Data Protection - right of access

[billythewhizz]

Has anyone made a request to their school for all information held relevant to their child and where their child is discussed/mentioned. This would include all communication and data stored (internal reports, emails, internal correspondence like teacher to teacher/artistic director, etc) which you/your child may not be party to but have the right of access. I believe the school should comply with this and respond with all information within 1 month or give good reason for delay and also if they don’t fully comply i.e. they are selective on what they share or say data lost (they should adhere to data retention policy) then further action can be taken. 

[Peanut68]

That’s a very very interesting question….

And I wonder if once a pupil leaves they delete all records or is their a duty to retain them? 
I had once thought about this but decided at the time life was too short & unless we were going to seek legal redress & launch family into all that entails it was a can of worms best left to rot. 
And I did agonise as bringing to light our issues might potentially save others from similar treatment if the schools see their are consequences… but yet no….put head back in sand. Why? Because we all know this doesn’t stop just at the door of schools as who are these people with influence in schools? Former dancers with influence across many schools/companies/friends to choreographers, dancers, directors, members of boards etc etc 

The whole feels rather ‘old boys club’ rotten - just as seedy as we tend to think about the proliferation of MPs from Oxford etc etc 

[Neverdancedjustamum]

9 minutes ago, Peanut68 said:

That’s a very very interesting question….

And I wonder if once a pupil leaves they delete all records or is their a duty to retain them? 
I had once thought about this but decided at the time life was too short & unless we were going to seek legal redress & launch family into all that entails it was a can of worms best left to rot. 
And I did agonise as bringing to light our issues might potentially save others from similar treatment if the schools see their are consequences… but yet no….put head back in sand. Why? Because we all know this doesn’t stop just at the door of schools as who are these people with influence in schools? Former dancers with influence across many schools/companies/friends to choreographers, dancers, directors, members of boards etc etc 

The whole feels rather ‘old boys club’ rotten - just as seedy as we tend to think about the proliferation of MPs from Oxford etc etc 

Schools should have a data retention / record retention policy. This will vary from school to school especially since U.K. GDPR and the Data Protection Act requires institutions to keep data for only as long as they need it and with good reason to do so, other these need to be either destroyed or securely archived if needed to be kept for longer. Data retention policies are usually publicly available on institutions’ websites. It would also depend on the nature of the information you’d need. The example given on the gov.uk website is that pupil names in the safeguarding system would typically be kept on record for much longer than in the catering system.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Neverdancedjustamum

[Dreaming]

The following information is available on the ICO web site. Accessing pupils' information | ICO  (I have highlighted an important section in bold).

 

Firstly, anyone with parental authority can request access to a child’s education record under education regulations. This would cover information such as; the records of the pupil’s academic achievements as well as correspondence from teachers, local education authority employees and educational psychologists engaged by the school’s governing body. It may also include information from the child and from you, as a parent, carer or guardian.  

 

In England, schools are regulated by The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005. Those with parental authority can apply to the school to view an education record or receive a copy. Importantly, this right only applies to all local authority schools, and all special schools, including those which are not maintained by a local authority. Independent schools, academies and free schools are not obliged to respond to a request for access to a pupil’s education record under this legislation.

In addition, independent schools, academies and free schools are not obliged to respond to a request for access to a pupil’s education record, although they can choose to do so.

 

You may also want to consider a Subject Access Request. A general Subject Access Request is wider in scope and would include all data that is processed by the school. This would include all details on the educational record as well as other correspondence. Technically, a SAR can be submitted by any person with parental responsibility but unfortunately it is not as simple as you may think. The best interests of the child should always be considered but the overriding principle is that, even if a child is young, their information still belongs to them, and it is the child who has the right to access their information.

 

On receipt of a SAR from a parent, the school must therefore consider whether the child is mature enough to understand their right to see their personal information. If they believe that the child is mature enough, they can reject a request from a parent and only respond if the child submits a SAR themselves. Guidelines suggest that a 12 year old is generally considered to be able to make a request themselves.

 

The school may also try to rely on the  exemption that organisations have in that they do not need to provide the data if they believe that complying with the request would be likely to cause serious harm to the physical or mental health of any individual.  It may be worth trying to counter any attempt to reject the request on that basis by explaining why the provision of the information will not have an impact on her mental health.

 

I hope that helps.