Apologies issued after parents offered Aboyne Primary School class photos without additional support needs pupils
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Tempest Photography and Aberdeenshire Council have issued apologies after parents of Aboyne Primary School pupils were given a choice to purchase class photos without children with additional support needs featured in them.
Tempest Photography sent out two separate links to parents with and without the pupils.
It has since removed the links to the alternative versions of the class photos and they can no longer be bought, which the school requested.
Tempest Photography said in a statement: “Recently, after capturing a class group photograph, one of our photographers took additional images of the class group which omitted some members of the class from the photograph.
“We deeply regret any upset this has caused and would like to sincerely apologise to the parents and children affected.
“We are a family run business and photograph at schools across the UK and would like to reassure our customers that this is not standard procedure for our company and we are taking this matter very seriously.
“We are committed to implementing meaningful changes to prevent such an occurrence in the future.”
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman said: “We are aware that following Aboyne Primary School’s recent school class photographs, links to purchase the pictures included images with and without complex needs provision pupils.
“Whilst this was not a decision taken by the school, we absolutely appreciate the distress and hurt this has caused some parents and carers and we are sincerely sorry.
"The issue has been taken up with the photography company directly as this is totally unacceptable.
"Aboyne is an inclusive school and every single child should be included, engaged and involved in their learning and school experiences."
Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary Liam Kerr said: “This is a horrific error of judgement.
"There are big questions for the company arranging and taking these photos.
"This is one of the bigger studios working with Scottish schools today, so it’s imperative to find whether this is an isolated incident and ensure it never happens again."
