to think this is breaching confidentiality and what should I do?

[SecretMinceRinser]

I visited the office of ds's school today to do a crb check so I can help out at the school. I was sat down at the desk of someone else who worked there but wasn't in that day. Laying in full view on the desk was a piece of paper that said 'Safeguarding Alert'. I glanced down at it and saw the title and though I'd better not look at it but as completing the crb application was dragging on I became more and more uneasy that it was left there for visitors to the office to see so I decided to read what was on the paper in more detail.
It had the full personal details of a mum of a child at the school, her child and the childs father - full names, dob even a physical description of each of them. It also detailed the fathers criminal convictions. It went on to say where the family had moved from and how they hadn't been co-operating with ss and that there was a history of domestic violence along with a ton of other personal stuff about the family/finances etc.
I don't know the family in question and won't repeat what I've read but that's not the point is it? There were drawers in the desk that the paper could easily have been put into out of sight.
I want to mention it to someone to ensure that personal stuff like that is stored more carefully in future but not sure who to speak to/what to say.
It did occur to me after the event that I could have mentioned it to the man in the office who was dong my application but he is a bit of an arse to be honest and not the sort of person that would take kindly to being told how to do his job. Anyway I didn't say anything at the time so too late to do that now. WWYD?

There are some right bitches in here, is this how you react to someone who asks for advice! OP didn't go looking in drawers she saw a confidential document and wants advice. Anybody applying could have sat down there, imagine if some one who knew the family sat there. I would phone the school without disclosing your identity and speak to someone without jeopardising the job you want. After all it could have been a document relating to your family in it's place and somebody else could see your private details.

I am not a bitch im just shocked somebody who is volunteering in a position of trust could look at a document that had nothing to do with her and as for her wwyd well I wouldnt have read it in the first place , No it shouldnt have been on a desk but perhaps the persons whos desk it was on didnt expect a nosey person reading it ,

Mistakes on both sides I think.

It's ok for the document to be on the desk. It may well have been being 'worked on' before you arrived.

It was not ok for you to be seated at a desk where confidential information is left.

It was not ok for you to read it. You could have just turned it over to save being tempted and pointed it out to the staff member.

Personally I do not know of a school where random members of the public are allowed to wander in the office. Once employed/volunteering you would be expected to keep any confidential information you come across to yourself be it a screen shot you see on entering the office, a child's grades or an overheard conversation in the staff room.

The op shouldn't have read the document.

The op should have told someone straight away.

Someone is responsible for leaving it lying around and this needs to be brought to their attention, so they don't do it again.

but she didnt just SEE it did she, thats the point had she just seen it she should have pointed it out to someone, she CHOSE to read it. hell if she was so tempted she could have just got up and moved away, turned the dam thing over so she couldnt see it or just mentioned to someone that maybe it shouldnt be left out.

haivng things on a desk isnt necessarily a breach in confidentiallity, if its anything like our school office parents cant go in anyway, they ahve a 'hatch' type opening for parents with little glass windows that open for us to speak to a member of staff, the door has a buzzer on it for anyone wanting to get in/out and pupils dont go in their either, so it is in all essential purposes private. regardless tho it wasnt hers to read, its quite simple really isnt it.

the OP said she DECIDED to read it in more detail it was a choice she made and she shouldnt have.

The person who's desk it was shouldn't have sat another person down without checking all confidential info was out of sight. Also maybe OP shouldn't have read it, but she did. Let's get over it and find out what she wants to do about it now as that was the whole point of her post in the first place :)

But if she contacts the school about this then they will realise she is untrustworthy and will probbaly not be allowed to volunteer at the school as she cant keep her nosiness to herself , this was a school office where maybe not a lot of parents go I think she should do nothing accept that sometimes things will be in her eyesight and she should control herself ,

The OP had a real nosey read and she knows it!

I think it also depends on what the office was like, too. If it was a private office, off the main thoroughfare for the school (i.e with a door that made it a closed private room) then it isn't odd in some ways that a document was left there. As someone pointed out, it could have been a new document drawn up & left for the user of the office to peruse on their return. Or for a secretary to type up.

Our school office when I was a girl was a room with a proper door that was always shut & sliding glass window type thing & it would be here you gave in the registers/other docs & where parents stood to discuss stuff.

However, if it is an open plan office, where people walk through to get to other areas of the school, with only a counter type setting, it should have been put away.

HOWEVER, for me there is still the issue of personal responsibility. OP didn't have to read it. She did & is now blaming the school for her indiscretions.

