentially been committed
• DSL kept in close contact with the link officer
• Incident was recorded appropriately on the victim’s and perpetrator’s safeguarding chronology with the crime number and the professional challenge made when the response time slowed for a period
• School facilitated additional assemblies/PSHE sessions around the law and consent for taking/sharing images and videos

Additional actions which could be considered:

• Pol-ed sessions for the individual and wider peer group from secondary resources such as ‘What is harassment’

Agencies Involved in this Incident

The incident was reported to the police who investigated and worked with the school to support all children during the ongoing investigation.