The Information Management Toolkit for Schools, published by the Information and Records Management Society (IRMS), has been created to assist schools to manage their information in line with the current legislative frameworks.

Information Management Toolkit for Schools

The toolkit has been revised since the previous version (May 2012) and a number of additions and amendments have been made.

Please note that this new version refers to both “Records Management” and “Information Management” interchangeably.

The information below outlines what can be found in the updated toolkit.

Records Management Policy

Each public authority (including individual schools) should have a records management policy. The toolkit contains a model policy document which can be adopted in its entirety or adapted to reflect the different needs of individual schools.

Records Management Programme

The Records Management Toolkit aims to assist individual schools to manage records throughout their lifecycle. There is advice about managing e-mail to ensure that it becomes part of the vital record. There is information and advice about information security and how to ensure compliance under the Data Act 2018 and information about business continuity to ensure that vital records are not lost or destroyed in the event of fire, flood or theft. There is also some advice about how to conduct an information audit.

Pupil Records

Some guidelines about what should be included in the main pupil record have been included and some advice about what information should be transferred on to the next school and how this information should be transferred.

Retention Guidelines

The core part of the toolkit are the retention guidelines which list all the possible records any school, in England & Wales, might produce and the recommended retention periods. Some of these have a statutory basis, others have been agreed in consultation with schools around the country. There are also retention guidelines for Early Years Providers. There is some information about the benefits of using a retention schedule. There are also guidelines about the safe disposal of records.

This guidance does not cover which records should be sent to the County Archives Service. For information about this please contact your County Archives Service.

Closed School Guidance

There is some general guidance about needs to be done with records when a school closes or amalgamates with another school in the same area.