FAQs for

What areas do you cover?

Our company was founded in Aylesbury and has since expanded across the South East. We now have a team of photographers covering Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, and parts of Sussex. If you’re located in the South East, outside of Greater London and Central London, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch today to see how we can meet your photography needs!

Are you able to take other types of photography for us?

We don’t only offer Annual School portrait photography, we’re able to maximise your marketing reach with amazing website photography and video, bring your walls alive with great displays, photograph your events and raise money for the PTA with family days and much more.

Why not check out our Marketing and Fundraising sections of our website for more information, or fill out our enquiry form if you know what you need

How far do you travel

We currently have a team of photographers covering Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, and parts of Sussex.

Our Photographers that are located across the south are happy to travel up to 1.5 hours. Get in touch today to see how we can meet your photography needs!

What areas do you cover?

Our company was founded in Aylesbury and has since expanded across the South East. We now have a team of photographers covering Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, and parts of Sussex. If you’re located in the South East, outside of Greater London and Central London, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch today to see how we can meet your photography needs!

What guarantees do you offer?

We feel we are unique in our industry to have a comprehensive guaratee to support school and parents.

On Photo day we strive to capture every child’s smile, using various techniques like jokes, games, and puppets. If a child is reluctant, we’ll try again later or take candid shots during playtime, especially for nursery photography. While we can’t guarantee a wide grin from everyone, we aim to ensure no parent misses out. Our approach is patient and adaptable, never forcing a child who’s uncomfortable, but always aiming for the best possible results.

We make photo days stress-free for your staff too. Our relaxed, professional approach minimizes disruption, while our simple online ordering system and dedicated parent hotline reduce administrative burden. We strive to be the easiest photographers you’ve ever worked with, always aiming to improve based on your feedback. Let us handle the details so everyone can enjoy photo day!

Considering a switch? We’ll match your previous photographer’s commission on your first booking with us. Try our amazing service risk-free – you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain!

For your Marketing & Fundraising, we stand behind our work with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Unhappy with your promotional photos? We’ll fix them or reshoot for free. Fundraising products not up to par? We’ll replace them at no cost (subject to supplier terms). Your satisfaction is our priority always.

Read more about our ‘No Smile Left Behind Guarantee’ here…

What background options are there?

We’ve spent many years listening to our customers – schools, nurseries and parents too – as to what photographs they really love, and one thing that comes through time and time again is that what matters most to everyone is a fantastic, natural smile, and photos that really bring out the personality in each child, and make parents grin with delight when they see them! And with fab photos like this, it’s important that the style of background we photograph suits most homes, whether these photos are printed as gifts for Granny, or printed as large display-ready canvas prints for the lounge.

So, despite the multitude of backgrounds available to us, it’s why we always try to offer a clean and classic background option that the majority of parents will love and cherish. White backgrounds remains the most popular year after year, and a quality grey option is beautiful for slightly older children.

Meanwhile for Early Years photography – Nurseries and Preschools, we aim to also introduce a fun, bright option and will usually photograph two backgrounds: a seasonal set (Spring style, or Christmas scene for instance) and a classic background, giving parents various options for gifts and heirlooms. And of course, in some cases where the weather is kind, we’ll venture outdoors for some beautiful natural location photographs.

We do often find that Schools have their own preferences for backgrounds, however, and in these cases we have loads of ideas and solutions that suit any setting. For instance, we’ve photographed in farmyards, on multi-coloured backgrounds, against the school building and in classrooms. We’re always happy to talk through some alternative options, and we’re happy to work with you to deliver images that suit your school or nursery whilst helping to inform how various options might be received by paying parents too!

It’s worth taking a moment to talk about group photos too. 10+ years ago, panoramic group photos were popular with schools, with groups of children grouped together and stitched in editing to give a long group photo on a white background. They looked bright and helped photographers ensure smiles across all children, however parents soon found that panoramic photos were difficult and expensive to frame, then impossible to keep in photo albums, and often they ended up rolled in a tube, to be hidden away and rarely enjoyed. It’s why we find more parents purchase classic formal group photos – either outdoors on the field, or in the hall – where we can print to standard print sizes for which frames are readily (and cheaply) available and which fit into photo albums too! We’ll offer either style of course, but if good commission and happy families is your main aim, then let us guide you with our experience.

Remember our aim – no smile left behind!

What events do you photograph?

