Schools and other educational institutions have very specific responsibilities when it comes to managing information and records. They generate huge volumes of information relating to, not only hundreds or even thousands of pupils, but also relating to staff, facilities, equipment, and important institutional processes.
In short, efficient document management for schools is such an enormous responsibility that the Information and Records Management Society (IRMS) has published specific guidance on how to go about it. These guidelines apply to information created and stored in both physical and electronic format.
The Department for Education has also published guidance on education records management. Schools must keep a formal record of every pupil’s academic achievements, skills, abilities and progress. These records must be updated at least once a year.
Schools have a legal responsibility to protect information about every pupil. This is enshrined in legislation such as the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), which says schools are mandated to ensure that all personal information they gather is efficiently collated, retained, stored and secured.
Public organisations are also subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which grants members of the public the right to access information from the institution. The Pupil Information Regulations 2005 give parents of pupils the right to access their children’s educational records.
Risks of non-compliance
In light of all this, it’s clear that schools with poor records management could face penalties for not complying with key legislation. However, this is not the only risk. When school records are badly managed, the security risk increases too, leaving both physical documents and electronic files vulnerable to theft. A school’s reputation could also suffer severe damage if a pupil’s sensitive information is lost or compromised.
Trying to manage vast amounts of school records on-site can reduce physical space and create general disorganisation. Sometimes, certain documents only need to be accessed on a routine basis; sometimes almost never. These records are soon buried beneath piles of other paperwork and easily lost. Schools then waste a lot of precious time and rack up unnecessary labour costs in an attempt to find them.
The challenge for schools is to develop a document retention strategy that provides secure storage as well as easy accessibility. Should a parent or pupil request information at short notice, schools need to be able to retrieve the relevant files quickly.
Why Access Records Management?
At Access Records Management, we can provide schools with an end-to-end education document management and storage service. This includes file collection, storage, retrieval and couriering – as well as document scanning to create electronic copies. Other services include the secure shredding of records when required and ‘dead file’ or archive storage for files that are not needed for very long periods of time.
Our document management pricing packages are very cost effective and versatile. We can tailor our solutions to suit each and every type of school’s specific needs. What’s more, our expert team of professionals can help schools understand their legal obligations regarding document storage.
We have taken a lot of care with our document storage facilities and place great emphasis on security. Our boxes are protected against flooding, fire and theft. We also have locked data rooms available for particularly sensitive documents.
We pride ourselves on our customer service levels and make sure to offer our clients balanced and reasonable pricing. This is especially important for schools that may feel they do not have the financial resources to outsource their records management needs.
Access Records Management’s headquarters are based in North London. This means we are particularly well positioned to serve hundreds of schools, colleges and other educational institutions throughout London.
Benefits of document management for schools
With all pupil and student information safely secured, schools, colleges and other institutions can enjoy greater peace of mind and focus on educating rather than administrating.
Using Access Records Management’s school records management service means:
- It’s less likely for documents to get lost or stolen. This protects the institution’s reputation and improves the experience they can deliver to pupils and parents.
- With less documents stored on-site, schools can put the extra space to better use, perhaps to extend their classrooms or create a new staffroom.
- Administrative burden is reduced significantly, which in turn, keeps labour costs to a minimum.
- Should an unexpected situation arise in which records are required at short notice, schools can procure them quickly.
- Education institutions based in the London area benefit from a local supplier with the knowledge and expertise to advise on complicated policies.
Access Records Management helps hundreds of large and small organisations store and manage their records safely. Our work covers a range of clients across the commercial, public, and non-profit sectors, including companies in financial services, healthcare, and architecture.
We have over 40 years of combined experience working with companies in many document-heavy sectors. As such, we are uniquely well-positioned to assist schools and other education institutions with their document storage needs.
Our accreditations do us proud. We are the preferred supplier of document management storage services to members of the Charities Buying Group. And, we have been fully certificated to the ISO:9001 standard.
To discuss document management for schools and how we can assist, contact one of our specialists today.