SARs Made Simple: Protecting Time, Pupils and Your Team
Practical SAR Strategies for Schools
Seminar Brief
Subject access requests (SARs) can be time-consuming and complex to manage, especially alongside the many other priorities school business professionals juggle. Increasingly, schools are also seeing SARs used in more strategic or contentious ways - often linked to disputes or complaints - which adds to the pressure and risk for school and trust teams.
In this practical session, Shane Williams draws on extensive experience supporting hundreds of schools with SARs and data protection processes. He’ll share insights into what’s working on the ground, what’s changed in recent legislation (including new ICO guidance and cooling-off periods), and how you can develop school-friendly procedures that protect your team, your pupils and your time.
In this seminar we will explore
How to identify and manage complex or excessive SARs
Key procedures to simplify redaction and document review
What cooling-off periods and new ICO guidance mean for your team
How to handle SARs fairly while protecting pupil safety and staff wellbeing
This session is for
School business leaders, trust compliance leads, data protection officers, safeguarding leads and anyone responsible for managing complaints, legal risk, or data processes.
Shane Williams
About the speaker
Shane spent 20 years in the police, during which time he was focused on helping young people and steering them away from the criminal justice system, eventually becoming head of training for Greater Manchester Police. During his latter years with the force, he questioned himself, wondering if policing was the right way to help as many young people as possible. Believing he could do more outside the force, Shane took the leap and founded Global Policing. Global Policing works with schools and organisations to help keep children safe and to help them make better-informed choices.