Any information given to us, either verbally or in writing, regarding your child or your family, will be treated as confidential. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and aware of our responsibilities under General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
We will not discuss your child with others unless we have permission from you to speak to a named individual, e.g. a grandparent, medical professional, other educational setting. We will, however, divulge confidential information to Social Services and to Ofsted if there appears to be a safeguarding issue that affects a child's welfare and/or safety.
Parents will have access to their own child’s records at any time, on request, with the exception of information related to safeguarding that if shared, could affect a child's safety. All documentation relating to your child is stored in a file, which is not accessible to any other party. All devices with electronic documents will be password protected and all paperwork will be securely locked away.
If you have any concerns regarding this policy, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Part of the GDPR regulations require childcare providers to inform children and their families of how long we will retain the information we process. When a child leaves our setting, we will only store information on the child and their parents/carers for as long as is required by law or by guidance given to us. Anything we don’t need to keep; we will delete from the computer or shred.
Information we Can Delete on Request
Once a child leaves our setting, we will delete the following information, if requested:
- Contact telephone numbers from our phones
- Any one-to-one messages
Information Which Must Be Kept for an Extended Period
- Information relating to safeguarding, accidents or incidents will be retained until the child reaches the age of 21 years and 3 months, as required by law.
- Contracts, information sheets, permission forms, accounts and funding forms will be retained for 7 years.
Information We Will Routinely Delete When a Child Leaves Our Setting
Other data will be deleted as soon as the child leaves our setting, unless written permission is obtained, in which case it will be kept securely and only used in ways that we are given permission for (e.g. photographs). Individual development folders/learning journeys will be given to the parents when the child leaves.
