To assist schools to meet legislative and business requirements for creation, storage and disposal of records.
Schools must create, manage and dispose of public records (electronic and hardcopy) in accordance with standards set by the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) and guidelines issued by the Department.
Public records are any work-related documents in any media made or received by staff or volunteers in Victorian Government schools.
Records should be created to show:
Particular attention should be paid to the creation and maintenance of records that have heightened importance due to their requirements for business continuity, legal and financial accountability, confidentiality and sensitivity.
Schools should have a system for managing their records to ensure the authenticity, security, reliability and accessibility of these records. Schools that do manage their records are able to easily store, retrieve and dispose of records when needed.
Temporary records
A temporary record is a record that can be destroyed after a certain period of time usually according to sentences in a Retention and Disposal Authority (RDA) see: Other resources below.
Schools that regularly carry out authorised destruction of temporary value records are in a better position to manage their records holdings. Some records can be destroyed under normal administrative practice (NAP). Such records include working papers, drafts, duplicate copies of records stored elsewhere, short term facilitative records (such as phone messages), and unimportant records such as unsolicited ‘junk mail’.
Permanent records
Some school records are permanent and can not be destroyed. These records must be stored in a safe and secure location to ensure their long-term integrity and accessibility. These records will eventually be transferred to the PROV and must stay in the school until this transfer occurs see: Archives and Records Management Advice for Schools within Department resources below.
Retention and disposal authorities direct schools on how long their records need to be kept. The two RDAs relevant for school records are:
See: Other resources below