GUIDANCE:
RECORD KEEPING IN SCHOOLS AND
COLLEGES
CHILD PROTECTION & WELFARE
CONCERNS
June 2014 (version 2)
Contents
Section
1
Introduction
2
Establishing a Standard School Recording Process
3
Recording Aide Memoire for Staff
4
When and how to start a child protection / welfare concern stand
alone pupil file
5
What records should be included in a child’s Child Protection/Welfare
Concerns stand-alone file?
6
Chronologies
7
Storage of Records
8
Sharing Information
9
Data Protection
10
Transfer of Safeguarding / Child Protection Records
11
Retention of Records
Appendices
i
Child Protection Incident / Welfare Concern form
ii
Safeguarding Record Front Sheet
iii
Chronology
Acknowledgement: These Guidelines are substantially based on ‘Guidance for
Record Keeping in Maintained Schools’ from the East Sussex Safeguarding Children
Board, and Record Keeping Guidance issued by Walsall Local Authority who kindly
gave their permission to amend and localise this document for Stoke-on-Trent and
Staffordshire schools and colleges.
1
1
Introduction:
This guidance covers: general principles of keeping child protection records;
what records should be kept; how records should be made and kept; access to
child protection records and information sharing; issues relating to referrals
and consent; transfer of child protection records.
The guidance should be read in conjunction with the following documents:
Keeping Children Safe in Education April 2014 - DFE;
Working Together to Safeguard Children (HM Government, March 2013)
Please note the following acronyms are used in this guidance to reflect the
terminology used in the different authorities:
DSL – Designated Safeguarding Lead (Staffordshire)
1.1
Well-kept records provide an essential underpinning to good
professional practice.
1.2
Safeguarding children and promoting their welfare is a task for the whole
organisation. Ensuring all staff know when and how to record concerns about
a child’s welfare, however small or apparently insignificant is an essential part
of the DSL role. Good record keeping is an important part of a school’s
accountability to children and their families and will assist /DSLs in meeting
their key responsibility to respond appropriately to welfare concerns about
children. Records should be factual, accurate, relevant, up to date and
auditable. They should support monitoring, risk-assessment and planning for
children and enable informed and timely decisions about any appropriate
actions to be taken.
2
Establishing a standard school recording process
2.1
The use of a standard “Child Protection Incident / Welfare Concern” form for all
staff irrespective of their role in school / educational establishment is required.
The form must be easily accessible to all staff and depending on the size and
type of establishment should be available in a range of settings e.g. the staff
room, school office, intranet, Head Teacher’s/ DSL / Pastoral care staff offices.
Its use should be included in any induction process. An example of a record of
concerns form can be found in appendix i
2.2
All Staff should be aware that details of their concerns may be shared with
others, for example at Child Protection Conferences. In exceptional cases,
they may be submitted as evidence in court proceedings or at a serious case
review. All recording should differentiate between fact, allegation,
observation and opinion.
2
2.3
It is also vital that Head Teachers /DSLs notify staff of how they intend to
respond to reported / recorded concerns. Staff need to feel empowered to
seek clarification if concerns have not been reported to the statutory agencies.
They should also be made aware that ‘anybody can make a referral’ (Keeping
Children Safe in Education 2014 – para 34) and be familiar with the school
‘Whistle Blowing Policy’ in relation to safeguarding matters.
3.
Recording Aide Memoire for staff
3.1
Safeguarding children is a whole school and College task. All staff have an
important role to play in helping to identify welfare concerns and possible
indicators of abuse or neglect at an early stage. For some children a “one off”
serious incident or concern may occur and you will have no doubt that this
must be immediately recorded and reported to the Local Authority where the
child lives. If the child lives in Stoke on Trent this will be to the Children’s
Services Advice and Referral Team (ART). If the child lives in Staffordshire,
this will be to the First Response Team or the existing Social Worker when
appropriate. Schools with a number of students who live in neighbouring
authorities should ensure that they are familiar with their procedures for referral
and that the contact details are easily accessible by the Designated
Safeguarding Leads.
