Pupil record

Contents of the pupil record

The pupil record may contain the following data about a pupil:

• data about registration and deregistration;
• data about absence;
• address details;
• data that are necessary for calculating the amount of (public) money the school will receive;
• the educational report;
• data about the health of the pupil that are necessary for special assistance or special facilities;
• data about the progress and the results of the pupil;
• reports of conversations with the parents;
• the results of a psychological examination, if any.

Rules for the pupil record

The pupil record is privacy-sensitive. This is because:

• the development, the behaviour and the learning achievements of a pupil can be systematically recorded and tracked with it;
• the pupil record contains special categories of personal data, such as data about the pupil's health;
• children are particularly vulnerable.

As a school, you must therefore handle the data in pupil records with due care. A few points for attention:

• Only process personal data in the pupil record if this is necessary for the purpose.
• Make sure that the data you process in the pupil record are correct.
• Arrange the security of access to the pupil records properly. This means, for example, that no more people than necessary for the purpose may have access to the personal data of pupils. You also have to log the user activities of the system.
• Make sure that you can demonstrate that you comply with the rules from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) when using pupil records. This is called the duty of accountability.
• Include the data processing in pupil records in your processing register.
• Do you process data with a high privacy risk in the pupil record? Then you may be obliged to carry out a data protection impact assessment (DPIA).
• Make sure that your pupils (or their parents) can exercise their privacy rights. Such as the right of access.

Also take a look at the general rules from the GDPR.

Retaining the pupil record

As a school, you are generally allowed to retain the pupil record for a period of two years after the pupil has left school. But a longer retention period applies for some data.

Retaining address details for reunions

As a school, you are allowed to retain address details of former pupils for organising school reunions. Bear in mind that you have to ask the former pupils for consent for this purpose first. And that you use the data for that purpose only.

Access to the pupil record

Do you, as a parent, want to access the pupil record of your child? This is allowed if your child is under 16 years of age. Children aged 16 or over have a right of access to their pupil record themselves.

As a parent, you have a right of access if you are the legal representative of your child. You are the legal representative if you have custody of your child. Custody is usually exercised by one or both parents. As a parent with custody of your child aged under 16, you therefore have a right of access to the pupil record of your child.

Do you not or no longer have custody of your child, for example after a divorce? Then you do not have a right of access. You are entitled, though, to important information about your child, such as the school achievements. But only if this does not harm the interest of your child.

Before providing any information, the school of your child has to weigh up your interest against the interest of your child. The school is only allowed to refuse provision of the information to you if such provision would be detrimental to your child. In that case, the school will have to provide clear reasons why this is the case.

Educational report

Has a pupil moved from primary school to secondary school or switched primary schools? Then the (old) primary school is obliged to draw up an educational report about the pupil. This report contains the most important information from the pupil record. The school then sends this report to the new school.

Contents of the educational report

The primary school is only allowed to include data about a pupil in the educational report that fall in the following categories:

• administrative data (such as name, address and education number of the pupil);
• data about education history, learning achievements (such as any switch of school and test results), and any traineeship and work experience;
• data about the social and emotional development and the behaviour of the pupil (such as behaviour in the interaction with other people and working attitude);
• data about any additional assistance given to or needed by the pupil;
• data about the absenteeism history (absence without leave of the pupil in the year prior to the educational report).

The educational report may only contain the necessary data that are relevant to the new school. That is why the school will always have to assess properly which information should and should not be in the educational report.

Your rights as a parent or parents

The school must inform you, as a parent or parents, about the provision of the educational report. This enables you to see which data about your child are shared and how this is done.

You also have a right of access to the educational report. The same rules apply here as for access to the pupil record.

Are personal data of your child in the report incorrect? Then you can ask the school to rectify or erase these data.

Informing parents as a school

As a primary school, you have to inform the parent(s) of every child actively and individually about the provision of the educational report to another school. You can, for example, have a conversation with the parents or send a letter.

You have to inform parents at the time you send the educational report of a child to the new school. Or before that time.

The pupil record must show that you have actually informed the parent(s). You can demonstrate this by, for example, keeping a copy of the letter or a report of the conversation in the pupil record.