09 February 2022

A data breach at a school in Worcestershire caused parents to receive the Covid-19 test results of other people’s children. The mix-up, reported by the Evesham Journal, occurred at co-educational secondary school and sixth-form college The De Montfort School (TDMS) in Evesham, which is part of the Four Stones Multi Academy Trust. After the Christmas break, students returning to education underwent asymptomatic testing for the coronavirus at TDMS. In a security incident ascribed to “human error,” some students’ test results were sent to the wrong guardians. The headteacher at TDMS, Ruth Allen, confirmed that the data breach had taken place while the test results were being uploaded to the school’s network. She added that the incident had involved the personal data of only a small number of students. and was “found to be the result of a human error”.