We can often support our Partner Schools who we work with regularly by photographing their events, from performances, plays and talent shows to sports events, matches and more.

Photos of these, often extra-curricular activities can be gold for your school marketing, giving you content for your social media, plus images you can use to promote next year’s events too. They can help to show your broad-reaching activities to prospective families, and – honestly – no event should pass without photos and videos being captured! It’s also often a great way to raise extra funds for your School but offering the photos for sale to parents, much like your annual portraits. It’s an easy win! If you’ve gone to the effort of organising an event, then it takes very little extra effort to capture the event with professional photos for the benefit of your parents AND your school marketing.

Consider having a professional photographer for the following:

• Nativity plays
• Leavers events
• Graduation
• Proms
• Plays, performances and more
• Key sporting events and matches
• Sports day
  … and more!

Get in touch and let us know what events are in your calendar for the year and let us help you plan ahead for maximising each opportunity.

Do you offer a more modern contemporary style?

We have lots of options for styles of school photos as well as early years photos too – just take a look at our website for examples – but most importantly we feel natural smiles are what parents want most!

Speak to us about the options we have delivered for other Schools, what parents purchase most of, and any ideas you may have.

We will always do our best to come up with a service that best suits your School or Nursery.

Could you take our prospectus photographs?

Of course! Now, in this day and age, prospectuses are often online, so many Schools combine a marketing shoot to enable photos for use both on their website, and in printed prospectuses too! We will also provide image from any school marketing photography shoot in both web-ready and print-ready formats, so you’re ready to get your collaterol live and out there to your target audience!

Do you offer video as well as photos?

Oh yes, our amazing videographer is on hand to bring moving images to your website and social media, and really make your school stand out from the crowd! We’ve recorded long form videos for schools, mini snippets for social media use too, and not forgetting using video in our amazing Augmented Reality product, which brings your printed adverts and displays to life, all Harry Potter-like! Why not send an enquiry to us, and we can chat about what video success looks like for you!

Do you offer website photography?

Yes indeed! We love nothing more than capturing a great School or Nursery doing what they do best. Our website photoshoots are designed to capture everyday life at your School, and to demonstrate where you differ from the competition. Not only that, our images are edited and presented ready for you to quickly incorporate into your website with no hassles! Why not get in touch and we can chat about how best to capture the best side of your school or Nursery.

Do you photoshop marketing images?

All of our school marketing photography, website photography and marketing images receive great editing to ensure they really look amazing in your printed and online marketing pieces. We may use Photoshop to improve our images, but we’ll never alter the look of a subject unless it has been expressly requested first.

How many photos will be taken?

At School photo days, we will take up to 4 photos of each child, depending on time available, to ensure parents have a great range of options. Nursery and Preschool photo days, where we have more time per child, we aim for up to 12 photos for each child. The final number of images will depend on how happy each child is, whether they react well to our fun style of photography, and the amount of time we have available per child. Not all little people enjoy a studio setup, so we will do our best to offer a good selection of images, however we will never continue photographing a child who appears distraught and we do not guarantee the number of photos taken.

How much space will the photographer require?

Here’s our perfect setup:

Indoor school photos – at least 4m square space for individual photos with our portable studio setup. Access to power sockets and hopefully no south-facing windows without blinds! The easier the access for children and staff, the better (especially for nervous nursery children). We can work in a little more relaxed fashion if we’re not in the hall where lunch will be served – those kitchen staff like us out of the way pretty smartish as they set up! Maybe consider the library or another room instead? Of course for indoor class groups, we’ll need all the space we can get!

For Outdoors photos such as your class photos, we’ll look for a position with the sun behind the children to avoid squinting, and backgrounds clear of mess and equipment. Leavers photos will often be taken somewhere picturesque – leave it to us to suggest somewhere once we’ve scoped your grounds!

How do I book a school photographer?

Ready to elevate your next Photo Day? Or perhaps master your marketing? You can book us in just 3 simple steps:

1. Complete our quick enquiry form or call us on 01276 942042 and select option 1
   
2. We’ll review your requirements and propose the best way forward for your needs
3. We will confirm your booking date and guide you through the next steps to prepare for your photo day!

Fill in the form to get started!

What if it’s raining on our Photo Day?

