Parents' anger over school's toilet CCTV

A LLANDYSUL family are furious with a Teifi Valley school after it installed CCTV cameras in the toilets.

Anthony and Tracy White have now removed their 14-year-old daughter Jade White from Llandysul's Ysgol Dyffryn Teifi.

The family, from The Beeches in Llandysul, said it was an outrageous invasion of the pupils' privacy.

Jade said: "I am not going back while the cameras are there. It must be against the law to have them there."

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The school has installed the cameras in the boys and girls toilets — but only facing the wash hand basins — in a bid to combat vandalism.

Jade's father, Anthony White, said: "I've taken my daughter out of school. I think it's an invasion of their privacy.

"The school is being pathetic. They don't need security cameras in toilets — certainly not in schools.

"The whole place is like they're on Big Brother. There are cameras all around the school, outside and in the corridors."

Mr White said several other parents felt the same way although the local education authority (LEA) said it had only received one complaint.

"None of the parents were told about it. They've got a school board made up of pupils but they were never approached either," he added.

The family are not looking at other schools in the area for their daughter.

Ceredigion Council, which is the school's LEA, said the CCTV footage was only examined if an incident was reported.

A spokeswoman said: "Any such viewing of CCTV footage is undertaken by senior members of staff having Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) clearance."

She said school surveys at Llandysul showed concerns from pupils about incidents in toilets.

"Schools are, of course, required to consider the views and concerns of their pupils and take appropriate action. In this instance, the Ceredigion LEA concludes that Ysgol Dyffryn Teifi considered the concerns expressed by its pupils and acted accordingly," she said.

"The Ceredigion LEA supports the action taken by the school."

A statement from Llandysul head teacher Aeron Rees was expected today (Friday).