Information Guides, Resources & Consultations
Records Management Toolkit for Schools Version 4 - May 2012
Date added: 18 May 2012
The toolkit has been comprehensively revised and some additions have been made and some changes have been made to the format of the document. The information below outlines what can be found in the toolkit with links to the relevant documents which can then be downloaded and amended electronically for use in the school. For the changes that have been made to version 3.1 see Version Control.
The Records Management Toolkit for Schools is designed as guidance and should not be quoted to users as being a “standard”. All local authorities should seek the advice of their own legal departments before using the toolkit. Local authorities should not refer members of the public to the IRMS for clarification about the toolkit. The IRMS is not a public body and therefore is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. All requests for information relating to the toolkit used by individual authorities must be addressed by that authority.
The Records Management Toolkit for Schools contains the following sections, which are provided as individual fact sheets for ease of reference.
Records Management Policy
Each public authority (including individual schools) should have a records management policy. The toolkit contains a policy document which can be adopted in its entirety or adapted to reflect the different needs of different schools.
Records Management Programme
The Records Management Toolkit aims to assist individual schools to manage records throughout their lifecycle. There is advice about managing e-mail to ensure that it becomes part of the vital record. There is information and advice about information security and how to ensure compliance under the Data Protection Act 2000 and information about business continuity to ensure that vital records are not lost or destroyed in the event offire,flood or theft. There is also some advice about how to conduct an information audit.
Some guidelines about what should be included in the main pupil record have been included and some advice about what information should be transferred on to the next school and how this information should be transferred.
The core part of the toolkit are the retention guidelines which list all the possible records any school, in England & Wales, might produce and the recommended retention periods. Some of these have a statutory basis, others have been agreed in consultation with schools around the county. There are also retention guidelines for Early Years Providers. There is some information about the benefits of using a retention schedule. There are also guidelines about the safe disposal of records which may include transferring records to the local archive office.
Closed School Guidance
There is some general guidance about what needs to be done with records when a school closes or amalgamates with another school in the same area.
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