School records are often a source of invaluable help for local historical and genealogical research. However, keeping all such records indefinitely would clearly cause schools a major storage problem. In any event, access to individual pupil records is protected by the Data Protection Act and therefore not all school records are available to the general public.

To help schools decide what to keep, how long to keep it for and who can access what information under the Freedom of Information Act, guidance has been provided by both the Department for Education and Skills and North Yorkshire County Council. More information can be found below.

Processing of data on individual pupils

In order to comply with legal requirements that data be processed fairly, schools provide a printed Layer One (summary) "Fair Processing Notice" to all parents (and to older pupils themselves). This document summarises how data on individual pupils is processed. Links below provide the Layer Two (full) Fair Processing Notices on the processing of data on pupils in both the Primary and Secondary phases of education. These give more detail on the types of data held, why that data is held and to whom it may be passed.

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