WEEK 6 & 7: ED 404: MANAGING SCHOOL RECORDS

Significance and main categories of record keeping

 One task that all school administrators must undertake is keeping school records.
 Records are the main source of information. Anything written is permanent and may
be used for or against the school manager.
 It is the head teacher’s responsibility to make sure that all school records are
accurate, complete, updated, valid and reliable. They should be properly kept since
keeping records is the only safe way of ensuring that information is not lost.
 All records and reports should be easily accessible but at the same time safely kept
and if confidential should be properly kept.
 The head teacher need not be the one doing the actual recording. This is a duty of
the school secretary or other members of staff. However, the final accountability
remains with the head teacher.
 All records kept within a school are part of history and are used for planning future
actions and policy.
 Commonwealth Secretary (Module 3, 1997) noted that it is a useful exercise for the
school principal to draw up a checklist of important and mandatory school records
which should be kept in place at regular times in the school.
 School records can be divided according to their administrative and supervisory
purposes or professional and staff development.
 These can be further subdivided into: Confidential records, Factual areas; Records
that show what goes on in the school, Records of attendance and School property
records.
Records about school activities and correspondence:
a) The school log book: Most educational authorities require this book. It provides a
record of the significant events or happenings that have taken place daily during the
year when the school is in session (Nyongesa, 2007). The logbook can be made more
interesting to the reader by including the photographs, maps and sketches to
illustrate notes.
b) The logbook has the following functions: First, it is a record of absence from duty
by a teacher, the deputy head teacher or the head teacher himself/herself. There
should be an accompanying short statement as to why the member of staff is absent, the
day and date of absence and when he/she is expected back.
c) The second function of the logbook is to show the visits by important people of
officials.
d) Third function: the school logbook is necessary for recording functions and
activities which take place in and around the school; e.g. parents’ day, tree planting,
soil conservation ceremonies, Annual General Meeting, sports, trips, catastrophic
robbery, death, etc.
Class activity: Why do you think a teacher’s absence from duty is considered an important
enough event to be recorded in the school logbook?
e) When the logbook is full should be kept carefully in a safe place in the head
teacher’s office.
2. Official Correspondence Files: It is necessary for a head teacher to open a file for
correspondence from different educational offices. These should also be kept in the head
teacher’s office.
These files include:
I. Circular from the Ministry of Education (MOE) or Provincial or District Education
Offices explaining various aspects of administration.
II. Staff correspondence
III. Board of Governors (BOG) and Parents Teachers Associations (PTS)
correspondence or correspondence with Teachers Service Commission (TSC)
IV. School Orders
V. Trade Unions such as KNUT and KUPPET correspondences
VI. Any correspondences from outside the school should be recorded.
3. Confidential File:
 This file stores any documents and letters that are not meant for public consumption.
Only the head teacher should have access to such files.
 They should be available to educational officers on request only.
 A confidential file may contain reports on teachers’ performance, teachers’ assessment
for promotion, letters that may affect staff members, and pupil and staff discipline
(Commonwealth Secretariat, Module 3, 1997).
4. Duty Master Report Book: A duty master is in charge of the routine school activities for the
day and should provide supervisory and guidance services, school activities according to day’s
happenings such as a sick child, etc.
5. School Committee or Board of Governors Minutes Files: The secretary (usually the school
principal) to the various committees keeps the files. The record should contain details of:
 Each meeting including the date of the meeting;
 The venue, the names of those who attended the meeting;
 The names of those who sent apologies as well as those who were absent without
apology,
 The secretary to the meeting,
 The chairperson’s name and the official in attendance.
6. Staff minutes file: The same information found in the minutes of the board is expected in a
staff meeting. This maybe recorded by a teacher or by the secretary of by the deputy head
teacher. Departmental meetings should also be recorded and a copy of the same forwarded to the
principal’s office.
Class activity: Discuss the following additional records found in a school: Teachers Record
Book of work; Visitors Book; Punishment book/Black book; Health Records Book. Come up
with any other record that is found in a school and define it.
Attendance Records:
Admission Register:
 This is a permanent record book. On entry to the school, each child is given a serial
admission number, which he/she keeps all the time he or she is at school (Nyongeza,
2019).
 It is this record book where personal information of a student such as name, gender, date
of birth, date of admission, home contact and date of leaving is recorded together with
student’s progress from year to year.
 The same applies when the student transfers to another school or drops out of school.
 This helps school authorities determine whether students are making progress or to repeat
classes.
Students’ Admission Files: All correspondence regarding a student is shown in this file and
is closed when a student leaves school. However, it is never destroyed. It contains
information such as parents’ or guardians’ names, last school(s) attended, examination
grades, and sometimes fee payment report.
Staff Record files: The head teacher may keep a list of the teachers in the school with their
employment registration number and academic qualifications, any data of previous
appointments and transfers, information regarding why he / she left school and the date.

Class Activity
a) As a head teacher of a secondary school, how would you keep students’ examination
results?
b) With practical examples discuss four reasons of keeping the following school
records in a secondary school of your choice.
 Class attendance
 Staff attendance register
 Examination records
School property records:
 Financial records
 Stock book
 Expendable stores ledger
 Inventories
 Handover/taking over records
 Write off authority