The Information Management Support Services (IMSS) Department for Education, Children & Young People (DECYP) have announced sweeping changes to the management and retention of student records and related long term (125 year retention) documents.
These changes have taken place against the backdrop of Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse with its current dispsal freeze, as well as a statement issued to all relevant Tasmanian Government organisations regarding the retention of records of relevance to the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings.
Student records have previously been required to be kept onsite until the student reached 25 years of age and long term temporary records were to be archived at the school. Under the new guidelines, Tasmanian schools are now required to send all student related records to the department offsite storage provider – Zircodata – within 2 years of the student leaving the school.
IMSS has advised that the movement of these files off site is a priority and must proceed without delay.
What does this mean for you?
The good news is schools have the potential to free up a heap of space.
The bad news is that there are specific requirements for how records need to be sorted, culled, boxed, listed and barcoded before being sent off to storage. This means a larger administrative burden on schools and staff.
What Records Are Affected:
- Student Records & Student Administration Records
- Parental Consent Forms (Excursions and Activities)
- Excursion and Activity Risk Management and Planning Records
- Visitor Books
- Contractor Logbooks
- Student and Staff Sign-In/Out Books (including Relief)
- Time-out Books/Slips (Non-significant Student Behaviour)
- Student Medical Records
- Attendance records created prior to SACS
How do you to transfer these records to Zirco?
The transfer process is quite complex. It involves a number of sorting, culling and indexing steps across a variety of record types. We are running free seminars that explain these changes, or alternatively you can book a free assessment to learn more.
How We Can Help
As the premier specialists in school archiving and records management we have a thorough understanding of what is required to migrate your records offsite and comply with these directives.
Our experienced archivists will come to your school, sort, cull, catalogue and box your records to IMSS standards, and facilitate their transfer offsite.
We can also assist with the implementation of a Smart Stack archive system so that you stay compliant into the future.
