The short answer
Do not publish an identifiable student for a purpose their family has not agreed to. For schools covered by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), an identifiable image of a student is personal information, and the Australian Privacy Principles limit using it beyond the purpose it was collected for. In Victoria, the Child Safe Standards also ask that a school's online environments promote the safety and wellbeing of children. The useful question is not whether you can publish the video, but how to publish it without that student being identifiable.
Check the purpose first
Consent is rarely all or nothing. A family may agree to the newsletter and the school website but not to social media. Before you change the edit, check what the student is cleared for and where this video is going. A video that cannot go on Instagram may be fine for the newsletter as it stands.
Your options, from simplest to most work
- Use another take. If you shot more than one, the student may not be in all of them.
- Cut the shot. Fine for a passing moment, costly when the shot carries the story.
- Crop or reframe. Works when the student is at the edge of the frame and stays there.
- Obscure the face. Blur or pixelate that one student across the shot, and everyone else stays sharp. The video still goes out with the student in the room.
- Shoot it again. The last resort, and often not possible for an event that has passed.
Identifiable is more than a face
Obscuring a face may not be enough on its own. A student can be identified by a name in a caption, a name spoken in the audio, a jersey number the community knows, or a distinctive bag or hairstyle in a small school. Check the whole frame, the sound and the caption, not only the face.
Faces you do not recognise
Sport against other schools, visiting performers and open days put students from other schools and members of the public in your footage. You do not hold consent for them. Treat any face you cannot match to your register as not cleared until a person has decided otherwise.
When consent changes after publication
A family may withdraw consent after a video is already live. Take it down or edit it where you control the channel, update the register, and keep a note of what you did and when. A clear record of what was published, and with whom in it, makes this far faster.
How EveryFrame handles it
EveryFrame matches the faces in your footage against your consent register and judges each student per purpose. A student who is not cleared is obscured, with blur, pixelate or a treatment you set, and the treatment follows them as they move and is cut to the shots they appear in. Unmatched faces are flagged rather than treated as cleared, and a whole video export is held until a person has dealt with them. When the whole video exports, EveryFrame offers a record naming who was matched and what they were cleared for, for staff to review and sign. See how EveryFrame works, read about keeping a media consent register, or about the Child Safe Standards and school video.
Questions marketing teams ask
Is blurring a student's face enough?
Not always. A student can still be identified by a name in a caption or the audio, a known jersey number, or distinctive clothing. Check the whole frame, the sound and the caption, as well as obscuring the face.
Can we publish a video if the student without consent is only in the background?
A student in the background can still be identifiable. If they can be recognised, treat them the same as a student in the foreground: use another take, crop, cut the shot or obscure them.
What about students from other schools at sport events?
Your school does not hold consent for students from other schools or for members of the public. Treat any face you cannot match to your register as not cleared until a person has decided otherwise.
What should we do if consent is withdrawn after a video is published?
Take the video down or edit it where you control the channel, update your register, and record what you did and when. A record of who appeared in each publication makes this much faster.
EveryFrame is recruiting schools for its Term 4 2026 pilot. Register your school's interest, or start with the EveryFrame home page.
This guide is general information about Australian law as at October 2026. It is not legal advice.