An update this week from the ESFA has reported a change in requirements regarding IT security for colleges and special post-16 institutions (SPIs).

The ICO have issued a reprimand to a school that did not follow due diligence when introducing facial recognition technology (FRT).

Ageing and out of date technology is an every day challenge for most schools and small businesses, but is there a risk?

We are asked a lot about retention schedules and keeping file when a pupil moves onto another school.  

This short video explains the basics behind data retention and the implications of keeping data for longer than required.



  Knowledge Bank
We have a retention schedule on our Knowledge Bank portal where you can check the retention period for all types of files in  your organisation.

Visit our Records Management Be

This article is for all schools, colleges and multi academy trusts as a first step towards looking at the DfE Digital Standards for Schools and Colleges.

We've been asked by some of our customers what they need to consider when thinking about using AI to improve job efficiency as a time saving exercise or part of CPD, so staff related.
This article puts together some available resources as an initial step.

Unfortunately, a school has declared a 'significant critical incident' after it was targeted in a cyber attack.

The BBC have recently reported that due to the number of cyber attacks on schools that the ICO have seen an increase of 55% since 2022 of cyber incidents in the education and childcare sector.

The ICO has published a report today about 'learning from the mistakes of others'.  Given that cyber security is a crucial part of protection information and it is important to note that security breaches frequently lead to information breaches.

The aftermath of cyber attacks on schools and multi academy trusts is rarely documented or shared, so it was refreshing to see this video made in conjunction with GovernorHub.

The Vale Federation is made up of two special schools, Booker Park and Stocklake Park who have worked with Data Protection Education for a number of years on compliance and data protection. They are based in Aylesbury and are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.

The DfE have recently published updates to their Data Protection toolkit.  Previously there had been very little guidance in the toolkit about how to respond to Subject Access Requests.  There is now a specific section on this and an extra update about responding to other data rights requests such as changing, deleting or restricting of personal information.