FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
All public authorities, including schools, are required under the Freedom of Information Act to adopt a publication scheme that has been approved by the Information Commissioner.
There is currently one approved model publication scheme, which has been produced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Schools must adopt the ICO’s model scheme and make it publicly available.
View the ICO's model publication scheme
SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST
You have the right to ask the school if they are using or storing your personal information. You can also ask them for copies of your personal information. This is called the right of access, commonly known as making a subject access request or SAR.
Children have the same rights as adults over their personal data which they can exercise if they are able to understand what this means and any implications the disclosure may bring. Where a child is not able to understand, an adult with parental responsibility may usually request the child’s personal data on their behalf.
Even if a child is too young to understand the implications of subject access rights, it is still the right of the child rather than of anyone else such as a parent or guardian; even though in the case of young children these rights are likely to be exercised by those with parental responsibility for them.
If we are confident that the child can understand their rights, we will discuss with them how they would like us to process the request, for example if they are happy for the information to be provided to a parent, and if there is any information they do not want shared with a parent. Generally, however, we will allow you to exercise your child’s rights on their behalf if your child authorises this, or if it is evident that this is in their best interests.
We usually consider a child of 12 years to be of sufficient age and maturity to be able to exercise their right of access. If your child is over the age of 12 and able to understand their rights we will either;
- a) Respond to the SAR directly with your child, or
- b) Ask the child if they are happy for us to provide their information to you, or
- c) Ask you to provide written consent from your child giving you the right to access their information.
Generally, if your child is under the age of 12 and we are satisfied that you hold parental responsibility for them we will respond directly to you.
OUR PUBLISHED GUIDE TO INFORMATION
Schools should publish a guide to information alongside the publication scheme.
The guide should specify:
- the documents available
- the format of the documents
- any charges made for the information
View our published guide to informationTo make a request
You can make a subject access request either verbally, or in writing, but we recommend you use the link below if possible because this gives you a record of your request.