It’s time to pause and reflect on what has been an incredibly busy year – but one filled with remarkable achievements and extraordinary opportunities.

Looking back at my past ‘end-of-year’ posts, they’ve been serious in tone and full of warnings about challenges ahead. This year feels different. People are finally realising that safeguarding and protecting children’s photos matters, and that gives me genuine optimism as the year closes.

Instead, I will kick off this end-of-year post by introducing you to the above statue which you may already be familiar with (btw – some love it, some hate it). I snapped it while in Boston USA a couple of weeks ago. If you have not seen it, it is of the monument called The Embrace. It’s a tribute to Dr Martin Luther King, Jr and Coretta Scott King (his wife) – a representation of a hug between the two, and honours their legacy of unconditional love and commitment to justice, including the kind of love that inspires community action and fighting for a better world. There is a powerful message inscribed around this sculpture from Coretta:

Love is such a powerful force. It’s there for everyone to embrace – that kind of unconditional love for all of humankind. That is the kind of love that impels people to go into the community and try to change conditions for others, to take risks for what they believe in.

This message resonates deeply with me. Everything I’ve accomplished professionally over the past decade grew from a simple need to protect my own family – and, in turn, the wider community – by giving all children greater control over their identity in the digital world we now inhabit.

My Insights from America and the UK: A Noticeable Rise in Safeguarding Awareness

I’ve again travelled quite a bit across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. This offered me a front-row seat to the most significant trends emerging in school operations and their genuine and growing focus on safeguarding.

Schools are no longer just “managing photos”; they’re operating in a landscape where AI-driven deepfakes, unauthorised image manipulation, and instant social sharing pose genuine reputational, emotional, and safety risks for children. At the same time, parents want both protection and engagement. These emerging threats and needs have created the necessary pressure for school leaders to prioritise systems that safeguard imagery, uphold consent, and prevent misuse.

Layered on top of the technology risks are tightening global regulations and new data protection obligations. From U.S. state-level privacy laws to the U.K.’s continued focus on children’s data protection, schools are recognising that compliance isn’t optional – it’s a core part of their duty of care.

Now the challenge for schools is how to select the best vendor that will take safeguarding of school data as seriously as the school does.

Across all the meetings visited, the message was consistent: safeguarding is expanding, and secure media management is now squarely at the centre of it. School leaders consistently highlighted the increasing complexity of protecting student identities – whether in photos, videos, or everyday digital interactions. Media safety is no longer a peripheral duty – it’s central to child protection strategies.

Events and conferences reiterated this theme. Presenters spoke openly about the pressures on schools to navigate laws, expectations from parents, and the operational challenges of managing vast amounts of student imagery in a responsible and compliant way. Seeing this global shift reinforced the value of the work that has been done in this space and the importance of staying ahead of emerging concerns.

A Year of Recognition and Achievement for pixevety

This year marked one of our most successful yet. pixevety was honoured to receive industry awards and accreditations recognising our leadership, technological innovation, and commitment to safeguarding, including:

• Safer Technologies for Schools (ST4S) rebadge
• The Best Educational Service Provider Award: Security Software
• ISO27001 certification (passed annual audit)
• 9ine Consulting Certified Vendor (for UK and US)
• and…

Winning this year’s British Data Awards in the UK was pure icing on the cake!!

These accolades reflect the incredible work our team has done to continuously evolve our platform and support schools with practical ready-made solutions in image safeguarding.

Whether it is acknowledgement for our data protection initiatives, our advancements in securing data and privacy compliance, or our customer service excellence, each accolade was a reminder of the trust schools have placed in pixevety and the impact we’re making in the sector. We cannot be happier with this level of recognition.

Building Momentum into the New Year

The challenges schools face around media safety are increasing, but so is the awareness (and appetite) for adopting the right safeguarding tools to manage those challenges responsibly.

As I look to 2026, my focus remains unchanged: strengthening safeguarding, elevating operational efficiency, and empowering schools to take control of their media environments with confidence and ease.

A Heartfelt Thank You to the pixevety family and our Wonderful Customers

And finally, none of this would be possible without the extraordinary people behind pixevety (the team and beyond) and the incredible community that supports us.

To our team – thank you. Your expertise, passion for safeguarding, and unwavering dedication to our mission have shaped this remarkable year. You continually push boundaries, solve problems, and support schools with professionalism and heart.

To our customers – thank you for your trust, partnership, and feedback. Your commitment to protecting your students inspires everything we do. You challenge us to innovate, help us improve, and remind us why this work matters. It’s a privilege to support you.

Here’s to closing out a successful year and stepping confidently into the next one – united in a cause and embracing it together!