The work carried out with you or your child/young person will initially generate some paper information e.g. handwritten notes about work undertaken or completion of a paper test record booklet. This paper information will be used to create electronic written reports and/or summaries. In giving consent for EPE to work with you or your child/young person, you are giving permission for written reports or summaries to be completed and for copies to be sent to the school or college. The school/college will also send you a copy of the report/summary that is completed. The report or summary may also be shared with other external professionals who are currently working with you or your child/young person.

Paper information is stored in a locked cabinet. Reports and summaries are encrypted and stored on a computer or memory stick. They are sent to the school/college by password protected pdf documents.

All information will be retained as follows:

1. Once a report has been produced, all paper information with the exception of the original referral form and test papers will be destroyed by shredding.
2. Any remaining paper information will be retained  until the individual reaches the age of 18.
   
3. Once a school has left our Service, all paper information will be destroyed by shredding after 2 years.
   

How your data will be stored

Your rights

- Privacy Notice -

The purpose for processing personal data is to undertake a psychological assessment, which you have agreed for us to do. Educational psychology assessments involve the processing of special category data including information about health, educational achievements, cognitive functioning, personality, interests and family history. Depending upon the nature of our work with you, we have a legitimate interest to collect such personal data for the purpose of forming a professional opinion or diagnosis. In doing so, we will only collect information from you that is relevant to the purpose of undertaking that assessment and the associated feed-back and reporting.

How the data will be used

The data we collect

You have the right to request the data that is held about you or your child/young person. You can make the request by writing to EPE at 21 Jardine Close, Stourbridge, DY8 4AT. The information will usually be provided free of charge and within one month of the receipt of your request. In some circumstances a charge may be made, the response period extended or a refusal made. If we have to carry out any of these actions we will explain why and tell you how to complain.

You will only be asked for personal information that is relevant for the work being undertaken. The information that will be requested and held will enable the professional working with you or your child/young person to decide:

• What kind of involvement is appropriate;
• What tests and assessments should be used; and
  
• Whether liaison with other professionals is needed
  

The specific work carried out will vary according to the individual’s needs and the concerns being investigated. The range of supportive activities that may be undertaken includes:

• Classroom observation;
• Observation in other settings in the school, for example in small group teaching sessions or nurture group;
  
• Discussion with the Special Needs Coordinator (SENCo) or head of learning/student support if the setting is an FE or HE college;
  
• Discussion with the class teacher/form tutor and other school/college staff
  
• Work alongside the child/young person in class;
  
• Individual assessment work. This might involve using tests, questionnaires or interview techniques for eliciting views;
  
• Discussion with other external professionals who are working with you or your child/young person e.g. speech therapist, specialist teacher;
  
• Scrutiny of reports or other written information completed by other external professionals working with you or your child/young person;
  
• Scrutiny of school/college information, including SEN records
  
• Group work or therapeutic work
  

Parents and carers will always be offered an appointment to meet with the person who will be working with their child. This will usually take place in school and the SENCo will make the arrangements with you.

We may share your information in some circumstances provided it has been anonymised. For example, we might discuss the work we have done with you or your child/young person with other professionals in order to gain advice and to check that we are drawing reasonable conclusions and making good decisions. This is called supervision and it is common for professionals in health, care and education to ask for advice from their colleagues in this way. If we do discuss the work we have done in supervision, we will not pass on personal information that would allow another professional to identify your child.

Apart from the supervision mentioned above and liaison with external professionals who are working with you or your child/young person, EPE will not share information about you or your child/young person to anyone outside of our company without your consent unless the law compels us to do so. We have a duty of care towards the individuals with whom we work and therefore we would have to disregard any promise of confidentiality if we thought a child, young person or adult was in any kind of danger and would be harmed, or cause harm, if we did not disclose some information about them or intervene in some way. Under these circumstances the need to keep someone safe from harm over-rides the duty to keep information about them confidential.

Educational Psychology for Everyone (EPE) respects your privacy and wants to be clear about the information we collect, how we use it and your rights to control that information. We will manage psychological records with great concern for privacy and confidentiality and in accordance with current professional and legal standards, including the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) requirements.