3.2
Most often however, it is the accumulation of a number of small incidents,
events or observations that provide the evidence of harm being caused to a
child. It is vital therefore that any concern you have for a child’s welfare,
however small, is recorded and passed to the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
All concerns must be recorded on the setting’s Record of Concern form – an
example can be found in Appendix i.
3.3
The system detailed in this document should replace all informal note keeping
by all staff for all child protection or welfare concerns. This is to ensure proper
communication, collation of information, storage and transfer of records.
3.4
What is a “Child Protection / Welfare Concern”?
Concerns may arise in one or more of the following areas:






The child’s behaviour
The child has a physical injury
The child makes a disclosure or allegation
The child’s physical presentation
Information from or observation of behaviour of a parent /carer
Information from third party e.g. sibling, friend, taxi driver, parent who does not
have residence etc.
3
3.5
Record of Concern form (appendix 1)
What is recorded using this form?

Members of staff (including volunteers and temporary staff) should make a
written account of any concern they have regarding the welfare or well-being of
a pupil. This record should be passed as soon as possible to the Designated
Safeguarding Lead. Concerns which initially seem trivial may turn out to be
vital pieces of information later, so it is important to give as much detail as
possible. Ensure details are legible. Staff should be advised to complete as
much as possible, but it is acknowledged that some information will not be
known to staff/volunteers in certain roles e.g. lunchtime supervisors.
Details should include:
A record of the pupils’ details: e.g. name, date of birth, address and family
details (dependent on role of referring member of staff).
 Date and time of the event / concern.
 The nature of the concern raised
 Physical marks and injuries are recorded. We recommend that this is not by
use of a ‘body chart’. Do not examine the child. Only record what you can see
and do not make judgements about the injury e.g. making assumptions about
the age of a bruise.
 The action taken and by whom.
 Name and position of the person making the record.
In the case of disclosure, the record should also include:
 As full an account as possible of what the child said, recording the child’s own
words as much as possible (when age appropriate, ask the child if it is okay if
you write notes so that you can remember what has been said).
 An account of the questions put to the child.
 Time and place of disclosure.
 Who was present at the time of disclosure
 The demeanour of the child
 The incident / event / concern form is timed and dated and signed.
 The record should be factual and written using straightforward language.
4
Any child protection concerns must be reported to the Designated Person for
Child Protection without delay. Staff must not wait until the end of the
lesson/day to refer significant concerns.
3.5
How the DSL records actions taken in response to the reported incident /
welfare concern.
When a Record of Concern form is passed to you it is important that you check
this is sufficiently detailed and has been dated and signed by the staff member
who has reported the concern.
3.6
‘Action Taken’ Section is for you (the DSL) to record your response or action
to every welfare concern form passed to you. The level of detail of this record
will clearly depend on the nature and seriousness of the concern but may
include:
 Requests to staff for monitoring specific aspects of the child’s presentation,
behaviour, attendance etc.
 Discussions and telephone calls (with colleagues, parents and children /
young people and other agencies or services)
 Professional consultations.
 Letters sent and received.
3.7
‘Outcome section’ – this is for you (the DSL) to record the outcomes of any
responses or action taken e.g.





CAF / Early Help Assessment / other early intervention
Referral forms (both for external and education-based services e.g. MARF
(multi agency referral form – see LSCB links at end of document)
Contact from Children’s Services Advice and Referral Team (Stoke) or
First Response Team (FRT – Staffordshire) or a safeguarding team social
worker in response to referral.
Strategy meeting under child protection procedures.
Appointments e.g. for Child with Educational Psychologist.
4
When and how to start a child protection / welfare concern
stand- alone pupil file
4.1
Once a Record of Concern form has been passed to you and you have made a
record of the action you have taken in response to this and the outcome
agreed, these documents require storage in a separate child protection /
safeguarding filing system. This should be done regardless of whether
formal child protection procedures have been initiated. For some children
this single record will be the only concern held for them over their time in
5
school. For others, further information will be accumulated, often from a variety
of sources over time.