I would report it to the head OP. I know it wasn't "in the playground" as one poster put it but information like this should definitely be put away in drawer or folder. It is a very serious breach of confidentiality IMO.

What are the bets if OP does report it to the head she won't get the job

The serious breech of confidentiality was the OP reading the the name of the file then deciding to continue to read something that had NOTHING To do with her!

Working in schools wether paid or unpaid you will be privy to lots of things that are highly confidential, it is up to you to keep things to yourself.

valium i dont think they will want her in school either parent helpers are needed in schools but they are expected to act with some sort of decorum , you cant just pick up a document/ letter, / class register and read it , what if a teachers Diary or notes are on her desk and not locked away would the OP think it was ok to read it because it wasnt in a drawer

The families confidentiality has only been breached because you went out of your way to read it and all of it. It was in an office and a quick glance would have told you to avert your eyes but oh no, you couldn't help yourself could you?

In terms of doing something about it: mind your own business in future and stop reading things that you are not meant to. Or you could have said to them in there that it should be put away BEFORE your'd read it.

I thing the school should definitely have a clear desk policy for sensitive documents and they should be locked away from where parents / visitors and staff without a need can see them. This is what we do at work and the public do not normally have access to our offices.

Of course OP should have not looked at the document beyond a glance to check it's nature (ie not a template) but she she is not the one with a duty of confidentiality to the family.

OP - you need to report this to head as a matter of urgency although I wouldn't mention quite how much you read.

Well quite now

It was on a desk not out on public view the OP must've craned her neck to read it CHOSE to read it and now she's blaming the school.

OF course she has a duty of care she has personal responsibility to not look at something on a desk , and i can imagine it was A4 size so just sitting there like any other A4 size letter she just couldnt help herself ,

As a human being we have personal responsibility not to read things that have nothing to do with us. The OP only knows what the file was about because she read it thoroughly.

I'm not really sure why filling out a CRB form required you to be in the office in the first place but given that you were, you were unreasonable to have read a document that you realised pretty quickly was confidential! If you do anything else, tell the Officer Manager rather than the Head if you want to be trusted to volunteer to help in the school.

What a shockingly lack of self control and common sense you have displayed op. Both of which are quite important skills for anyone volunteering to work with children.

If you were really concerned about confidentiality or data protection you would not have read it. You would have used your common sense and said "excuse me, I think this should be locked away". Then complained about lax procedures.

Bad procedure on part of the school, bad behaviour on part of OP.

For anyone saying have a clear desk policy you have no idea whether the school does or not, I read the op as though this is an urgent notification for all staff which has been put on the desk of one of the administration staff for their information when they return. As for why the op w was in the office for crb to be completed it sounds like the school use the electronic system offered by capita which doesn't require a huge form to be filled in but rather it is on line with the bursar or office manager able to confirm sight of the relevant documents. The op is in the wrong and I am assuming she knows this as she hasn't posted since last night.

I think the OP has been pasted enough.

Don't know about everyone else, but I read A4 sheets pretty much in one go (it's my job) so I could have seen all those details just in the process of turning the letter over to hide it (which, incidentally, would somehow have felt 'worse' than leaving it untouched).

I know, for instance, from passing through the staffroom briefly, that our school has a child with an onion allergy, that two others have an epipen, and that there was an ed psych in that day to assess another. Didn't mean to read any of it, but it wasn't hidden.

I wouldn't necessarily remember every detail from a 2-second scan, but I would know that it had all those details, IYSWIM. And you can't un-read something once seen.

If I was shown to a desk with a sheet saying SAFEGUARDING on it in big letters, and was there to fill in my CRB details, I might even have assumed I was meant to read it - like a fire notice, or a note about how to use the computer.

Yes, she should have asked for it to be moved, but was possibly too embarrassed, having realised it was something so private.

No, she shouldn't have put so much detail on here. Live and learn.

So you were there to fill out a CRB which is to check you are trustworthy

And you saw an obvious confidential document, and instead of saying straightaway to the guy "ooops, I dont think Im supposed to see this " and give it to him you had a good old read?

The way I see it you dont really have any option except to ignore what you saw, if you report it you are just confirming that you are infact not trustworthy.

I doubt it, but lets hope it wasnt some sort of test eh?

The OP didn't read it in one go - she said in her post she saw the title then decided to read the rest as she got a bit bored waiting on her own and she is a nosey old baggage!

Sorry I ballsed that up. Meant to say that if you report it now you are confirming you are not trustworthy as you didnt say anything at the time. Even worse would be if you used your frankly weak excuse for your nosiness of wanting to "be sure what was on it" as your reasons for reading it.