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Nativity Play camera ban

stu neville

Commissioner.
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Mar 9, 2002
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Fer Chrissakes..:rolleyes:

From The BBC
Parents at a Bedfordshire school have been told they will not be able to take pictures of their children at this year's nativity play.
The decision has been described as "potty" and "political correctness gone mad" by a Bedfordshire County councillor.

Head teacher at Sundon Lower School, Sue Stokes, has told parents in a letter that she is worried that photographs might get into the wrong hands.

On Thursday, Miss Stokes said she did not want to comment on this and referred inquiries to Bedfordshire County Council.


The school sent a letter to parents


But the council told the BBC it is a matter for the school to manage locally.

Miss Stokes says in the letter: "This year a great deal of publicity has been centred on the issue of child protection and for this very reason videotaping the performance will not be allowed.

"This also applies to photographs being taken with a digital camera."

Richard Stay, Bedfordshire County councillor, criticised the ban.

"It is a ridiculous decision," he said.

"It is political correctness gone mad. As a father of a two-and-a-half-year-old child I would be concerned if it was my child's school.

"I think it is absolutely potty."

Mad.
 
presumably theres the worry about performance fees and copyright issues too..................I were actually expecting astory about the Beckhams saying they didn't want their kids performance sold to Hello:rolleyes:
 
Perhaps they're worried about all the clips that will be sold to "You've been framed!" :D

(Orl rite, I admit I watch it! :rolleyes: )
 
Me too, Rynner, it's good, innit?

(apart from the obviously faked clips which still manage to slip through the net now and again.)

Carole
 
I think it's sad the school should even think of such things. I mean if our parents didn't bring vid cams, we'd miss such classic moments as the stars who all through rehearsals said their line beautifully, but then when it came to the moment, they were starstruck and just stood there. Aww Bless. :) Or when one of the Kings had to be rapidly taken out when he wet himself with excitement before getting to the stage!
As a teacher, it's always nice to watch the performance afterwards, too. The actual thing is too nerve wracking to enjoy and I never get a direct view of what's going on on stage, because I'm busy prompting the others when to go up on stage and stopping the bored ones from talking. :rolleyes:
It's nice to be able to sit down with the kids afterwards and watch the film of it in peace.
And yes, I watch YBF too. :p
 
"And it came to pass that three Wise Men came from the East
bearing gifts.

And Mary said unto them, "Bugger off! We all know what you're
after, you dirty old gits! I'll give you Frankincense up your arses. Is
that a telescope in your robes or what? And take these bloody
sheep-shaggers with you, they're annoying the Ass!" "

:eek:
 
The fillum 'the Sixth Sense' has a moment of pure satire when scores of cameras flash away at the school play.

This isn't a new problem. My kids were educated in a school in a very deprived area which included a Women's Aid refuge. The kids from there were photographed as normal in school (photography is a big part of education in infant/primary schools) but were discreetly excluded from photos usde by the press.

I think the school is covering its *rse, and why not? I wouldn't like to be the head in a school where photos had been taken which had found their way onto a peedy site or whatever.
(Not unheard of- didn't some board members here find themselves unwitting participants in goat porn?)
Sad, but it shows how the actions of evil people ruin innocent enjoyment for others.
 
I dunno - it would have to be a really sick peedy who got off on watching kids in a nativity play. And if they did - well, who cares?? It's not doing any harm to the kids, is it? Anymore than some saddo wanking off to pictures in underwear catalogues is harming the women involved.
We are getting to the point where kids are going to have to be locked away from the view of everyone but their parents! We criticise the Muslims for forbidding pictures of women in public and locking their women away (in case they inflame those dreadful male passions), but we are now doing exactly the same with our kids.
And we label Michael Jackson 'Wacko' for veiling his kids in public. :mad:
 
Annasdottir said:
I dunno - it would have to be a really sick peedy who got off on watching kids in a nativity play. And if they did - well, who cares?? It's not doing any harm to the kids, is it? Anymore than some saddo wanking off to pictures in underwear catalogues is harming the women involved.

That's a moot point though isn't it? There are plenty of people who think soft porn degrading and encourages objectification of women (eg me). You may not agree, but alternative views shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. They are at least worthy of debate.

The teacher's decision does seem a bit extreme though - followed to its logical conclusion there would be no photos taken of children at all! Its allowing the pervs to inhibit the rest of us from doing something entirely normal.
 
It would be interesting to phone the school up and see if the story is actually true. I've got a feeling it is at least exaggerated or taken out of context, as it sounds like general loony left propaganda to me. However, if the letter sent to parents is indeed repeated verbatim then it is a bit daft.

AND IT IS NOT BLOODY "POLITAL CORRECTNESS". Will these kneejerk Tory fools please look that term up in a dictionary? Gits. And do they realise the term "political correctness gone mad" is now the biggest right-wing cliche anyone can ever say, and it makes them look like unimaginative morons.

But if it is true...

"This also applies to photographs being taken with a digital camera."

Because paedophiles can't use scanners, of course. Something to do with their crab genes, apparently.
 
A similar thing happened at a school near me last year. However the reason given was that the school was going to sell official pictures and videos, so obviously they would lose money if parents did it themselves.

I would not be at all surprised if this is what this boils down to and the school is using the peedo excuse in order to appear caring and thoughtful as opposed to money grabbing.

I wonder if tickets bought from the school office have a 10% booking fee as well?
 
Something similar happened with my mother's school - they had to blur all the pupils faces on their website. It seemed that the major worry was that a paedophile would see a child he/she took a liking to and - now knowing where they went to school - target that child.

DSSh
 
DivineSonShin said:
Something similar happened with my mother's school - they had to blur all the pupils faces on their website. It seemed that the major worry was that a paedophile would see a child he/she took a liking to and - now knowing where they went to school - target that child.
Totally mad! What is the point of using pupil photos if you're going to blur them?