If the weather isn’t on our side for your Group Photos – never fear! We’ve some solutions:

• Shower dodgers: We’re prepared to wait it out if the rain is occasional – fortune favours the brave is our motto!
• Indoor option: We’ve an indoor solution if arranged in advance, with classic backgrounds, or using a (tidy) hall
• Reschedule: If we’ve availability in future days, we’re happy to reschedule where necessary, but this must be arranged in advance to save wasted journeys!

For Individual Photos planned for the great outdoors, we’re creative too:

• Studio option: We offer a great indoor setup with a lovely Spring background which is perfect for Nurseries
• Take cover!: With planning, we can still shoot outdoors under a gazebo or tidy outdoor classroom

You know you’re working with professionals when the Great British weather puts us to the test. But one thing’s for sure, we’ll still get the job done!

How to prepare for Photo Day to make it a success

1. Pick the perfect photo spot, ensuring it’s tidy, clean and clear (indoors a 4pm square space is ideal)
2. Remind your staff so they can glam up for their staff photos
3. Send a final parent reminder so no-one forgets

We’ll send you a full document when you book with us, walking your through every stage of the process from before the shoot, to receiving your parent orders, so you’ll always be ahead of any suprises!

How long will it take for parents to receive their images?

We believe we are the fastest schools photography company in the industry to delivery proof forms and final photo orders!

For individual photo sessions, Proof order forms will be with Schools / Nurseries to deliver to parents within 3 working days. We still like to share proofs with schools so they get to enjoy our photos too! Group photo days take longer as we edit all group images fully before proofing and in these cases we can offer online access for group photos with no need for proof forms at all – saving paper, ink and trees! The school still receives their own copy of group photos to enjoy and display…

As for parent orders: if they are ordered for direct to home delivery, parents can expect them to be dispatched in 2-5 days of ordering (with 2 days being the norm)… the fastest dispatch in the industry! It’s not unusual for parents quick off the mark to have their photo order on their doorstep within 3-4 days.

Free delivery to School takes a little longer (as we batch print these after the order deadline date), however, they’ll still be at School within 3-4 working days of the deadline date.

Who will be our photographer? Can I have the same photographer as last time?

That’s our aim! Your school’s photographer, over time, will build an amazing relationship with staff and children, helping to get the best from them. Of course life can sometimes throw a curveball, and in the event of illness or other challenges, we’ll try to offer an alternative photographer, or rearrange your shoot date with your regular Smile-maker!

Are you GDPR compliant?

Yes, we are a fully GDPR compliant schools photography company. All of our data is requested, processed and held in accordance with GDPR. Our General Data Protection Regulation Policy is available here.

I require a licence for my SIMS images, who do I contact?

Photos for schools SIMs systems is no problem! You can order your SIMs image upload license direct with Education Software Solutions help desk on 03330 150 212 or via their online order form: HERE

Alternatively, we are happy to order it for you (and we get a discount due to the volume we buy annually) – just ask for more details.

We have lost a proof or didn’t receive a proof for a child. What should I do?

Don’t worry! We have a process for that! Let us know and we’ll securely send you a proof sheet showing all children photographed so you can advise which proofs are missing. We’ll then provide a secure login for the relevant parents via email.

Remember we rarely take children’s names unless tagging for your system, to reduce the risk under GDPR regulations, so this process ensures better safeguarding when delivering photography for schools.

How long will you take to photograph the children?

The glib answer is… how long do you want us there?!

Unlike many photography companies for schools, we take a range of photos and don’t rush any child that needs a little more time! Some Schools want photo day done and dusted by lunchtime – and that’s fine. But others – especially Early Years – would do well to take a little more time.

As a rule of thumb:

• Primary Schools can plan for 20 minutes max per class of 30.
• Secondary much faster.
• Small nurseries under 40 children should be done by 11.30, larger Nurseries into the afternoon.
• If you’ve a lot of children (over 500 in Schools, over 100 in Nurseries), then we can supply two (or more) photographers to ensure we’re through in good time, and keep it fun!

Are your photographers DBS checked?

Yes, all our schools photographers subscribe to the enhanced DBS check and are automatically renewed every year. Despite this, we do insist that our photographers are always supported by a member of staff throughout the photo day.

How do you handle Safeguarding issues?

We take safeguarding very seriously, and ensure that all our school photographers and staff have the appropriate level of training, as well as having cleared an annual DBS check. We insist that our schools photographer is never left without staff support on photo day, and are happy to speak up if we feel any child needs further support in line with the School or Nursery’s safeguarding policies.

