Data Protection (& GDPR): A Toolkit for Schools: DfE Guidance

The new data protection legislation that came into effect in May 2018 provides both challenges and opportunities. Understanding, aligning and complying with the new law is a challenge for all organisations, big or small. It does, however, provide an opportunity to refresh our policies and procedures relating to the safe stewardship of data. The new legislation is generating momentum around auditing where organisations are, identifying risks, and developing coherent plans to manage them down. It also places a firm emphasis on citizens being informed on the use of data and their associated rights. If oursector is to be entrusted to hold sensitive data about children across the country and exploit the benefits modern data technologies enable us, then the new challenges are to be welcomed.This document is freely downloadable from the DfE Website. It is presented as a bound format for ease of use (if like me you cannot stand a heap of hole-punched papers which like to jump out of a folder and attack you before reassembling in some random jumble and managing to lose the one page you actually need!)The guidance supports schools with data protection activity, including compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).The document is live and subject to updates on the DfE website and this version is correct @27th August 2019.