Paphos People

A school worried about internet security has disguised children in photographs on its website with acid house-style smiley faces.

Staff at the Essex primary school said they had made the move to protect the pupils from unwanted attention.

Smiley faces on a yellow background were a popular symbol of the acid house raving scene in the late 1980s.

However, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said the school may have gone "too far".

Clare Reece, headteacher at Cann Hall Primary School in Clacton, said: "The public nature of the internet is an issue we feel strongly about.

"Not all parents want their children's picture on there. You can't say what is going to happen with any of those pictures."

The photographs - which include group pictures and shots of sporting events - were shown unaltered in school newsletters.

The yellow and white smiley faces were only added for the online versions. They had previously been blurred and the smiley faces were apparently added after a "computer glitch".

Chris Cloke, the NSPCC's head of child protection awareness, said the school was not striking the correct balance.

He said: "Anyone posting photos of children on the internet needs to carefully consider the risk this poses to children.

"However, in this case the impulse to protect children's identity may have gone too far.

"Schools and other organisations can take sensible precautions that strike a balance between protection and celebrating children's achievements - for example, placing photos of children in a password-protected area of their website only accessible by staff and children."

The school has now removed the smiley faces and gone back to blurring images of pupils.