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School management
Student information and data

Student information and data

Data protection

Children's Services offer an Information Governance traded service for schools. The service provides advice and guidance on:

data protection legislation
freedom of information (FOI)
records management

To find out how the service can support your school, visit Information Governance | Services to Schools webshop. You can get comprehensive cover or support for in-house data protection officers and attend training events throughout the year.

The Information Commissioner’s Office also has advice on complying with data protection legislation.

Records management for schools

The Information and Records Management Society have produced these resources for schools:

Unique pupil number (UPN)

All pupils attending a maintained school should have a unique pupil number (UPN).

If a pupil is entering a maintained school for the first time, your school should issue a new permanent UPN using SIMS (School Information Management System).

UPNs are always 13 digits and begin with a letter.

UPNs should be treated as confidential personal information under the Data Protection Act.

For more detailed information about UPNs read: Unique pupil numbers | GOV.UK.

Transfer a pupil’s UPN to your school

When a pupil changes school their UPN should transfer with them. This is normally done via a common transfer file using School to school (S2S) secure transfer.

If a pupil transfers to your school, you should make every effort to find out their previous UPN.

If necessary, email the pupil’s name and date of birth to the Planning and Performance Team at cs.data.management@eastsussex.gov.uk. They can access the National Pupil Database on your school’s behalf.

Independent schools and schools in Wales are not required to issue UPNs, but many have done so voluntarily. UPNs from those schools should be valid and work on software systems in England.

UPNs issued by schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland are not valid in England. You should issue new permanent UPNs to pupils transferring from these regions.

Temporary UPNs

Your school can issue temporary UPNs through SIMS. You should only do this as a last resort. For example, if you need one for the school census and cannot contact the previous school or the Data, Research and Information Management Team. Temporary UPNs always end with a letter.

Unique learner number (ULN)

All pupils over 13 attending a maintained school should have a unique learner number (ULN).

Schools can now get ULNs directly from the Learning Records Service (LRS) portal. For guidance on using the portal, read LRS portal guidance | GOV.UK.

Each ULN always has 10 digits. For more information, visit the Learning Records Service.

Data exchange agreements

Data exchange allows schools (academies and free schools) and East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to work in partnership to improve young people’s:

attainment
progress
participation in education and training

ESCC must fulfil its statutory duties for all children and schools within its boundary. A key duty is the need to meet safeguarding requirements. Data exchange helps partner organisations to support the learning and welfare of children and young people.

The Council's statutory duties are to:

ensure there are enough school places
promote high educational standards
ensure fair access to educational opportunity
promote the fulfilment of every child’s educational potential
promote diversity
increase parental choice

It must also promote diversity and increase parental choice. This agreement is a formal extension of, and companion to, the protocol document provided by ESCC as part of the commercial transfer agreement.

What the information is used for

The information is used to:

maintain a universal directory of children resident in, or receiving services from East Sussex
collect once and use many times
provide other departments and partner organisations with information to carry out their core services

The Council also uses this data to make returns to the Department for Education. These are beneficial to the school, but are not set out in statute. For example, secondary schools - intended destinations, September Guarantee, Annual Activity Survey and headline exam results on results day.