This just another example of people being over-protective of children, without realistically assessing the risk. Perhaps we should send them to school wearing crash hats in case a meteor or a lump of aircraft ice falls on them? Or covered from head to toe in case they die from an excessive reaction to an insect bite? (But then they'd suffer vitamin D deficiency from lack of exposure to sunlight...)

Get fecking real, people. :mad:
 
The story is in fact true as it was featured on the local news last night with the actual letter sent out. Even the local council have commented that it is ludicrous. If it was my kids at the school, I would rally round the rest of the parents whose kids were also performing, and pull all of the kids out totally, or find another venue and do their own (I am sure that the council would gratefully help out in this circumstance). The same school has even put a 2 tickets per family limit on the play as well. Nothing to do with overcrowding either, but to stop unscrupulous people coming into the performance. The ban though only applies to Digital cameras and video cameras, with normal ones perfectly welcome (according to the local news). The reason they are doing it is to allegedly (news source) stop any pics or film going up onto the Internet. WTF are they going to do about the normal camera pictures which can be scanned in no time at all and even most of the developing stores automaticaly put them online for you to share as well!!!

The world is going crazy unfortunately.
 
JurekB said:
I wonder if tickets bought from the school office have a 10% booking fee as well?

They sell tickets? We wouldn't dream of charging the parents to come! We do limit to two tickets per family, but that's because the hall is small and to make it fair.

I still think this idea is ridiculous.
 
Auntie Peach said:
Its allowing the pervs to inhibit the rest of us from doing something entirely normal.
Auntie, that was one of the points I was trying to make. My other point was that whilst the saddo wanker with his adult porno isn't likely to get arrested for it (so long as he does it in private), the peedy wanker with his kiddy porno will get arrested for certain - wherever he does it.
 
It is a sad day when this kind of thing has to be done although i think this paticular case is just a bit silly. Saying that mind, you cant open the paper anymore without some horrible incident involving children and often children with people in authority so is it that suprising some people in the position of looking after children are going to get paranoid? Im only 18 and i can see how much things have changed in my life time. in nursery if we didnt have swimming trunks for the padling pool we used to go naked and no one thought twice about it, imagine if that happened now....
 
And why would paedophiles get off on a nativity play anyway? If it's the case then they can get off any picture of a child at all, which means that all pictures of children should be, like, banned. Now!

Sounds like this one is actually true, in which case it's either

a) A policy thought up by someone who doesn't understand the social issues involved or has even the slightest knowledge of technology.

b) An excuse so they can sell the 'Sundon Lower Nativity 02 DVD' for £40.
 
Now that Nativity Plays are considered too attractive to sinister
perverts, I am offering an alternative:

"Lot & His Daughters, a comedy in three indecent acts"

Scene: A house in Sodom, later a cave nearby.

Cast: Lot and several young daughters,
Prologue only: A gay Angel, a Pillar of salt.

Props: Booze and a Bed.

Special Effects: Fire & Brimstone.

:eek:
 
Yes, perhaps they're doing the nativity play naked or something? You know the avent garde themes these teachers come up with sometimes. Perhaps it has a Romans in Britain theme?
 
Errrr.........

Parents in Edinburgh have been banned by the city council from filming school concerts - because it says the pictures may be misused by paedophiles.
Education officials introduced the guidelines after claiming paedophiles across the UK had been caught in possession of photos and videos of school plays.

It follows a similar move by a school in Luton, which banned all film and digital photography at its nativity play.

Two years ago, Edinburgh council chiefs warned schools not to put pictures of individual children on their websites, for similar reasons.

to record their children in nativity plays and pantomimes must seek the permission of every child involved.
We think this is a common sense approach to a problem which exists across the UK

Edinburgh city council
 
From what the council chap on the R2 news said, it was some parents demanded that their children couldn't be on film. The council did the only thing they could do, as the parents were threatening to sue them if they didn't. :(
 
The BBC TV news has just reported on this. The reporter stated "paedophiles across Britain have ben found with videos and pictures of children in nativity plays"; the report immediately jumped to film of children rehearsing a nativity play! Just shows whaqt a muddle this paedophilia scare is getting us into....
 
Annasdottir said:
...the report immediately jumped to film of children rehearsing a nativity play! Just shows whaqt a muddle this paedophilia scare is getting us into....
I saw that, and thought that too!

No doubt peedys all over the land were watching, fingers hovering over the Record button of their videos... :rolleyes:
 
Tempting to speculate that Edinburgh Council may not have taken this marginally insane decision had they not had the pioneering lead displayed by Sundon Lower School to inspire them: it's almost like a kind of Lunatic Domino Effect (TM) - an Emporer's new clothes scenario involving beauraucratic decisions in which otherwise sensible people not only subscribe to, but will publicly defend, any piece of ill-conceived legislation or guidance.

Let's see if anyone else follows suit, shall we?

BTW I'm off to a nativity play tomorrow morning. And I'll take my camera. And if I don't post for a few days afterwards please send your donations to:

The Stu Neville Bail Appeal
PO Box 1966
Bristol BS4

TYVM :D
 
Our infant productions were last week and went really well. One of the mums who is also an employee and governor, filmed it for us and made a vid for the school to keep. It was wonderful for the children to be able to see themselves on TV and for us to watch it stress free! lol
Before the performance, our Headteacher asked the parents to keep the cameras on wide shots and not to narrow in on particular children. He asked if anyone objected to the vid cams, and if they had, he'd have banned the filming of it. Glad everyone had things in perspective because no one objected.
 
The end result of all this PC nonsense about not filming Nativity plays would be that NO pictures of children will ever be allowed in films, on TV, in newspapers, etc.
 
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