4.2
An effective method for storing single or infrequent records of concern is to file
these in alphabetically divided ring binder files. It may be helpful for larger /
busier schools to use separate files for each Year group. This system is
particularly recommended for Primary schools since this will assist at the end
of the Academic Year with meeting the responsibility to transfer records when
children leave the school. (Also see Section 7 and Section 10)
4.3
A stand-alone individual file for a child must be started when:



Concerns for the child (and consequently records of these) and actions in
school are increasing.
The concern reaches the threshold for the child to be referred to Stoke on
Trent Children’s Services Advice and Referral Team, Staffordshire First
Response Team or a Social Care team in another local authority due to child
protection or child in need concerns.
You have been made aware of the involvement of Children’s Services with the
child / family and are participating in multi agency involvement.
4.4
Where concerns relate to more than one child from the same family at the
school a separate file for each child should be created and cross referenced to
the files of other family members. Common records e.g. child protection
conference notes should be duplicated for each file where appropriate.
4.5
Each file should contain clear details of any professionals supporting the child
and their family/caregiver (including Adult Services) giving their name, agency
and contact telephone numbers. Each contact should be recorded clearly, the
context of the contact and any agreed outcomes/actions.
4.6
When an individual file is started it is helpful to use the front sheet in this
document (Appendix ii). The front sheet will need to be updated with any
change of circumstances. It is also recommended that the pupil’s general
school record is marked in some way to indicate the presence of this separate
confidential file. A coloured sticker is one means of doing this.
5
What records should be included in a child’s Child Protection /
Welfare Concerns stand-alone file?





File Front Sheet (appendix ii)
Chronology (appendix iii)
All school Record of Concern forms (appendix i)
Any notes initially recorded in the form of notebooks or diaries.
Records of discussions, telephone calls and meetings (with colleagues,
other agencies or services, parents, carers and children/young people)
6





5.1
Professional consultations.
Letters sent and received.
Referral forms (both for external and education-based services)
Minutes/notes of meetings (copies for each child as appropriate)
Formal plans linked to the child (e.g. Child Protection Plan, Child in Need
Plan CAF’s / Early Help)
Child Protection records should usually be kept in date order, with the newest
information at the top of the file. However, in complex and long running cases
where information is held in a variety of formats it may be helpful to organise
this on a ‘modular’ basis for ease of reference. Each section should be filed in
date order with the newest information at the top. An example would be a file
with sections entitled:




Chronology
School records e.g. attendance and academic assessment data
Letters
Multi-agency records / documentation
Health
6
Chronology of events for an individual child
6.1
The importance of understanding concerns for a child in the context of history,
time-lines and other known information cannot be underestimated.
Chronologies are central to this process and it is strongly recommended that
these are completed on an ongoing basis as incidents or events occur. In
addition to aiding assessment, a chronology will serve as an important record
of school actions and when attached to a Multi-Agency Referral Form (MARF)
can provide evidence for the reason for the referral.
6.2
A chronology must list specific and significant incidents, events and actions
taken in relation to the child and where appropriate their family, with a brief
explanation or cross-reference to the relevant record within the file.
6.3
The chronology must be stored at the front of a child’s safeguarding file
alongside the front sheet where it can be quickly accessed and viewed. It must
be kept up to date. An example of a chronology template can be found in
appendix iii
7
Storage of records
7.1
The child’s Child Protection/Welfare File must be kept separate from all other
records relating to that pupil in school.
7
7.2
Child protection/Welfare records should be stored in a locked cabinet with
access only to those with direct Safeguarding responsibility for pupils or on an
electronic drive only accessible by those with CP responsibility?
7.3
A Nominated senior person should be responsible for holding the key to the
locked cabinet in the absence of the DSL from school.
7.4
It is essential to ensure that the school’s Leadership Team know the
arrangements for access to records in the absence of the DSL. This should
form part of the organisation’s general child protection/safeguarding policy in
respect of how welfare concerns for children will be managed if the Designated
Safeguarding Lead is not available.
8
Sharing information
8.1
All information held by the school must be shared with the appropriate
Children’s Social Care referral Service (the Local Authority where the child
resides) when there is a concern that a child is at risk of significant harm.
Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 and sections 10 and 11 of the Children Act
2004 empowers all agencies to share information in these circumstances.