Do you photograph siblings and Friends?

Of course!

We usually offer in-School siblings (or cousins!) as part of your annual photo day. Just make sure we know in advance so we can prep your schools photographer. Please bear in mind that if you open up Sibling photos to children outside of school, it’ll take a fair while longer than individual photos, and a little more management for you too.

As for Friends, we think you should be wary of offering Friend photos on photo day, as there’s a high probability of accidentally missing a friendship group! And once you start, you can find more friendship bubbles than you ever knew existed! Then there’s the possibility of the one with no friendship group to console… We suggest reserving friendship group photos for your Leavers’ photo day and perhaps to include them in your Yearbook instead – of course, we can help you with that and are happy to give you free use of friendship photos alongside your leavers group photo, if you print your yearbooks with us!

Do you provide images for our School systems (SIMs etc)?

Yes indeed!

We’ve a nifty barcode system that allows us to easily tag photos for schools systems, ready to upload later. We do not charge for SIMs or equivalent images for your system, unless Schools are not offering photos to sell to parents (which is unusual). If you use SIMs, then a photo upload license from ESS is required to populate your database automatically. ESS charge for this license, however we can obtain this for you at a discounted rate.

When will we receive our commission?

Unlike many photography companies for schools, we ensure your commission is paid via BACs within 4-8 weeks after final orders are in, so you can invest it on something fabulous for your children or staff!

How do parents place their photo orders?

Almost all parents order their school photos directly online with us. However, if they cannot use our system, or prefer to pay via credit card or cash, then we can provide a downloadable order form for them on request, If you are willing to take cash payments, then we can receive an order from you via wetransfer and invoice you for the cash payment.

No family should be restricted from getting lovely photos of their child, so we’ll do all we can to get around access issues.

Are we expected to collect money for photo orders?

99% of parents now order their school photos directly online with us! It gives them the full choice of images and products, and allows us to dispatch their order within 2 to 5 working days, and of course it means you never need to handle payments!

There may be the odd parent who cannot access the internet, and on these occasions, we may be able to support you in taking their order and payment for them so they don’t miss out. Just let us know if you have a need to manage orders for any of your families.

We have children who are not allowed to be photographed. How do you manage this?

We understand the sensitivity of child safeguarding, and so we are mindful that we only photograph or film children whose parents or guardians have given express permission to do so. We use a careful process in conjunction with the School or Nursery staff during any marketing shoots:

• We keep a readily accessible list of children without permissions available throughout the shoot.
• We will carefully position children to ensure those who cannot be photographed are kept out of frame.
• We often use stickers on tops to easily identify students who cannot appear in school marketing photos or videos.
• We insist images are checked by School staff before publishing.

This approach helps us respect privacy while efficiently capturing images for your school’s marketing materials.

If you’d like to ask more, then feel free to get in touch.

How can we ensure lowest prices for our parents?

We understand that money can be tight for many families, and we believe that their annual School photos should be affordable so they don’t have to miss out on these precious memories. That’s why our pricing is set to be lower than our main competitors, and why we offer various discounts based on spend and timely orders to ensure they get great value every time!

From ‘Earlybird’ discounts for orders within a week of receiving proofs, to mix packs offering up to 30% off when parent sbuild their own packs of just the photos and prints they actually want, we give them the opportunity to order what they need and get our lowest prices.

If your families need extra helps, then we can discuss reducing your School commission to subsidise parent prices, so feel free to reach out if this is important to you.

How often do your prices change?

Our product prices have remained fairly consistent over the past few years and we will always aim to keep costs down for parents and schools, however we are not immune to cost increases from our suppliers, and with paper costs increasing by up to 60% over recent years, we are always trying to balance costs with value for our customers.

What we will not do is offer new clients discount rates only to change pricing mid-season or increase costs for future years. All our customers will get the same fair pricing. Here is our policy in reference to product pricing:

• Consistent fair pricing: No artificial discounts in year one only to be followed by increases in future years! Beware new suppliers offering amazing deals, as they rarely continue year after year…
• Commitment to affordability: We strive to keep our prices reasonable and affordable for our customers. Our package discounts and earlybird offers are just one way we add value for parents.
• Transparent approach: Any price changes will only reflect genuine increases in our costs or inflation. Our margins are slim, and we rely on fantastic photographs to drive our business profitability.
• Customer-focused: We understand the pressure of bills and cost of living on families and always aim to ensure your valued memories are always affordable.

