07 Record Keeping Procedures
07.1 Children’s records and data protection
During an outbreak of serious illness of disease there may be the need to keep additional records as part of outbreak management. A record is kept of individual cases of children/families who are self-isolating due to symptoms as per usual record-keeping procedures. In all cases the principles of data protection are maintained at Wollaston & Strixton Preschool.
Principles of data protection: lawful processing of data
- processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject
- collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is not compatible for these purposes
- adequate, relevant and necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed
- accurate, and where necessary, kept up to date; every reasonable step must be taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate, having regard to the purpose for which they are processed, are erased or rectified without delay
- kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed
- processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures (“integrity and confidentiality”) Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulations (2018)
Educators should process data, record and share information in line with the principles above.
General safeguarding recording principles
- It is vital that all relevant interactions linked to safeguarding children’s and individual’s welfare are accurately recorded.
- All recordings should be made as soon as possible after the event.
- Recording should be to a good standard and clear enough to enable someone other than the person who wrote it, to fully understand what is being described.
- Recording can potentially be viewed by a parent/carer, Ofsted inspector, by the successors of the educators who record, and may be used in a Family Court as relevant evidence to decide whether a child should remain with their biological parents or be removed to live somewhere else. Recording needs to be fair and accurate, non-judgemental in tone, descriptive, relevant, and should clearly show what action has been taken to safeguard a child and reflect decision-making relating to safeguarding.
- Recording should be complete, it should show what the outcome has been, what happened to referrals, why decisions were made to share or not share information, and it should contain summaries and minutes of relevant multi-agency meetings and multi-agency communication.
- If injuries or other safeguarding concerns are being described the description must be clear and accurate and should give specific details of the injury observed and where it is located.
The principles of GDPR and effective safeguarding recording practice are upheld at Wollaston & Strixton Preschool
- Recording is factual and non-judgemental.
- The procedure for retaining and archiving personal data and the retention schedule and subsequent destruction of data is adhered to.
- Parents/carers and children where appropriate are made aware of what will be recorded and in what circumstances information is shared, prior to their child starting at the setting. Parents/carers are issued with 07.1a Privacy notice and should give signed, informed consent to recording and information sharing prior to their child attending the setting. If a parent/carer would not expect their information to be shared in any given situation, normally, they should be asked for consent prior to sharing.
- There are circumstances where information is shared without consent to safeguard children. These are detailed below, but in summary, information can be shared without consent if an educator is unable to gain consent, cannot be expected to gain consent, or gaining consent places a child at risk.
- Records can be accessed by, and information may be shared with local authority professionals. If there are significant safeguarding or welfare concerns, information may also be shared with a family proceedings Court or the police. Educators are aware of information sharing processes and all families should give informed consent to the way the setting will use, store, and share information.
- Recording should be completed as soon as possible and within 5 working days as a maximum for safeguarding recording timescales.
- If a child attends more than one setting, a two-way flow of information is established between the parents/carers, and other providers. Where appropriate, comments from others (as above) are incorporated into the child’s records.
Updated: September 2025
