Summary
- SD cards were stolen from a vehicle belonging to school photography company Pret-a-Portrait.
- They may have held portraits, names and class details of Priory School pupils.
- The company took the images offline and changed its card-handling procedure.
A stolen camera bag can cost far more than the equipment inside it. Priory School in Lewes, England, informed parents that SD cards stolen from its photography contractor might have contained pupil photographs and identifying information.
The cards may also have held pupils’ names
Pret-a-Portrait photographed pupils on October 1. Overnight between October 6 and 7, 2026, one of its vehicles was broken into and a bag containing memory cards was stolen.
Headteacher Jon Curtis-Brignell informed families that the cards might have held portraits alongside photographs of the QR-code cards used during the sessions. Those cards display pupils’ names and class details, potentially linking an image to an individual child.
According to the school’s communication, the incident did not affect addresses, contact details, financial or medical information, or safeguarding records held in its systems.
Uncertainty over the files and the company’s response
The same equipment had been used for three further photography assignments after the school visit. Pret-a-Portrait believes most, possibly all, of the relevant files had been overwritten by newer data, but cannot confirm this.
The company temporarily took the school photographs offline, changed the access IDs and announced a procedure to wipe cards after each assignment. It also notified the police and the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, the ICO.
Owner Nick Kerr said the company’s analysis found no unauthorized access to the online photographs between the theft and their removal. That finding concerns online access; it does not establish what remained on the stolen cards or whether anyone read them.
What this means for our own work
The theft of David Martin’s cards and drive containing wedding photographs showed how files and backups can disappear together. This case adds another responsibility: limiting the exposure of the people we photograph.
In practice, we need a defined workflow: transfer the files, verify the backups, store copies separately and set a retention period for the cards. Deletion follows confirmation that the work has been stored correctly. Cards showing names need the same care as the portraits themselves.
What we think
When we photograph a school, we also take responsibility for handling what we carry away safely. A beautiful portrait does not finish the job if its memory card stays forgotten in a bag through subsequent assignments.
We would like to see clear rules agreed from the outset: who receives the files, where they are stored and when they are removed from portable media. That gives photographers a concrete end-of-day procedure and schools a clear understanding of the service they have commissioned.
