How AI-generated school imagery could help protect children’s identities while keeping school websites welcoming and engaging
For many years, photographs of smiling pupils have been a normal part of school websites.
They help prospective parents see what school life looks like, celebrate achievements and bring a school’s values and community to life.
But advances in artificial intelligence are forcing schools to think differently about the images of children they publish online.
A recent Guardian investigation reported a significant increase in children reporting sexually explicit AI-generated deepfake images made using their likeness.
According to the report, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and NSPCC’s Report Remove service received 420 reports from children in the first half of 2026 alone — already more than the total recorded during the whole of 2025.
The concern for schools is straightforward: an innocent photograph of a pupil published publicly online can potentially be downloaded, copied and manipulated using increasingly powerful AI tools.
That creates a safeguarding question that schools may increasingly need to consider:
Do we actually need to publish identifiable photographs of real pupils on our public website?
The risk has changed
Schools have always had to think carefully about consent and safeguarding when publishing children’s photographs.
Generative AI introduces another dimension.
Modern AI tools can manipulate photographs with alarming realism. The Guardian has previously reported warnings that schools should reconsider publishing identifiable photographs of pupils because images available publicly online could potentially be used to create manipulated or explicit material.
This isn’t simply a theoretical technology issue. AI-generated imagery is becoming part of the safeguarding landscape schools need to understand.
The Department for Education’s updated guidance and resources also recognise the growing importance of AI safety. Its guidance on the safe use of generative AI specifically identifies safeguarding, ethics and data among the risks schools should consider when adopting AI.
From September 2026, schools in England will also be working under the new Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 statutory guidance.
The technology is changing quickly, and schools’ approach to publishing images may need to change with it.
A different approach: AI-generated school imagery
At School Jotter, we believe schools should be able to have attractive, modern and engaging websites without unnecessarily exposing the identities of pupils.
That’s why we’re introducing an AI Imagery Service for schools.
Instead of relying on photographs of identifiable children, we can create bespoke AI-generated imagery designed specifically around your school website.
For example, a school might need an image showing:
- children reading together in a primary classroom
- pupils taking part in a science lesson
- children playing sport
- a school assembly
- pupils using computers
- children enjoying an outdoor learning activity
- a welcoming classroom environment
- pupils representing the school’s values and ethos
These images can communicate the same idea and emotion as traditional school photography without publishing the photograph of an actual pupil.
Keep the personality. Remove the identity.
We don’t believe safeguarding should mean school websites become bland or impersonal.
Parents still want to see a vibrant school.
The objective is therefore not simply to remove children’s photographs and replace them with generic stock photography.
Our designers can create imagery appropriate to the school’s age range, environment, activities and website design so that the finished school website continues to feel warm, engaging and relevant to the school community.
The difference is important:
The children shown don’t need to be real pupils attending your school.
That reduces the amount of identifiable pupil imagery being made permanently available on the open web.
Existing websites can be reviewed too
This isn’t only something schools need to consider when launching a new website.
Many established school websites contain hundreds — sometimes thousands — of photographs accumulated over several years.
They may appear within:
- homepage banners
- galleries
- news articles
- curriculum pages
- staff and class pages
- archived newsletters
- downloadable documents
- old blog posts
Some may feature pupils who left the school years ago.
School Jotter can help schools review how pupil imagery is being used across their existing website and identify areas where alternative imagery could be considered.
Where appropriate, our team can then create replacement AI imagery and help update the website.
AI should help solve safeguarding problems — not just create them
There is understandably considerable discussion about the risks AI creates for children.
Those risks are real and schools need to understand them.
But responsible AI can also be part of the solution.
Using artificial intelligence to reduce the number of identifiable photographs of children published openly online is a good example.
A school can still celebrate its curriculum, communicate its values and have a beautiful website while taking a more privacy-conscious approach to pupil imagery.
Technology has changed what can be done with a photograph.
It therefore makes sense for schools to reconsider what photographs they make publicly available.
Ask School Jotter about an AI Image Safeguarding Review
School Jotter can review your existing school website and help identify where publicly accessible pupil photographs could potentially be replaced with purpose-created AI imagery.
Our team can then produce a bespoke collection of safeguarding-conscious images suitable for your website.
Protect pupils’ identities without losing the personality of your school website.
Speak to the School Jotter team about an AI Image Safeguarding Review and our bespoke AI Imagery Service for Schools.
The key evidence behind the article is strong: The Guardian reported yesterday that Report Remove received 420 reports in the first half of 2026, already exceeding 2025’s total, with AI manipulation and “nudification” tools contributing to the problem. The Guardian also reported in May that experts were advising UK schools to reconsider identifiable pupil photographs online because publicly available images can be exploited for AI-generated abuse and sextortion.
There is also a useful official-policy connection: DfE’s current AI materials explicitly cover safeguarding, ethics and data risks and say AI use should align with KCSIE. The final KCSIE 2026 guidance has been published and comes into force on 1 September 2026.
