Headteacher ‘disappointed’ to receive councillors’ letter about covert CCTV

The headteacher of Cotham School has written to two Tory councillors saying that she was “disappointed” to receive a letter from them condemning use of the school’s hidden CCTV cameras.

Jo Butler also refutes the allegation that the school is carrying out covert surveillance, saying that the school is “using overt CCTV which has been installed in a discreet manner”.

The latest row over the use of Stoke Lodge Playing Fields started after it was revealed that  a metal junction box hides two tiny cameras that have been secretly recording members of the public who use the green space.

“There is no legal requirement to make the position of any of the cameras known to users of our premises” Butler writes to Stoke Bishop councillors John Goulandris and Henry Michallat.

Butler’s reply to Goulandris and Michallat comes after police corrected the school’s claim that a person had been arrested for damage to the playing fields, saying that a man instead received an out-of-court conditional caution.

Police also said that neighbourhood officers “did reference the potential use of wildlife cameras which could be used as a cost-effective way of supplementing the school’s crime prevention efforts, on the basis there was already overt CCTV in operation and signs to make the public aware”.

In her letter, Butler added that none of the following has taken place:

• “There is no covert surveillance
• “No members of the public have been ‘secretly filmed’
• “The management of CCTV at all Cotham School sites including Stoke Lodge has been managed in a legal manner at all times
• “The CCTV at all the school sites including Stoke Lodge does not to our knowledge breach any data protection laws
• “There has been a statement regarding the school site and the CCTV issued by Avon and Somerset Police that confirms their engagement with the school
• “Members of the public are quite within their rights to choose not to use our school site at Stoke Lodge if they do not wish to knowing and understanding as detailed clearly on our signs, which have been in place for many years, what the permissive use consists of and that the use of CCTV is in progress

“As an organisation that has the Nolan Principles at its heart, we will rightly take precautions to ensure our use of public money is responsible and used for what it was intended by preventing repeated criminal damage from taking place on our school sites.

“We were therefore disappointed to receive your letter. We uphold the Nolan Principles, we hope that you do too and that you will now fully understand and publicly support the actions of a school that protects and safeguards its staff and students.”

Two covert cameras are hidden within this junction box – photo: Martin Booth

Michallat said that Butler’s letter “doesn’t answer all our questions. We feel its tone is unnecessarily hostile and it fails to recognise the community access clause in the lease.”

In a statement, campaign group We Love Stoke Lodge denounced Cotham School’s “alternative facts” about the playing fields as “ridiculous”.

“Cotham School now claims that two cameras hidden in a junction box at Stoke Lodge Playing Fields are actually ‘overt CCTV which has been installed in a discreet manner’.

“This is a shock U-turn by the school following its publication of a statement on 5 October 2022 titled ‘Statement regarding the use of covert CCTV at our offsite playing fields at Stoke Lodge’.”

The statement added: “The school’s U-turn is a transparent effort to avoid acknowledging what is obvious to everyone else – they now realise that they broke the law by conducting covert surveillance without having any authority to do so…

“Unfortunately, the failure of Cotham’s senior management to take accountability for its actions seem likely to make the school a laughing stock. We think the pupils deserve better.”

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read next:

• School admits carrying out covert CCTV surveillance of public
• MP and councillors join condemnation of Cotham School’s covert surveillance
• No arrest made for damage at Stoke Lodge despite Cotham School claims

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