Electronic Transfer of Pupil Data
10th September 2015
ELECTRONIC TRANSFER OF PUPILS’ DATA TO CHILD HEALTH SYSTEM
Dear Parent/Guardian
The Department of Education has requested that all schools should write to parents and guardians to explain that new arrangements are being put in place from September 2015 to transfer pupils’ information to the Child Health System (CHS).
Each school year the School Health Team carry out important child health programmes, such as Nurse Checks, Immunisations, Health Appraisal, Vision and Audiology screening, on children in schools throughout Northern Ireland. The regional Child Health System (CHS) is used to support the planning, preparation and delivery of these school health programmes.
When children start school their relevant school information is matched with the CHS records using name, date of birth, gender and address. Currently this is a paper and manual exercise. This matching, which takes place regularly, enables the specific information about the school and class your child attends to be recorded on the CHS to support the delivery of the Child Health Programme.
From October 2015, new arrangements mean that the current system for matching information will change from a manual to an electronic system. This will involve the transfer of pupil information from the Schools’ Information Management System (SIMS) to the CHS. School and class records will be matched electronically with CHS records, using name, date of birth, gender and address.
This letter is for information only and you do not need to take any action as all pupils’ records will be transferred. Should you not wish your child’s data to transfer then you should let the school know as soon as possible, but definitely before the 25th September as the data will be transferred on 1st October 2015 and the first of each month thereafter.
This secure electronic process will ensure that CHS’s records are up to date and will reduce the potential for errors or information gaps in your child’s health records. This is the sole purpose for providing the data and this information cannot be used for any other purpose by the Health and Social Care Trusts or the Public Health Agency. If you would like further information about the Child Health System you can contact the Public Health Agency at:
CHSinformation@hscni.net (email)
or
CHS Information
Public Health Agency
Tower Hill
Armagh
BT61 9DR
Yours faithfully
Mr I Gourley
Principal