Realsmart Help

All guides / General

Photo consent for the School Story

3 steps 3 min Updated 4 November 2026

The School Story is the feed of photos and news in the Smart Parents app. A pupil can only appear in its photos when consent allows it. This page shows where every pupil stands, and lets you record what the school's own consent forms say. You need to be an admin who holds Manage Smart Parents.

Two kinds of people answer:

  • The school — what your consent forms say, recorded here (or by staff in teacher mode in the app).
  • Each parent linked to the pupil — they answer for themselves in the app.

Then:

  • Any "no" keeps the pupil out, whether it's the school's or any one parent's. So a parent can withdraw on their own, and the school can keep out a child who mustn't be photographed whatever a parent says.
  • Nobody answering means no. Consent is given, never assumed.
  • Only parents still linked to the pupil count.

Consent is checked every time a parent opens the School Story, so changing it also hides or shows photos that were posted earlier.

Steps

Step 1: Open Photo consent

Open Smart Parents in the sidebar and choose the Photo consent tab (it has no sidebar shortcut of its own). Each pupil shows:

  • In the School Story — Can appear, Can't appear (with "The school said no" or "A parent said no"), or Nobody has answered.
  • School's record — Yes or No, or "Not recorded".
  • Parents' answers — each linked parent's answer in the app, or "No answers in the app".

Use the buttons Everyone, Can appear, Can't appear and Nobody has answered (each shows how many pupils), Search pupils, and the All groups list to narrow it down. There are 25 pupils to a page.

Step 2: Record the school's consent

Select Yes or No under School's record for a pupil. It saves straight away ("School's record saved."). You can change it again by selecting the other button; there's no way to put a pupil back to "Not recorded".

To do a whole class at once, choose the group in the All groups list. A bar appears: School's record for everyone in … with Yes and No. Select one and confirm. A parent's "no" still keeps their own child out. A message says how many pupils it covered ("School's record saved for 28 pupils in 10X.").

Step 3: Export (optional)

Export CSV downloads the list as it's filtered (Pupil, Year, In the School Story, School's record, Parents' answers), to check against paper forms.

Good to know

  • If the School Story is switched off for your school, nothing is shown to parents yet; what you record applies once it's on. The page says so at the top.
  • Every change to the school's record is kept in a history that can't be edited.
  • Parents change their own answers in the app; you can't change a parent's answer here.
  • Staff can also record the school's consent from teacher mode in the app.

If something doesn't work

  • "Photo consent comes with the School Story in the Smart Parents app, which isn't set up here yet." The School Story hasn't been set up on the server yet. Ask Realsmart support.
  • A pupil says "Can't appear" and you didn't say no. A parent did: look at Parents' answers. You can't change a parent's answer, but you can ask them to change it in the app.
  • A pupil says "Nobody has answered". Neither the school nor any linked parent has answered, so the pupil stays out. Select Yes under School's record if your forms say so.
  • "No pupils match." Clear the search, the group or the filter button.
General Acceptable use policy at sign-in General Add and manage your school's own apps General Choose who counts as teaching staff (teaching and non-teaching staff groups) General Choose who sees each app on your school's panel