Schools should also share information with other agencies in order to promote
the welfare of a child (section 175/section 157 of the Education Act 2002)
though this would generally be with the consent of parents and/or the child
(depending on age and competency. There will be cases, however, where
practitioners will be justified in sharing some confidential information in order to
make decisions about sharing further information or taking action. Schools
and Colleges should also have regard to information sharing principles,
policies and tools (such as Patchwork).
8.2
On occasions where safeguarding concerns exist for a child in the context of a
family situation and siblings attend other schools, it may be appropriate for the
DSL to consult on a confidential basis with the DSL from another school to
share and jointly consider concerns.
9
Data protection and disclosure of information - who should
have access to child protection records or information?
School and College staff
9.1
The secure filing system should be easily available to the DSL or their deputy
or others as set out at para 7.2 / 7.3 above. A locked filing cabinet will usually
be adequate.
9.2
It is highly unlikely that all members of staff need to know the details of a case
or that there should be widespread access to the records. Access to and
sharing of information should be on a need to know basis decided on a case8
by-case basis. Consideration must also be given to what needs to be shared.
Generally speaking, the closer the day-to-day contact with the child, the more
likely the need to know an outline of the case. Essentially, if someone receives
information in his / her professional capacity and the person giving that
information believes it will be treated securely and that belief is reasonable,
then the recipient of the information will be under a duty to treat it securely.
Pupils, students and their parents
9.3
All school and College staff have a duty of care to protect personal information
under the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1984, and the definition of
“data” extends to informal notes and messages.
9.4
Neither the parent / carer nor the pupil has an automatic right of access to child
protection records. It is however best practice to make reports available to the
child's parents / carers unless to do so would place the child at risk of
significant harm. If an application is made to see the whole record, advice
should be sought from the child’s social worker, if they have one, and the
appropriate legal or information governance officer for the organisation. All
third party information should be removed, or consent sought for its disclosure
from source. This is in accordance with The Education (School Records)
Regulations 1989 and the disclosure provisions of the Data Protection Act
1984 (DPA).
9.5
Cases of alleged abuse that result in court proceedings may require the school
to disclose their records, either through the police or Children’s Services.
9.6
Relevant information from records must also be shared at child protection
conferences, and for the purpose of serious case reviews.
9.7
Records (suitably anonymised) may also be requested for use in disciplinary
proceedings against pupils or staff.
Other professionals
9.8
Child protection information / records should not ordinarily be shared outside
the parameters described in local safeguarding board procedures (LSCB) e.g.
minutes should not be released to the subjects of strategy meetings, or to
solicitors on request – always seek advice. Generally, in terms of compliance
with the Data Protection Act, obtaining informed consent of the subject would
legitimise information sharing however, this is not always practical.
9.9
References by name to children other than the pupil who is the subject of the
record should be removed when disclosing records, unless consent is obtained
from the individual/s concerned (or their parents / carer on their behalf). Care
should be taken to ensure all identifying information is removed from the copy
of the record to be shared.
9
9.10 If the record to be disclosed contains information about an adult professional,
that information can be disclosed if it relates to the performance by that person
of their job or other official duties e.g. a reference to a teacher in their teaching
role, or a school nurse in their nursing role. However, if the reference refers to
that individual’s private life, it should be removed (unless this relates to a child
protection matter which is relevant to the record to be disclosed).
9.11 The vetting arm of the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) have the legal
right to obtain copies of confidential information around child protection and
internal disciplinary investigations when there are significant concerns about
the behaviour of a person in a position of trust who works with children and/or
vulnerable adults. This is to enable them to make decisions in regard to
whether a person should be barred from working with children. The DBS may
share such documents with the adult subject. It is therefore appropriate to
redact certain personal information from these documents when it relates to
children and other adults. In these circumstances, you should seek advice
from your legal advisors as to appropriate redaction.
