If you are a former student who experienced child sexual abuse, please see Victim-survivor support for former students.
You can usually access your own records. But student wellbeing records may also contain information about other people, such as staff or other students. Before you receive your wellbeing record, the department reviews it and removes any information that identifies someone else.
Accessing your student wellbeing record
Current students and recent graduates
Contact your school if you are a current student or if you left the school within the last 5 years. Student support staff can tell you what records are available and how to access them.
If the school no longer holds your records, they may have been archived. The school will refer you to the department for help.
You can check if your school is still open and find phone and email details in the Victorian Government Schools Directory.
Requesting wellbeing records on behalf of another person
Student wellbeing records contain very personal and sensitive information. These records are unlikely to be released to anyone other than the person they are about.
If you have written permission to request someone else’s record, contact the department’s records team by email at: archives.records@education.vic.gov.au.
How long student wellbeing records are kept
The Public Record Office of Victoria classifies student wellbeing records as temporary. This means they must be kept for a set period before they can be legally destroyed.
The required retention period has increased over time. Most wellbeing records created in the past 20 years should still exist, while some older records may no longer be available.
From 2022 onwards records are kept for 75 years from the date of the last action on the record.
Between 2010 to 2022 records were kept for 25 years from the student’s date of birth.
Between 1995 to 2010:
- Files could be destroyed 7 years after the date of a student’s last attendance (or approximately 25 years after their date of birth).
- Files for students whose surname started with 'P' were kept permanently.
Between 1995 and 2022, the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) decided to keep a sample of student wellbeing files permanently in the State Archives. These files help future researchers understand how the department supported student wellbeing.
The sample was chosen from students whose surnames began with the letter ‘P’. This group represented a wide range of backgrounds and was easy to remember: ‘P’ for permanent.
Before 1995 student wellbeing records could be destroyed 7 years after the student’s last attendance. Because that date was not always known, staff often used an estimate. They did this by adding 7 years to the time a student would have turned 18 (about 25 years after their birth date).
Examples of student wellbeing records
Student wellbeing records include the following documentation:
- health assessment results by school nurses (see Victorian School Nursing Program)
- referral and consent forms
- risk assessments
- safety plans
- individual education plans
- behaviour support plans
- student health support plans
- case notes.
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