For anthropologists working with young people in schools, an ambiguous and anxiety-provoking balancing act is required; how can the researcher align with the relational sensibilities of ethnography while also adhering to the strict boundaries and risk management ethos of school and university ethics? Tracing research relationships developed with students during fieldwork, this paper calls for an ethical perspective on ethnography that is longitudinal, inclusive of a range of fieldwork relationships, and accounts for researcher vulnerability.