10
Transfer of Child Protection / Welfare Concerns records
10.1
When children transfer from your school or college and records of child
protection/welfare concerns exist these should be sent to the receiving school
or Further Education College without delay. This transfer should be arranged
separately from the main pupil file. A telephone discussion with the
Designated Safeguarding Lead in the receiving school should take place to
verbally advise of the concerns and make arrangements to securely and
confidentially transfer these records. Wherever possible, these must be
passed directly to the DSL or another authorised person in the receiving
school. If the original files are physically handed to the receiving school by the
sending school and a record of all files transferred is fully documented and
signed off by both parties, as having been sent and received, then copying the
documents would not be necessary. This may help in bulk transfers between
local schools. If this is not possible, e.g. due to the new school being at a
considerable distance from your own, the security of the file must be
considered e.g. secure courier. The school should copy the file and the
original documents should be sent under separate cover to new school /
college whilst the child is still under 18 (the information does not need to be
sent to a university for example). The copies should be shredded once
confirmation is received from the receiving school that all relevant documents
have arrived. The sending school should retain a record of the confirmation
and a record of when the files were shredded.
10.2
A written confirmation of receipt of incoming child protection/welfare records
should always be retained.
10
10.3
Electronic records must only be transferred by a secure electronic transfer
mechanism or after the information has been encrypted.
10.4
If a child who is the subject of a Child Protection Plan leaves your school and
you are unaware of the name of the child’s new education placement you
should contact the child’s social worker from Children’s Services to discuss
how records should be transferred.
10.5 If a child is moved “in haste”, perhaps in an attempt to avoid the involvement of
professionals and agencies, it may mean that the child/children and their
family/caregiver have moved across local authority boundaries. In these
circumstances school and settings should draw on local authority procedures
in regard to children who are missing, or children who are missing from
education. Schools should enter the child’s details onto the S2S website, and
where necessary inform Children’s Services. You should also refer to the
LSCB procedures – see web links at end of this guidance.
10.6
Records for Common Assessment Framework
Information gathered as part of the CAF process is governed by the same
rules as any other personal information. Even where the practitioner does not
have consent to share or transfer confidential information, they may lawfully
share it if this can be justified in the public interest. Where there is a clear risk
of significant harm to a child or young person or serious harm to adults the
public interest will almost certainly be satisfied. Schools also have a duty to
‘promote the welfare of pupils’ under section 175 or 157 of the Education Act
2002, and would therefore be justified in sharing confidential information for
this purpose. There will be other cases where practitioners will be justified in
sharing some confidential information in order to make decisions about sharing
further information or taking action.
10.7
Records when a child has been removed from school roll for Elective
Home Education (EHE)
Where a child is removed from a school roll in Staffordshire or Stoke on Trent,
their child protection files should be sent to the Designated EHE Officer within
the LA and the file sent in a secure manner (e.g. Courier) and a delivery
receipt obtained. The sending school must keep a record of the discussion /
date and time.
10.8
Records for children who do not yet meet the threshold for CAF/CIN
plans
Schools, FE institutions and Early Years settings will collate information about
children and young people where there are concerns, but where their concerns
do not reach the justification for a Child Concern Meeting (Stoke process) or
11
the Common Assessment Framework these concerns should always be
shared with parents/carers/the child. Should the child move to another
education setting a decision needs to be made by the Head teacher/Manager
whether to share the information with the new school/FE setting/Early Years
setting. The decision should be based on guidance contained in Information
Sharing Guidance released by DCFS (now DfE) but in general the following
principle applies: The sharing of information for the purpose of
safeguarding the welfare of children and young people is permissible
when it is necessary to exercise a statutory function (i.e. Section 17 or 47
enquiry). The Data Protection Act 1998 allows for sharing information
when there are concerns for a child’s welfare.
11
Retention of records pertaining to children
The School / College should refer to their retention of records guidance and
retention schedules. The Information Records and Management Service
(IRMS) offer information and advice (see link in ‘useful website’ section. In
general, Education Records should be kept until a child’s 25th birthday. The
relevant Local Authority will retain child protection records until the subject
reaches 75 years of age.