Is there a charge for staff portraits to be taken?

If time allows then yes we’ll take photos of your staff members for FREE on the same day as your school photo day, or as part of your marketing photo shoot. Photos will be using the same setup as for the children. Yet another free benefit for our partners!

We do also offer more creative staff image photoshoots as a separate chargeable service, which allows for more creative or fun ideas. Feel free to get in touch to discuss any ideas you may have!

Is there a fee for digital copies of portraits that automatically install onto our Schools system?

We do not charge for systems images for databases such as SIMs or equivalent, unless Schools are not offering photos to sell to parents (which is unusual). If you use SIMs, then a photo upload license from ESS is required to populate your database automatically. ESS charge for this license, however, we can obtain this for you at a discounted rate. Most other database systems include the functionality for image upload in your usual fees.

Other than this, consider free photos for schools systems as just another benefit of partnering with Smiles At School!

What do you charge to attend our School?

Our attendance fee for your schools photographer is £0. Zip. Nada. FREE for most of our School and Nursery customers who offer our photos for sale to parents. This is on the proviso that they help to promote Photo day, encourage purchases by parents, and send timely reminders ie: when Discounts are due to end.

For smaller settings, or those that return a poor purchase rate, we might charge a small attendance fee, or offer no commission.

If your School wishes to provide photos for free to Parents, we can discuss an equivalent cost for you to purchase photosgraphs on their behalf.

What commission will we make on school photos?

It depends on a few things: What you charge your parents, and of course also on how well you help to encourage parents to buy their school photos!
Our standard prices allow for a commission of 10% to schools (excluding print costs) Be aware that our commission is paid on ALL sales made for a shoot up to and for a week beyond the ‘earlybird discount’ date an, unlike many companies, we do not restrict commission to web only sales or first week only sales limits.

However, if commission is more important to you than parent pricing, we can discuss increasing parent costs to allow for a higher commission. We feel great value for parents is important though, and see that with good pricing, better commission can be gained through increased order values.

So there are a number of other ways you can influence the amount of commission you receive, without increasing parent costs:

• Hand out proof forms as soon as you receive them, giving parents more time to order.
• ‘Ooh’ and ‘Aaah’ over the photos when you do so. We see as much as a 15% increase in commission for those schools who actively engage in handing out proofs, compared to those who simply pop them in book bags.
• Look out for our reminder emails, and communicate regularly with parents up to and after the Earlybird Deadline
• Don’t forget the ‘Earlybird Deadline’ is only for the earlybird discount and Free delivery. Ensure parents know they can still place orders after this date!
• If any orders are sent to School for distribution (most go direct to parent homes), then make a fuss of handing these out. Any parents sitting on the fence about ordering may be encouraged to do so when they see others receiving theirs!

What price are school photos?

We believe that annual School photos should be affordable for parents so they don’t have to miss out on precious memories every year. That’s why our pricing is set to be lower than our main competitors, and why we offer various discounts based on spend and early orders to ensure they get great value every time!

From ‘Earlybird’ discounts for orders within a week of receiving proofs, to mix packs offering up to 30% off when parents build their own packs of just the photos and prints they actually want, we give them the opportunity to order what they need and get our lowest prices.

The costs of running a photography business are increasing annually. From ensuring all our photographers are fully insured, thus protecting your children and staff, plus regular training, purchasing of professional equipment, repairs plus the other general costs of running any business. All of these costs have an impact and yet, school photography still remains the lowest-cost way of getting fantastic regular photos of your children every year. And for our nursery photography customers, parents receive a wide range of creative, fun images that often surpass those that can be obtained by most other photography solutions. Considering a private photography session can cost upwards of £100 for just a sitting (that’s without the cost of prints and products afterwards), a high quality school or nursery photographer suddenly proves to be amazing value for money.

It costs parents absolutely nothing for us to photograph their children, and as an example of how our product prices are even more affordable for those who value their photos, a £10 print reduces to as little as £6.70 once all our earlybird and multi-buy discounts are taken into account. Plus we always offer free delivery back to the school to keep costs even lower!

Remember that one other cost impacting the price at which we sell photos to parents is the commission that is paid to the School. If your families need extra help, then we can discuss reducing your School commission to subsidise parent prices, so feel free to reach out if this is important to you.

We’ve written a blog post on this subject before. Check out howe we explain how good school photos are great value …