School Photo Day Checklist: Getting Ready, Sibling Photos and Ordering

How school photos usually work

Most schools book an external photography company to take individual portraits once a year, usually in the autumn term, and class or group photos at some point during the year, often in the summer. Photography is normally done during the school day, a class at a time.

Many schools also offer sibling photos, where brothers and sisters at the same school are photographed together. These are often taken before school starts, or at a set time during the morning, and may need you to sign up or bring younger siblings who are not at the school yet. The letter will say how it works at your school.

A few days or weeks after the photo, a proof comes home or arrives by email, with a code to view and order the photos online. There is usually no obligation to buy.

Where it goes wrong

The date is often announced only once, a week or two before. Sibling photos add a second time and sometimes a booking, and if one child is at a different school, they may be photographed on a different day entirely.

The other common slip is the order deadline. Many photographers offer free delivery to school or a lower price for orders placed by a certain date, after which prices or postage go up. That date is printed on the proof, which is often at the bottom of a book bag.

The night before

1. Check the uniform: a clean jumper or cardigan, a tie if your school has one, and a shirt or polo without stains.
2. Wash hair the night before rather than in the morning, when there is less time to dry it.
3. Keep hair simple. Plaits and ponytails stay neater through the morning than loose hair; take a hairbrush or comb in the book bag if your child will use it.
4. Leave glasses on if your child normally wears them. Photographers are used to dealing with reflections.
5. If there is a sibling photo before school, set an earlier alarm and plan breakfast so it does not end up on a jumper.
6. Put the date of the order deadline in your calendar when the proof arrives.

A real-life example

A family has a child in Year 4 and another in Reception at the same primary school, and a toddler at home. The newsletter on Monday says individual photos are on Thursday, with sibling photos from 8.15am in the hall, and that preschool siblings are welcome.

That one line asks for an early start on Thursday, the toddler to come along, and both children ready in uniform. Seen on Monday evening, it is easy to plan. Seen on Thursday morning, it is a rushed photo with only two of the three children in it.

Ordering and what to know

• Look at the proofs online before deciding; there is usually no obligation to buy anything.
• Order before the early-order deadline if you want the lower price or free delivery to school.
• Check whether there is a digital download option, which can be cheaper than prints for sharing with family.
• Keep the proof card or email until your order arrives, as the code is needed if anything goes wrong.
• If your child was absent on photo day, ask the school whether the photographer is coming back for a catch-up session.

Consent and privacy

Schools usually ask for consent for photographs when a child starts, often as part of the start-of-year forms, and some ask again for individual photo days. If you prefer your child not to be photographed, or not to appear in a class photo, tell the school office in advance. Schools also normally ask parents not to share pictures of other children taken at school events on social media.

Class photos and leavers’ photos

Class photos are usually taken separately from individual portraits, often in the summer term, with the whole class and their teacher. They tend to be arranged at short notice around the timetable, and absent children can rarely be added later, so it is worth knowing the date.

Year 6 and Year 11 leavers often have a special photo, sometimes a panoramic year-group photo or one in leavers’ hoodies. These are usually announced in the spring or summer term and may need hoodie orders placed weeks in advance, with names spelled exactly as they should be printed.

Getting a natural smile

Photographers at schools are skilled at getting a smile out of a nervous five-year-old, and most children enjoy it. A few things help: talk about photo day as something fun rather than something to get right, avoid practising a fixed "cheese" smile, and do not worry if a front tooth is missing, which is part of being six. If your child is anxious about being photographed, let the class teacher know so the photographer can take a little more time.

How Peakly helps

Peakly reads the photo day letter or the line in the newsletter, and sends you a WhatsApp message with the date, the time of any sibling session, and what you need to do. The date goes into your Google or Outlook calendar automatically, linked back to the original email.

If both children are at the same school, the message says so. And at 8pm the evening before, your daily summary reminds you that tomorrow is photo day, which is exactly when the clean jumper needs finding.