Privacy Notice (How we use and share your information)
Our school collects, holds and shares information about our pupils and families in order to provide educational services. The school recognises that this information is important and is responsible for the pupils’ information that it holds. As such we take seriously our responsibilities and we are committed to sharing your information responsibly and safely.
Walter Halls Primary and Early Years School is the data controller. This means that we have to look after all the information we collect and use and share it correctly and lawfully.
If you want more information about the Data Protection law it is available on the Information Commissioners website at www.ico.org.uk.
The categories of pupil information that we collect, hold and share include:
Personal information (such as name, unique pupil number and address)
Characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, nationality, country of birth and free school meal eligibility)
Emergency contact information
Attendance information (such as sessions attended, number of absences and absence reasons)
Assessment data
Exclusions/behavioral information
Relevant medical information
Special education needs information
Safeguarding information
Photographs
The lawful basis on which we use this information
We collect and use pupil information under the public interest/exercise of authority category. For special data (e.g. medical, ethnicity) we collect and use pupil information under the substantial public interest category. Some of our data (e.g. photographs) will be collected by consent.
What does our school do with your data?
1. The reasons we process your data
to support and promote pupil learning
to monitor and report on pupil progress and attainment
to provide appropriate pastoral care and safeguarding
to assess the quality of our services
to comply with the law regarding data sharing
for research, consultation and reporting about education
to provide support to children with Special Educational Needs
to process financial transactions
to make funding applications
for promotional purposes eg the school website and brochure (consent is requested for this use).
2. Why we are allowed to process your data?
Legal obligations under various legislation including (but not limited to):
The Education Act 1944, 1996, 2002
The Education and Adoption Act 2016
The Education and Skills Act 2008
The Education and Inspections Act 2006
The Children Act 1989, 2004
The Childcare Act 2006
The Children and Families Act 2014
Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities in England to identify Children not receiving education – 2007
The Education (Pupil Registration) England Regulations 2006
Department for Education (DfE) under section 3 of The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.
3. Who do we share your data with?
Education providers (schools, colleges, academies, Pupil Referral Units)
Children’s Social Care and support services
Doctors and other health care services
Early Years providers
Local Authorities (for example Nottingham City Council)
Police, Youth Offending Team and probation services (where there is a legal obligation to do)
Safeguarding Boards
School transport operators
Funding bodies
Awarding bodies (qualifications)
Offsite visit providers, including residential providers
Some Educational providers such as Marvellous Me, Ixcel and Mathletics. We share pupil names so that the children can use educational APPs and resources. We check that these providers are GDPR compliant.
The Department for Education (see below)
My Concern. This is our online safeguarding recording system which is GDPR compliant.
Collecting pupil information
Whilst the majority of pupil information you provide to us is mandatory, some of it is provided to us on a voluntary basis (e.g. information for non-curricular trips and photographs). In order to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, we will inform you whether you are required to provide certain pupil information to us or if you have a choice in this.
Storing pupil data
We hold pupil data only for as long as is necessary. For more detailed information regarding retention periods please refer to our Retention Policy.
Why we share pupil information
We do not share information about our pupils with anyone without consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so.
We share pupils’ data with the Department for Education (DfE) on a statutory basis. This data sharing underpins school funding and educational attainment policy and monitoring.
To find out more about the data collection requirements placed on us by the Department for Education (for example; via the school census) go to https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools.
Requesting access to your personal data
Under data protection legislation, parents and pupils have the right to request access to information about them that we hold. To make a request for your personal information, or be given access to your child’s educational record, contact Alex Epton, Data Protection Officer, via the School Office. You 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; and
claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Data Protection regulations
If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we request that you raise your concern with us in the first instance by contacting our Data Protection Officer (see below). For further information, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.
You can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK95 5AT
Contact
If you have any questions or want more information please contact:
Alex Epton, Data Protection Officer, Walter Halls Primary School
E-mail: admin@walterhalls.nottingham.sch.uk
Changes to this Privacy Notice
Our school encourages you to visit our website and view this notice, and be aware of how we protect your information. The school will continually review and update this Privacy Notice to reflect changes in our services and feedback from you, as well as to comply with changes in the law.
Version 1.0 May 2018
The National Pupil Database (NPD)
The NPD is owned and managed by the Department for Education and contains information about pupils in schools in England. It provides invaluable evidence on educational performance to inform independent research, as well as studies commissioned by the Department. It is held in electronic format for statistical purposes. This information is securely collected from a range of sources including schools, local authorities and awarding bodies.
We are required by law, to provide information about our pupils to the DfE as part of statutory data collections such as the school census and early years’ census. Some of this information is then stored in the NPD. The law that allows this is the Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.
To find out more about the NPD, go to:
The department may share information about our pupils from the NPD with third parties who promote the education or well-being of children in England by:
conducting research or analysis
producing statistics
providing information, advice or guidance
The Department has robust processes in place to ensure the confidentiality of our data is maintained and there are stringent controls in place regarding access and use of the data. Decisions on whether DfE releases data to third parties are subject to a strict approval process and based on a detailed assessment of:
who is requesting the data
the purpose for which it is required
the level and sensitivity of data requested: and
the arrangements in place to store and handle the data
To be granted access to pupil information, organisations must comply with strict terms and conditions covering the confidentiality and handling of the data, security arrangements and retention and use of the data.
For more information about the department’s data sharing process, please visit:
https://www.gov.uk/data-protection-how-we-collect-and-share-research-data
For information about which organisations the department has provided pupil information, (and for which project), please visit the following website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupil-database-requests-received
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