ST ALOYSIUS' COLLEGE
SCHOOL HANDBOOK

CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY

1 The policy of St Aloysius' College is to work in partnership with parents in order to promote the welfare and education of children. The school also aims to build up relationships of trust between teachers and pupils. Children and parents should feel able to raise with the school private personal and family matters, including concerns about safety and welfare, in the knowledge that these will be dealt with sensitively.

2 The school will operate on the presumption that anything imparted in confidence will be treated in confidence. This undertaking is subject to three qualifications:

(a) A member of staff, to whom something has been told in confidence, has the right to seek the advice, guidance or support of a senior colleague, when he or she feels the need to do so. Where a member of staff feels a matter is beyond their level of competence, it is proper for them to refer the matter to an appropriate senior colleague.

(b) If serious concerns are raised about the safety or welfare of a child, a member of staff must act within the College's Child Protection Policy and is required to refer concerns or allegations to the school's Child Protection Officer, who may then decide to involve the Children's Reporter, police or social services. A member of staff may only give an undertaking of confidentiality in so far as this is compatible with the principle that the child's welfare is paramount.

(c) Whenever possible, a member of staff will inform a pupil or parent when s/he feels s/he must pass on something told in confidence, and will explain his or her reasons for doing so. This would not apply in an emergency or where a child's safety or welfare would be seriously compromised.

3 The school will not pass on to other individuals or agencies, information it has about pupils and their families, except with their permission, or where the information is already in the public domain, or where the school is obliged to do so by the law or a court order. When a child moves to another school, we pass on the pupil's personal file as a matter of course.

4 Once a pupil reaches the age of sixteen, the school will deal directly with the pupil as well as with his or her parents. Information given to staff by a post-16 pupil will not usually be communicated to their parents without the pupil's permission, unless there are exceptional circumstances.