Parents have received an apology from a Scottish council after a photography firm offered alternative pictures with or without children with “complex” needs.
A photographer working for Tempest Photography took two separate photos of the P5 class at Aboyne Primary School in Aberdeenshire, with children with additional support needs (ASN) reportedly removed from one set.
Parents were then sent a link with both versions to choose from.
Aberdeenshire Council has since apologized to parents, stating the decision was not taken by the school and has immediately removed the link to the photos.
Meanwhile, Cornwall-based Tempest Photography – which employs local photographers to take school photos across the UK – said it had launched an investigation into the matter.
Natalie Pinnell, whose daughter Erin was among those excluded from a set of photographs, told the Press and Journal it felt like having her child “erased from history”.
She told the paper: “I am absolutely heartbroken. Furious.”
She added: “A lot of the other parents have decided not to purchase their school photos in support. That means a lot.
“To give people the option to erase my daughter from history for the sake of optics is frankly inhumane. One of the cruelest