Retention and Disposal of School Records
The EA Information Governance Service have previously issued the following communication to Schools, which provides guidance on records management in schools, including retention and disposal.
The Department of Education NI Disposal Records for Schools
The Department of Education NI provides a model Disposal of Records Schedule for schools, which your school can adopt and use. The model schedule has been quality assured by PRONI in accordance with the Public Records Act (NI) 1923 and is available on DENI’s website.
The model schedule also includes a Records Management Policy Statement (Section 6) which your school may wish to adopt.
Child Protection: Record Keeping in Schools
The Department of Education has published the following Circular, which provides advice and guidance to schools on the recording and retention of child protection concerns.
Management of SEN Records on SIMS
SEN records can contain very sensitive information in relation to pupils but also in relation to other family members and their family circumstances. Previously, schools retained hard copies of these files in school and understood the importance of ensuring that such sensitive information was stored safely and securely in order to prevent any unauthorised access.
Schools are now moving towards a digital environment for storing SEN records such as Statements of Special Educational Need, Educational Psychology letters of involvement, EA services reports and pupil health information reports.
The UK GDPR requires schools, as the data controller in respect of all personal data collected, to ensure compliance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection principles. This includes ensuring that personal data (including data held electronically) is stored securely to protect against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical and organisational measures. It also includes ensuring that personal data is only made available to those individuals who require access. When keeping digital records of SEN pupil files, the data protection principles must be observed in the same way that they apply to hard copy records.
It is the school’s responsibility to ensure that records are managed effectively so that your school can demonstrate compliance with its legal and regulatory obligations. Please refer to C2k’s Managing SEN Student Data Procedures Guide for advice on ensuring that the appropriate permissions status is selected and applied to the record(s). Alternatively, your school may also wish to consider keeping digital SEN pupil files in a Private Folder on the C2k network. Information on saving or sharing confidential files using Private Folders is available from C2k.
For queries in relation to SIMS, calls can be logged with the C2k Service Desk on 08000 931 541 or through the Online Service Manager portal available in My Apps (see EN040 for instructions).
If you have any queries in relation to the retention periods attached to SEN records (or other school documents), please contact the EA’s Information Governance team by telephone at 028 8241 1311 or by emailing dpo@eani.org.uk.