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Appendices:
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
Record of Concern Form
Child Protection Welfare Concerns Pupil File Front Sheet
Chronology of Events
Transfer of records template
Useful websites:
IRMS “Toolkit for Schools” includes a retention scheme
Staffordshire Safeguarding Children Board
Stoke on Trent Safeguarding Children Board
Staffordshire: Children missing education policy
HM Government information sharing guidance
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2014 DFE
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
12
Contact details:
Stoke on Trent
Stoke on Trent Advice and Referral Team:
08.30 – 17.00 Monday to Thursday,
08.30 – 16.30 Friday
01782 235100
Emergency Duty Team for out of hours child protection referrals: 01782 234234 Ad
Locality Social Workers Stoke on Trent (for advice and support about child welfare
concerns in that area)
North – Laura Shaw – 01782 237520/235177 or mobile 07771 508475
Central – Rachel Aubrey – 01782 237987/238353 or mobile 07826 891800
South – Sara Belford - 01782 237677 or mobile 07827 281639
Staffordshire
Staffordshire First Response Team
08.30 – 17.00 Monday to Thursday,
08.30 – 16.30 Friday
0800 1313 126a
Emergency Duty Service (for out of hours child protection referrals for Staffordshire
children): 0845 6042889
Education Welfare Officers and support for Child Welfare issues that do not meet
threshold of child protection can be obtained via the Local Support Team
Staffordshire Education Safeguarding Advice Service (not for child protection or
child welfare referrals) 01785 895836 or email esas@staffordshire.gov.uk
13
Appendix i
www.safeguardingchildren.stoke.go
v.uk
……..Insert name of School……
Record of Concern
Family name
of child/young
person
Address (inc
postcode)
First name(s)
Alias /
also
known as
Class
D.O.B
Age
Nature of
concern
Date that concern
was raised
(Brief outline, record
in detail below)
Time that concern
was raised
Name of person
raising concern
Relationship to
child/young person
Who have you
passed this
information to?
On what date?
Detail of concern
(Please include as much detailed information in this section as possible. Remember - the quality of your information will
inform the level of intervention initiated. If necessary, attach additional sheet)
Signature of person
raising concern
Date
14
Time
Details of all actions/ decisions taken in respect of this concern –
To be completed by Designated Safeguarding Lead :Number of
Previous Records
of Concern
Has child
been the
subject of
a CAF/
Early Help
Assessment
Previously on
Child Protection
Register
*Child protection
Plan
*Child in Need
Plan
Is child
known to
other
agencies
Action Taken
By who
Date & time
Completed
By who
Date & time
Completed
By who
Date & time
Completed
Outcome
Action Taken
Outcome
Action Taken
Outcome
Action taken
Date & time
completed
Outcome
Name of
Designated Safeguarding
Lead
Signature
Date
15
Appendix ii
(Insert school logo)
CHILD PROTECTION / WELFARE CONCERNS - FILE FRONT SHEET
Pupil/Student name:
Date of birth:
Any other name by which child is known:
Home address:
Current address (if different)
Telephone no:
Family members i.e. parents / carers / siblings:
Name
Relationship
Address
School details
Date file started:
Are records held in school relating to other connected children?
Contact details of other professionals
Name
Agency
Address
16
Appendix iii
Insert name of agency
www.safeguardingchildren.stoke.go
v.uk
Chronology of Concerns
Family name
of child/young
person
First name(s)
Alias /
also
known as
Address
Postcode
D.O.B
Age
Date and
time of
concern
Concern raised byNature of Concern
Action Taken &
By Whom
17
Appendix iv
(Name of School or College / Logo)
Transfer of Pupil (Student) Child Protection or Welfare Files
Pupil / Student Name:
DOB:
Name and address of
receiving school/college
Date child on new
school/college roll:
Name of Designated
Safeguarding Lead in
receiving school/college
Date(s) of telephone
discussion or meeting
between designated
safeguarding leads
Date file confidentially
passed (or sent by secure
mail) to Designated
Safeguarding Lead in
Receiving school/college
Name, Designation,
Signature & date file
Received at new setting
Name:
Signature:
Designation:
Date received:
Signature of (current) school
Designated Safeguarding
Lead and date form
completed:
Name:
Date form returned
complete:
A copy of the welfare file must be kept until file has been received by the new
setting and a signature obtained from an appropriate representative (usually the
Designated Safeguarding Lead) in the Receiving School/College. A copy of this
form must be retained.
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