Fairway Confidentiality Policy
Statement of Intent
At Fairway we intend to work in partnership with Parents/ carers and other
professional. During the process of our partnership we will be party to much
information about individual children and their families. It is our intention to respect
the privacy of children, their parents/carers and staff while ensuring that, although we
have a duty to share some information with other professionals on a need to know
basis we remain mindful of the position of trust in which we are placed.
Aim
We seek to provide a safe and secure environment for pupils and staff.
We aim to ensure that all parents/ carers can share information with us in the
knowledge that the information shared will be treated with the utmost confidentiality,
to enhance the welfare of their children.
This policy’s aims are to protect the child at all times and to give staff involved clear,
unambiguous guidance as to their legal and professional roles and to ensure good
practice throughout Fairway which is understood by parents/ carers, pupils and staff.
This policy aims to: Provide consistent messages about handling information about children, their
families and staff members once it has been received.
 Foster an ethos of trust.
 Ensure that staff, parents/carers and children are aware of the Fairway
position on confidentiality.
 Reassure parents/ carers and staff that their best interests will be maintained.
 Ensure that parents/carers, children and staff understand that we cannot offer
unconditional confidentiality.
 Ensure that child protection procedures are followed correctly.
 Ensure there is an understanding that health professionals are bound by a
different code of conduct.
 To ensure all pupils, staff, parents/carers have the right to the same level of
confidentiality irrespective of gender, race, religion, medical concerns and
special educational needs.
Methods
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Staff and volunteers must not promise confidentiality.
Staff should make it clear at the beginning of a conversation, with children,
parents/ carers or staff members that there are limits to confidentiality.
Staff are not obliged to break confidentiality except where child protection
may be a concern. It is important that staff are able to share any concerns
with a colleague in a professional and supportive way.
Staff should receive basic training in child protection and are expected to
follow procedures set out in the Child Protection Policy.
All information about individual children and staff is private and should only be
shared with those staff who need to know.
We will explain to parents/carers our reasons for sharing information and ask
parents/carers to complete and sign a consent form prior to starting at
Fairway.
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Medical information about a child should be disseminated to relevant staff,
displayed as required, and always treated with respect for the individual
concerned.
We will endeavour seek parental permission before a photograph may
accompany an emergency care plan for display.
We keep two kinds of records on children attending Fairway:
1.
Developmental records
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These include observations of children in the setting, samples of their work,
reports/achievements.
Personal records
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These include registration and admission forms, signed consents, and
correspondence concerning the child or family, reports or minutes from
meetings concerning the child from other agencies, an ongoing record of
relevant contact with parents/carers, and observations by staff on any
confidential matters. These confidential records are securely stored.
Child Protection information is always kept in a locked cupboard.
Parents/carers have access, in accordance with the access to records
procedure, to the files and records of their own children but do not have
access to information about any other child.
Where necessary, staff share personal information given by parents/carers
with other members of staff.
Staff records
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Staff records are kept in a locked cabinet accessed by Management or in the
presence of management. Staff will have open access to their own file.
Staff records may include:- personal details, emergency contact details,
appraisal and supervision records, professional development training records,
correspondence, paperwork selection procedure.
Data kept on computer will be password protected.
Personal telephone numbers and addresses will not be circulated to other
team members without explicit permission.
Issues to do with the employment of staff, whether paid or unpaid, remain
confidential to the people directly involved with making personnel decisions.
Students/trainees on placement are advised of our confidentiality policy and
required to respect it.
Access to personal records
Parents/carers may request access to any records held on their child and family
following the procedure below.
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Any request to see the child's personal file by a parent/carer should be made to
the class teacher. The setting commits to providing access within 14 days unless
there are issues with Child Protection.
All third parties are written to, stating that a request for disclosure has been
received and asking for their permission to disclose to the person requesting it. A
copy of these letters are retained on the file.
'Third parties' include all family members who may be referred to in the records.
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It also includes workers from any other agency, including social services, the
health authority, etc. It is usual for agencies to refuse consent to disclose,
preferring the individual to go directly to them.
When all the consents/refusals to disclose have been received these are
attached to the copy of the request letter.
A photocopy of the complete file is taken.
The Head Teacher/Children’s Centre Manager and Chair of Governors go
through the file and remove any information which a third party has refused
consent to disclose. This is best done with a thick black marker, to score through
every reference to the third party and information they have added to the file.
What remains is the information recorded by the setting, detailing the work
initiated and followed by them in relation to confidential matters. This is called the
'clean copy'.
The 'clean copy' is photocopied for the parents/carers who are then invited in to
discuss the contents. The file should never be given straight over, but should be
gone through by the Head Teacher/Children’s Centre Manager, so that it can be
explained.
Legal advice may be sought before sharing a file, especially where the
parent/carer has possible grounds for litigation against the setting or another
(third party) agency.
All the undertakings above are subject to the paramount commitment of the setting,
which is to the safety and well-being of the child. Please see also our policy on child
protection.
Relevant legislation
Every Child Matters
Data protection Act – applies to personal data of living, identifiable individuals,
manual and electronic records, but not anonymised data. Schools/Children’s Centres
need to be clear, when collecting personal data, what purposes it will be used for and
schools/Children’s Centres should have policies to clarify this to staff, pupils and
parents/carers.
Freedom of Information Act 2000 amends the Data Protection act and gives
everyone the right to request any records a public body, including schools/Children’s
Centres, holds about them. A school/Children’s Centre may withhold information it
has if it is considered the information may damage the recipient, if disclosed.
Human Rights Act 1998 gives everyone the right to “respect for his private and
family life, his home and his correspondence”, unless this is over ridden by the ‘public
interest’, for example, for reasons of child protection, for the protection of the public.
This policy will be reviewed annually or whenever deemed necessary by the Head
Teacher, Governing Body in light of events and changes in the law.
This policy was adopted at a meeting of………………………………………
Date…………………………….
Signed on behalf of the Governing body ………………………….. by (designation)
………………………………………………………….
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