School Privacy Notice

School Privacy Notice

Privacy Notice for Parents/Carers

This privacy notice explains why we need learner information and what we do with it.

A New Law

There is a new law called the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and it makes sure anyone collecting information has to:

  • Be honest about why they want it
  • Be clear about what they will do with it

Information

Schools are required to collect information about learners and their parents/carers/families and share the information with the relevant local authority, Welsh Government and other statutory authorities.

The categories of information about learners that we collect, hold and share include:

  • Personal information (such as name, date of birth, unique learner number, unique learner number and address)
  • Relationships (such as names of parents/carers and any other relatives or contacts that are provided to the school) and contact details
  • Characteristics (such as ethnicity, first language, nationality, country of birth, religion and free school meal eligibility)
  • The learner’s level of fluency in the Welsh language and how this has been assessed/provided
  • Medical conditions / information (such as allergies)
  • Disability status
  • School history
  • Registration status and full-time or part-time status
  • Information on additional learning needs
  • Information on whether the learner is in the care of the local authority
  • Information on whether the learner is receiving support from other agencies
  • Attendance information (such as sessions attended, number of absences and absence reasons)
  • Educational attainment and assessments
  • Any issues or problems arising at school and actions taken in response (such as behavioural issues, exclusions etc.)
  • Counselling information/records
  • Financial information (such as school meal balance)
  • Images, which may include photographic images and CCTV images

Why we collect and use this information

We use the learner information:

  • To support learner learning
  • To monitor and report on learner progress
  • To provide appropriate pastoral care
  • To assess the quality of our services
  • To comply with the law
  • To celebrate success
  • To provide education services and extra-curricular activities
  • To monitor progress and assess learners’ educational needs
  • To support teaching and learning
  • To manage internal policy and procedure
  • To take part in assessments

The lawful basis on which we use this information

We will only use your information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your information in the following circumstances: –

  • Consent: the individual has given clear consent to process their personal data for a specific purpose;
  • Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract with the individual;
  • Legal obligation: the processing is necessary to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations);
  • Vital interests: the processing is necessary to protect someone’s life.
  • Public task: the processing is necessary to perform a task in the public interest or for official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law; and
  • The Education Act 1996: for Departmental Censuses 3 times a year. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools.

We need all the categories of information in the list above primarily to allow us to comply with legal obligations. Please note that we may process information without knowledge or consent, where this is required or permitted by law.

Collecting learner information

Whilst the majority of learner information you provide to us is mandatory, some of it is provided to us on a voluntary basis. In order to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation, we will inform you whether you are required to provide certain learner information to us or if you have a choice in this

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during your working relationship with us.

Storing learner data

The school keeps information about pupils on computer systems and sometimes on paper.

Except as required by law, the school only retains information about pupils for as long as necessary in accordance with timeframes imposed by law and our internal policy.

Full details on how long we keep personal data for is set out in our data retention policy, this can be provided on request.

Who we share learner information with

We routinely share learner information with:

  • other schools/settings that learners attend
  • Bridgend County Borough Council
  • Welsh Government and agencies acting on its behalf
  • The Central South Consortium (this is the regional education consortium)
  • Health providers and other statutory agencies
  • Careers Wales
  • NHS
  • Welfare services
  • Law enforcement officials
  • Support services such as insurance, IT support
  • Examination boards
  • Ysgol Llanhari
  • Llangynwyd cluster schools

Why we share learner information

We do not share information/data about our learners with anyone without consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so.

We are required to share information about our learners with Bridgend County Borough Council and Welsh Government.

We share learner information with Welsh Government and agencies acting on its behalf on a statutory basis. This data sharing underpins school funding and educational attainment policy and monitoring.

Rights

Requesting access to personal data

Under data protection legislation, parents/carers and learners have the right to request access to information about them that we hold. To make a request for your personal information, or to be given access to your child’s educational record, please contact the school.

You have the right to:

  • See any personal information we have about you
  • Ask us to change any information that you think is wrong
  • Ask us to not share your information, but this will not apply when we need to get support for the learner or keep the learner safe
  • Ask us to remove information from our systems, but this will not apply when we need to get support for the learner or keep the learner safe.

Learners (subject to certain limitations) and parents/carers also have the right to:

  • Object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing, damage or distress
  • Prevent processing for the purpose of direct marketing
  • Object to decisions being taken by automated means
  • In certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed

If you would like to discuss anything within this privacy notice or have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we request that you raise your concern with the Headteacher in the first instance.

We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) to oversee compliance with data protection and this privacy notice. If you have any questions about how we handle your personal information which cannot be resolved by the Headteacher, then you can contact the DPO on the details below: –

Data Protection Officer: Judicium Consulting Limited

Address: 72 Cannon Street, London, EC4N 6AE

Email: dataservices@judicium.com

Web: www.judiciumeducation.co.uk

Lead Contact: Craig Stilwell

You can seek help if you think we are not respecting your rights from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The contact details are:

Information Commissioner’s Office – Wales Office
2nd Floor – Churchill House

Churchill Way

Cardiff

CF10 2HH

Tel: 0330 414 6241

www.ico.gov.uk

Changes To This Privacy Notice

We reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time, and we will provide you with a new privacy notice when we make any substantial updates. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.