Safeguarding considerations for Schools: Risks of stigma / data breaches regarding children who attended school

While some children will be returning to school in September for the first time in many months, others will have attended school during the summer term, including at the peak of lockdown if they were vulnerable or the children of key workers.

This means that there is a potential for children (particularly older pupils) to question why other children attended school. This may be quite simple for those who are children of key workers, but poses greater problems for those who are vulnerable. Other pupils may not be aware of the reasons as to why a pupil is vulnerable and care must be taken to ensure this information is safeguarded accordingly.

It will therefore be important that staff are reminded that this is confidential information and staff should not identify pupils who attended school during lockdown and only share relevant information with those on a ‘need to know’ basis.