THE VIDEO footage is a little wobbly, sometimes fuzzy, but it captures a magical family moment.

The tea-towel-wearing shepherd totters on stage, blurts his lines and joins an angelic chorus in singing Little Donkey.

Teary-eyed mums and grannies look on, the curtain goes down, the picture fizzes out.

It's a must-have scene in the family video collection - but it's under threat.

More and more Hampshire schools are taking the drastic move of banning mums and dads from filming their own children because there are growing fears the pictures will fall into the hands of paedophiles.

Some schools have even pulled the shutters down on taking simple photographs.

But outraged parents say it's their right to take pictures of their children.

They have hit out at school bosses trying to sell professional copies of nativity videos while outlawing amateur footage, saying they are stooping low to bring in extra cash.

But where does the axe come down on the school's responsibility to protect its pupils?

This week the Daily Echo reported that Romsey's Cupernham Infant School was considering a blanket ban on filming the Christmas nativity.

Instead, a professional would capture the special events on video and copies would go on sale at £8 each.

But angry parents felt the school was using the paedophile scare to fleece them for money - and governors now look likely to scrap the idea.

For mums and dads at Fair Oak Infant School, in Botley Road, a similar U-turn looks unlikely.

Head teacher Hazel Shaw announced yesterday that filming was banned - but videos would be on sale for £10 and DVDs for £12.

Furious parents, who did not wish to be identified, emailed a statement to the Daily Echo.

It said: "We feel our children are being used as cash cows for Ofsted-obsessed schools and we feel we contribute enough funds through various other schemes put in place by schools for us to part with our money."

Mrs Shaw said she had agonised for hours over the difficult decision.

Hampshire County Council provides reams of information on consent forms, publicity material, webcams, what children should wear and the Data Protection Act.

But when it comes to Nativity plays, education bosses sit on the fence.

Guidance says schools need not seek permission for parents to video plays.

And as long as parents keep the images to themselves, there's no breach of the Data Protection Act.

But it also states: "Parents are there at the invitation of the school and it is up to the school to decide if they wish to allow videos or photographs to be taken by parents during the event."

For Fair Oak Infant the decision came down, in the end, not to risk of paedophiles - but to congestion."What we find is that lots of parents who want to video will stand around the edge of the hall and it gets very congested, blocking up fire exits," said Mrs Shaw.

"I don't think it's fair to parents to have to buy the video, but on the other hand we did sell 150 last year, even when parents were allowed to film it themselves. Some people will buy four or five - the cost doesn't seem to be an issue.

"The whole debate was generated by the paedophile issue but the main reason for not allowing parents to film wasn't to do with that. Even if you take an ordinary photograph it can still end up on the Internet. It was more about congestion."

But the question looks set to become as much a part of Christmas as Santa and shopping, as Mrs Shaw added: "We're not sure this is the best way of dealing with it. I think it's very sad if parents can't ever take a photograph of their child in school."