Rotorua Lakes High School
Te Hā o Te Manawa RTLB Cluster 20
POLICY: CHILD PROTECTION
PROCEDURE: Student Information
The gathering and storing of information about students is an essential part of RTLB case
work. The communicating of this information must be in accordance with the relevant legislation
to ensure that the information is only communicated to those people with an established right to
know, and the privacy of individuals is protected.
Guidelines
1. Ensure compliance with relevant legislative requirements and responsibilities, including
the Privacy Act 1993 as it applies to all RTLB and RTLB clusters:
https://www.privacy.org.nz/privacy-for-agencies/your-obligations/.
2. RTLB will refer to the Rotorua Lakes High School Privacy Policy and associated procedures,
and those of the cluster schools RTLB are working in.
3. RTLB Cluster Manager is the Privacy Officer for Te Hā o Te Manawa RTLB Cluster 20. The
Privacy Officer will promote and protect individual privacy with regard to:
a) the collection, use and disclosure of information relating to individuals,
b) access by each individual to information relating to that individual, held by the RTLB.
4. RTLB documentation which collects personal information will contain information about
the purpose, use and disclosure of the information collected. This documentation will be
stored on Schoolgate and/or in hard copy or online RTLB case files.
5. RTLB will collect only necessary and correct information for the purposes of RTLB case
work, and all information will be treated as confidential.
6. RTLB will:
 hold information securely to avoid loss or unauthorised use,
 hold information only for as long as necessary:
http://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/School/Running-a-school/2016SchoolRecordsRetentionDisposalv2.pdf,
 not attach and use unique identifiers for students unless absolutely necessary,
 ensure NSN numbers will only be used for monitoring purposes, to ensure resourcing,
and to ensure records are maintained.
7. RTLB will verify that consent for a referral to the RTLB service has been obtained from the
whānau/families and/or caregivers:
a) individual referrals will have a signed consent form from the whānau/families and/or
caregivers,
AREA: Child Protection
File: Student Information
Rotorua Lakes High School
Te Hā o Te Manawa RTLB Cluster 20
b) RTLB will check that the school understands it is their responsibility to inform the
whānau/families and/or caregivers where a group of students have been referred.
8. RTLB will gain ongoing informed consent from whānau/families and/or caregivers during
individual case work:
 Informed consent implies:
- having enough information to make a decision,
- the information is understood,
- the person is able to make a choice and is competent to decide, and is not forced or
pushed into deciding,
- a person needs to know what the choices are, when/how the action is going to
happen and what the anticipated outcomes are.
 Informed consent includes knowing:
- what the purpose of the RTLB service is,
- why RTLB need information from them, what the information will be used for, who it
will be shared with,
- that relevant information being held in one RTLB cluster may be shared with another
RTLB cluster if the student moves to a school in a different cluster,
- that they have the right to access the information that relates to them and their
dependents,
- that RTLB may want to get information from other people or agencies that may help
them to plan the work they do with a particular student.
9. Disclosure of information which is necessary to prevent and lessen a serious and imminent
threat to public health or safety, or the life of the student concerned, does not need to
have approval by the individual or parent/legal guardian. RTLB will inform the Principal of
the school that the student attends, and the RTLB Cluster Manager, of the disclosure
immediately.
10. The Privacy Act 1993 and the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 allow
information to be shared to keep children safe when abuse is reported or
investigated. The Principal of the school that the student attends, and the RTLB Cluster
Manager, will be informed of the disclosure at the earliest possible time. For more
information about sharing information about vulnerable children, visit the Privacy
Commissioner website: https://www.privacy.org.nz/privacy-for-agencies/sharinginformation-about-vulnerable-children/.
REVIEW:
This procedure will be reviewed according to the Te Hā o Te Manawa’s triennial
programme of self –review October 2019, or as required.
DATE CONFIRMED:
25 October 2016
AREA: Child Protection
File: Student Information