Swan Hill College Data and Privacy Information

At Swan Hill College we follow the Victorian Department of Education Privacy Policy and Guidelines and extend those with the following additional procedures.

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Rationale

Protecting the personal and health information of staff and students is a serious moral, professional and legal responsibility that our school recognizes and accepts.
The privacy laws do not replace any existing obligations Swan Hill College has under other laws.
This policy will apply when other laws do not regulate the use of personal information.

Aim
To collect, handle, use, store and disclose personal and health information of staff and students in a manner compliant with the Health Records Act 2001 and the Information Privacy Act 2000.

Implementation

• Privacy protects individuals from harm resulting from misuse of their information.
• Privacy promotes effective service delivery by encouraging full and frank information provision.
• All staff at our college will be provided with up-to-date professional development in relation to Privacy, will be provided with and made aware of DE Privacy Bulletins and other information as they become available, and will be made aware of, and reminded of their individual and our collective duty of care regarding Privacy as required.

While Privacy legislation is detailed, practicing privacy involves:
Collecting only information that the college needs
Informing people why you need the information and how we will use it
Disclosing only the information that is necessary for the purpose of the service
Accessing providing people with access to their own records
Securing information against unauthorized use or disclosure

• All information collected at our College (including enrolment, excursion and medical permission forms etc.) will be subjected to the above principles.
• All collected information at our College will be retained in either the General Office Store Room or archived in the “Dungeon”, or either disposed of or transferred to the Public Record Office of Victoria after use consistent with the Public Record Office Standard (PROS) 01/01.
• All electronic data will be maintained, stored and transmitted in accordance with DE requirements and expectations.
• All records will be maintained and kept up to date by office administration staff.
• All requests (including requests by staff) for information stored at the college must be made to the principal or the Business Manager as the principal’s delegate.
• All requests for information (other than brief, easy to retrieve information solely about the person making the request, or standard information requests from parents about their children, or information requested by staff in the course of their work about students) will be referred to the principal, their delegate, and possibly the Freedom of Information Unit.
• Under no circumstances, will personal private information be disclosed to unauthorized people.
• Should the College receive a complaint about personal information privacy this will be investigated in accordance with the Department of Education and Training’s privacy complaints handling policy.
• The College aims to keep personal information it holds accurate, complete and up-to-date. A person may update their personal information by contacting the Principal, Business Manager, General Office, or use the College’s Operoo management portal.
• A parent, student or staff member may seek access to their personal information, provided by them, that is held by the college. Access to other information may be restricted according to the requirements of laws that cover the management of school records. These include the Public Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act.