Records Management

Chapter 10: How to destroy ‘time-expired’ records

'Time-expired’ records are records that have passed the minimum retention period, as per the School records retention guide (XLSX) (staff login required). Time expired records may be lawfully destroyed.

Principals must ensure the regular disposal of time-expired records that are no longer needed for operational purposes. Routine record disposal:

• keeps the volume of personal information in the school’s custody to a minimum
• reduces the burden and costs associated with managing large collections of records
• makes searching for relevant information more efficient.

Schools must ensure that third-party providers do not destroy hardcopy or digital records, unless explicitly and appropriately authorised to do so. For further information on this, refer to Chapter 6 – Recordkeeping requirements for third-party systems.

Schools must ensure that all personal, confidential, and sensitive information is protected and cannot be accessed inappropriately during the destruction/deletion process.

Schools must not destroy records that are reasonably likely to be needed for current or future legal proceedings, including any civil or criminal proceeding or any inquiry such as a Royal Commission or Board of Inquiry, even if their minimum retention period has passed, for example, records related to a known risk or disclosure of an incident such as allegations of child sexual abuse.

How to destroy records

School staff must follow the below procedure before destroying any records.

Note: School principals must approve the destruction of time-expired records.

If a school is going through a merger or closure and does not have a principal to approve the destruction of time-expired records, contact the Records and Mail Services team at archives.records@education.vic.gov.au for authorisation.

Step 1 – Identify ‘time-expired’ records

Records become ‘time-expired’ if they have passed the minimum retention period and are no longer required by the school and are not reasonably likely to be needed for current or future legal proceedings. For example, the minimum retention period for finance batch reports is 7 years. Batch reports from the 2012-2013 financial year ‘expired’ in July 2020. If the school no longer needs them, the principal must approve their destruction and they must be securely destroyed.

For a list of common school record types and their minimum retention periods, refer to the School records retention quick reference guide (DOCX) (staff login required).

For a full list of school record types and their minimum retention periods, refer to the School records retention guide (XLSX) (staff login required).

Step 2 – Prepare records for destruction

Create a list of records for destruction. The list should include a brief description of the records proposed for destruction, their current location and format, and the record classification.

For a full list of school record types, their minimum retention periods and record classification, refer to the School records retention guide (XLSX) (staff login required).

Step 3 – Principal approval to destroy records

School staff or volunteers must then provide the list of records for destruction to the school’s principal and obtain their approval to destroy the records. For a pro-forma email to send to principal, refer to the Records destruction pro-forma email (DOCX) (staff login required).

The principal’s approval to destroy the records, must be documented, saved and stored with other documents relating to the management of the school’s records, for example, create a ‘School Records’ digital folder or location.

Step 4 – Destroy records

Ensure hardcopy records are securely destroyed, for example by placing them in a secure (locked) recycling bin that has been supplied by a provider that will ensure records are shredded or pulped and cannot be reconstructed, or by destroying the records locally using a shredding machine, ensuring that they cannot be reconstructed.

For digital records – 'hard delete’ from recordkeeping systems and from other locations such as digital ‘recycling bins’, backups, servers, preservation libraries, storage devices or disaster recovery environments.

Step 5 – Keep evidence of records disposal

Keep a list of all the records being destroyed, including the date the destruction took place. This should be saved with other documents relating to the management of the school’s records, for example, in the same folder or location as the records listing/s.