All schools need to aware of the new GDPR regulations that come into force in May 2018. These are an extension of the current Data Protection Act which dates back to 1998. Since that time the volume of personal data gathered and processed by organisations and corporations has dramatically increased. An update and revision was well overdue.
The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) is the UKs supervisory authority (SA). They oversee and enforce the new regulations. They have published various documents and guidelines for schools and businesses.
Although the full GDPR regulations extend to 99 articles and 173 recitals the underpinning principle of the regulations is quite simple. It is an attempt to force organisations and corporations to respect the importance of the personal data they gather, hold and process.