Cover lesson · PSE / Well-being · Year 10 · Intermediate

Think before you share: photos and consent

DCF: Citizenship → Identity, image and reputation

Name: Class: Date:

Cover teacher — you need no subject knowledge

Print: this sheet, one per pupil, and the stimulus sheet “Eight photos, one selfie, and the rules”, one between two. No computers or phones are needed — phones stay away. No images are used in this lesson; every photo is described in words.

Run: 5 min read Part 3 of the stimulus sheet aloud · 18 min Step 1 · 8 min Step 2 · 8 min Step 3 · 6 min Step 4 · 5 min Step 5. Total 50 minutes.

Collect: this sheet.

Safeguarding — read this before you start: Card 7 is about a nude image being passed round. Keep discussion to what the card says and what the law says; do not ask pupils about real cases, and never ask to see any image on a phone. If a pupil tells you an image of them or someone they know is being shared, or that they are being pressured to send one, do not discuss it in front of the class. Say “come and see me at the end”, take their name, and pass it to the school's safeguarding lead the same day. Do not promise to keep it secret.

What you are doing

Once a photo is posted, you cannot control who screenshots it, who sees it or how long it lasts. It becomes part of the online reputation of everyone in it, not just yours. You will decide what should happen to eight photos, find the clues hidden in a selfie, write what you would actually say to ask for — or refuse — consent, and finish with a checklist you could use before you post.

Step 1 — the eight cards

For each card in Part 1 of the stimulus sheet, choose one decision: Share · Ask first · Change it first (crop, blur, remove the tag or location, or post later) · Don't share. Then say whose consent matters and what could go wrong.

Card	Decision	Whose consent matters, and why	What could go wrong for anyone in the photo, or for the person posting it
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Card 7 needs more than a decision. Write what Dylan should do, in order, in three short steps.

Step 2 — what is in Mali's selfie?

Read Part 2 of the stimulus sheet. Find five clues a stranger could use, and a fix for each that still lets Mali post a first-day photo.

No.	Clue	What it gives away	Fix
1
2
3
4
5

Which clue in the photo belongs to someone who has not agreed to be posted at all?

Step 3 — the words you would actually use

(a) You want to post the group selfie from Card 1. Write the message you would send the group first. It must make it easy for someone to say no.

(b) You are Osian in Card 4. Write what you would say to your mum to get the photo taken down, without starting an argument.

(c) A friend refuses to delete a photo of you. Using the Childnet advice in Part 3, list what you can do next, in order.

Step 4 — true or false?

Statement	True or false?	Where in Part 3 it says so
1. Sharing a nude image of a 16-year-old is legal if they agreed to it.
2. If my account is private, nobody can share my photos.
3. In the UK it is generally not illegal to take someone's photo in a public place.
4. When I am 25 I can ask a gaming company to delete data it collected from me at 13.

Step 5 — my before-I-post checklist

Write five quick questions you could ask yourself in the ten seconds before posting a photo. Each should come from something you learned today.

Step by step

5 min — Read Part 3 of the stimulus sheet: the rules and the experts.
18 min — Step 1: a decision for all eight cards, plus Dylan's three steps.
8 min — Step 2: five clues in Mali's selfie, and a fix for each.
8 min — Step 3: write the consent message, the take-down request and the next steps.
6 min — Step 4: four true-or-false statements, each backed up from Part 3.
5 min — Step 5: your five-question checklist.

Success criteria

I can decide whether a photo should be shared by thinking about everyone in it, not only about me.
I can spot details in a photo, and in the photo file, that give away where someone lives or goes to school, and fix them.
I can ask for consent in a way that makes it easy to say no, and ask for a photo to be taken down without making things worse.
I know the law on nude images of under-18s, and exactly what to do and not do if one is sent to me.
I know where to get help, including Report Remove, Childline and a trusted adult in school.

If you finish early

Choose one card and write what happens next if the photo is posted anyway: one day later, one month later and five years later, when someone in it applies for a job.
Card 8 has a school rule behind it. Write two sentences explaining why a school needs consent forms for photos, and one reason a pupil might say no.
Write a better caption for Mali's photo that shows it is her first day but does not say which school.

Where to get help

A parent or carer, your form tutor, head of year, or the school's safeguarding lead. Childline: 0800 1111, free and confidential; Report Remove is on the Childline website. Meic, the helpline for young people in Wales, in Welsh or English, 8am to midnight every day: phone or WhatsApp 080880 23456, text 07943 114 449.