Witness statements

[klee]

A parent wants to see witness statements/incident report forms relating to an incident her daughter was involved in.

 

Before we pass this can anyone tell me whether they are actually entitled to this information? The information does relate to their child but the source is mainly from other students and a few teachers.

 

We have typed them up and redacted all names (except for the daughter) to protect the identity of people who have written the statements.

 

Has anyone else had to share data of this nature?

 

Thanks

Edited December 19, 2018 by klee

[rich_tech]

Interesting one, I know that the head wouldn't sanction that in the school I worked in unless they were going to the police and the official request came in through them via formal means, CCTV footage was similar at the time, though I am nearly 3 years out of education and pre-gdpr

[elsiegee40]

They are not part of the public record. However, @GrumbleDook would know if they can form part of a subject access request.

 

They would definitely have to be redacted to remove names of other students - including the author of the statement. The parent may not identify who wrote them or the names of any other students named in them. This is for Safeguarding reasons primarily, but GDPR is also a factor.

 

If there’s a formal complaint against the school that the Head fails to resolve then the statements, redacted as above, may form part of the evidence taken by governors.

 

If there’s an exclusion of this parent’s child for between 5 and 15 days in the term, the parent can request a review by governors and the redacted statements would form part of the pack submitted to all parties including the parent. The redacted statements would also be part of the evidence pack submitted to the mandatory governor panels after 15+ days and permanent exclusion.

Edited December 25, 2018 by elsiegee40

[GrumbleDook]

They are not part of the public record. However, @GrumbleDook would know if they can form part of a subject access request.

 

They would definitely have to be redacted to remove names of other students - including the author of the statement. The parent may not identify who wrote them or the names of any other students named in them. This is for Safeguarding reasons primarily, but GDPR is also a factor.

 

If there’s a formal complaint against the school that the Head fails to resolve then the statements, redacted as above, may form part of the evidence taken by governors.

 

If there’s an exclusion of this parent’s child for between 5 and 15 days in the term, the parent can request a review by governors and the redacted statements would form part of the pack submitted to all parties including the parent. The redacted statements would also be part of the evidence pack submitted to the mandatory governor panels after 15+ days and permanent exclusion.

 

Pretty much covers it all, and yes ... it can form part of a SAR, but consider that these packs are out together very quickly, easily within the 30 days ... so the SAR is likely to be for materials already produced and that they have had access to (so doesn’t need to be drawn up again, apart from releasable items from the appeal).