🚨 Data Protection Updates and Alerts – May ’23 🚨

Happy May Day from all of us here at SchoolPro TLC! We hope that you all had a good May bank holiday… and another just a few days away!

Here is a summary of the latest updates and alerts for your organisation:

Important Alerts and Urgent Updates

  • YouTube’s Phishing Warning – YouTube is warning users of a phishing attempt showing no-reply@youtube.com as the sender. YouTube’s owner Google is, therefore, advising users to be cautious, not to download/access any file received in such an email and, while it investigates, to follow these tips to stay safe from phishing.
  • OneNote Phishing Warning – we have also seen a warning regarding phishing attacks using Microsoft OneNote files. OneNote files have the “.one” or “.onepkg” file extensions. The advice is:
    • Be extremely careful when opening OneNote documents attached to unexpected emails.
    • Double check with the sender before clicking on links/attachments if you can.
    • If you do open a suspicious OneNote doc, don’t follow the instructions inside as this could be what triggers the malware.
  • King Edward VI head teacher leaves role amid data breach.
  • The DfE have updated the guidance for handling strike action in schools. They have updated it to provide further information on prioritising pupils, the law on industrial action and picketing, providing free school meals to eligible pupils and calculating pay deductions for part time workers.
  • The DfE have also updated the guidance for what maintained schools must publish online and what academies, free schools and colleges must or should publish online. Sections have been added to both on collecting and publishing governing or trust board diversity data and already updated to clarify that information should be widely accessible to members of the school community and the public.
  • And, the DfE have uploaded new versions of the Individualised Learner Record data tables, the National Pupil Database data tables, the DfE data sharing service application form guidance and the application form. All accessible here.

General Data Protection Updates

 

Latest SchoolPro TLC Information

  • A quick reminder that if you are part of a MAT and you have new schools joining the Trust, please let us know so that we can ensure we onboard them onto our systems, can setup initial meetings/visits, and start supporting them at the earliest opportunity.

  • With local elections now a couple of days away, it is not too late to consider the data protection implications of your school being used as a Polling Station. We have issued guidance regarding this before which you can find in our blog and you can also download our Polling Day Checklist.

  • We’ve recently added the following documents to the portal in Global Documents:

    • Guidance from the ICO on the practical application of the GDPR with regards to children – ‘Guidance Documents’ folder
    • Developing and implementing a low-level concerns policy: a guide for organisations which work with children – ‘Guidance Documents’ folder

  • This month, we are going to do something a little different for our partner spotlight. Because we think it is important, we want to draw your attention again to this opportunity brought to you by Derventio Education (the team behind our portal among other things):The NGA, NAEE and Derventio Education have come together to provide schools and trusts with a free online tool distributed within SchooliP to help governing boards adopt and develop environmental sustainability as a strategic priority.If you are a school leader or governor, click here to access the SchooliP Sustainability Portal and register your school for a free account.

Further information on a range of data protection topics is available on our blog.

If you have any other questions, please contact us at DPO@schoolpro.uk.

SchoolPro TLC Ltd (2024)

SchoolPro TLC guidance does not constitute legal advice.

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