Guides for UK school counsellors
Practical, source-linked guidance on the record-keeping, safeguarding and data protection questions school counsellors and pastoral teams deal with every week.
Confidentiality and safeguarding in school counselling — when must you share?
How confidentiality works in a school, where its limits are, and how to explain them to pupils.
Gillick competence and consent in school counselling
When a pupil can consent without their parents, how to assess it, and how to record your decision.
How long should schools keep counselling records?
What the law says, common benchmarks such as the 25th birthday, and how to document your own rule.
How to write school counselling session notes (with a structure you can reuse)
What to include after every session, how to separate fact from interpretation, and a reusable structure.
Outcome measures for school counselling — SDQ, YP-CORE, GAD-7, PHQ-A and WEMWBS compared
SDQ, YP-CORE, GAD-7, PHQ-A and WEMWBS compared, with licensing points and good practice.
What should a school counsellor share with the Designated Safeguarding Lead?
What to include in a DSL referral, what to leave out, and how to record it.
Subject access requests for school counselling notes — a step-by-step guide
Who can ask, the one-month deadline, exemptions, and how to prepare a response.
UK GDPR and data security for school counselling records
Lawful basis, special category data, DPIAs and a practical security checklist.
These guides are general information, not legal advice. They link to the official DfE, ICO, BACP and legislation sources they draw on — always check the current version of those sources and your school's own policies.