All members of staff working on the school site, all pupils and visitors involved directly with pupils are clear about the levels of confidentiality they can offer to the school community and expect for themselves.

Objectives

• For the whole school community, staff and pupils, and visitors, including staff from external agencies, involved in working directly with young people on the school site, to understand the varying levels of confidentiality which might be offered in differing circumstances.
• To be a clear, explicit, well-publicised policy to ensure good practice throughout the school which staff, (including staff from external agencies), parents and pupils can easily understand.
• To enable the school to be clear about their legal and professional roles and responsibilities, particularly where Child Protection procedures apply.
• To enable the school to be clear about their position if parents and families wish to disclose confidential information.

The policy has been developed in line with the recommendations given to schools by the Department for Education and Skills, the Department of Health, the National Children's Bureau and Hampshire Local Education Authority. It will be discussed fully with all staff and be included in the induction of new staff.

All school staff

When talking with pupils you should maintain your professional boundaries. Whilst being supportive where you can, distancing techniques should be used when appropriate and pupils with serious issues encouraged to see the Deputy Head, or the Head of the Prep Department.

Teachers cannot offer or guarantee absolute confidentiality. You must make this clear to a pupil when s/he begins to talk about something where confidentiality may become an issue.

Confidentiality cannot be maintained if a pupil is at risk of being harmed, harming him/herself or others.

Similarly, pupils should be warned that if there is a child protection issue where the pupil, or others, are likely to be at risk of significant harm, teachers are under a duty to inform the Deputy Head who may have to involve other agencies. (Please refer to the school Child Protection Policy for more detailed procedures.) The member of staff should explain this sensitively to the child to explain that the appropriate people must be informed to help the child but that only those who really need to know will be told.

School staff can only offer confidentiality to pupils on issues that do not involve significant illegal activities e.g. drug trafficking, arson etc. If the conversation begins to move to this kind of issue, the pupil must be warned that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed.

In all cases where you feel that you have to break confidentiality with the pupil, you must inform the pupil and reassure them that their best interests will be maintained.

In talking to a pupil, you need to encourage her/him to talk to her/his parents/guardians about the issue that may be troubling her/him and support in doing this should be offered where appropriate.

If it appears that a specialist confidential service may be required then no comment should be made to the child but the pupil should be referred to the Deputy Head.

Adults and pupils

You may receive confidential information from pupils, parents, teachers, or other adults which is told to you in confidence and which is not affected by any of the above limitations. In this case you should always respect such confidential information and not disclose it to others either in private or in a public space.

The school discourages any forms of general ‘gossip' about the affairs and concerns of others whether adults or pupils.

Peer and adult mentoring and support

Pupils and adults are not allowed to promise to keep secrets but all conversations between the mentor and mentee will be kept confidential except in the following circumstances:

The mentor must tell the Deputy Head if a pupil discloses either any form of abuse or anything else that would make them worry about the child's safety.

If the mentee is about to disclose this sort of information, the mentor must tell them that they will need to take them to the Deputy Head to help with this problem. The mentor may offer to go along, possibly as an advocate, to help them.

If the mentor has a concern about the content of a mentoring meeting, s/he should discuss it with the Deputy Head.

Parents and families

We recognize that sometimes there may be family issues which might affect a pupil and which the family will only disclose to us if they can be sure the information will be treated confidentially. We will respect the wishes of the family and, where it is felt necessary to share the information given to us, this will be discussed with the parent first unless a pupil is considered to be at immediate risk and/or there is an overriding child protection concern

Staff and Governors

All staff can normally expect that their personal situations and health will remain confidential unless

• it impinges on their terms of contract
• it endangers pupils or other members of staff
• there is a legal obligation to disclose such information
• it is necessary for legal proceedings
• despite the duty of confidence, the staff member's interest, or the wider public interest justifies disclosure

The policies which link with and support this Confidentiality Policy are:

• Anti Bullying
• Child Protection
• Health and Safety
• PSHE/PSME
• Drugs
• Pastoral care

This policy will be disseminated to all in the school community

• through INSET
• through school council
• through tutor session
• by emphasizing links to the school's anti-bullying policy and child protection policy and procedures.
• through induction of new staff
• on school web site

The policy will be written in such a way as to be accessible to pupils, teachers, parents and the wider community.