Data Protection & Information Management

Freedom of Information

All public authorities, including schools, are required under the Freedom of Information Act to adopt a publication scheme that has been approved by the Information Commissioner.

There is currently one approved model publication scheme, which has been produced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Schools must adopt the IOC’s model scheme and make it publicly available.


Our published guide to information

School’s should publish a guide to information alongside the publication scheme.

The guide should specify:

  • the documents available
  • the format of the documents
  • any charges made for the information

Privacy Notice

Privacy notice for parents/carers

Under data protection law, individuals have a right to be informed about how the school uses any
personal data that we hold about them. We comply with this right by providing ‘privacy notices’
(sometimes called ‘fair processing notices’) to individuals where we are processing their personal data.

This privacy notice explains how we collect, store and use personal data about pupils.
We, Berwick St Mary’s C of E First School, are the ‘data controller’ for the purposes of data protection
law.

Our data protection officer is Vicky Evans.

The personal data we hold:
Personal data that we may collect, use, store and share (when appropriate) about parents includes, but
is not restricted to:

  • Contact details, contact preferences
  • Mobile phone number
  • Email address
  • Bank account details
  • Photographs
  • CCTV images captured in school.


Why we use this data

We use this data to:

  • Communicate with parents.
  • Facilitate easy payment for items such as school meals, trips and school uniform
  • Provide appropriate pastoral care.


Our Legal Basis for using this data

We only collect and use parents’ personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we process
it where:

  • We need to comply with a legal obligation
  • We need it to perform an official task in the public interest.

Less commonly, we may also process pupils’ personal data in situations where:

  • We have obtained consent to use it in a certain way
  • Where we have obtained consent to use parents’ personal data, this consent can be withdrawn at anytime.
  • We will make this clear when we ask for consent and explain how consent can be withdrawn.

Some of the reasons listed above overlap and there may be several grounds which justify our use of
this data.

Collecting this information

While the majority of information we collect about parents is mandatory there is some information that can be provided voluntarily.

Whenever we seek to collect information from you, we make it clear whether providing it is mandatory or optional. If it is mandatory we explain the possible consequences of not complying.

How we store this data

We keep personal information about parents while their children are attending school. We may also keep it beyond their attendance at our school if this is necessary in order to comply with our legal obligations. Our retention schedule sets out how long we keep information about pupils.

Data Sharing

We do not share information about parents with any third party without consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so. Where it is legally required, or necessary (and it complies with data protection law) we may share personal information about pupils with:

  • Our local authority – to meet our legal obligations to share certain information with it, such as safeguarding concerns and exclusions
  • The Department for Education
  • The pupil’s family and representatives
  • Educators and examining bodies
  • Our regulator – Ofsted
  • Suppliers and service providers – to enable them to provide the service we have contracted them for
  • Financial organisations
  • Central and local government
  • Health and social welfare organisations
  • Professional advisors and consultants
  • Police forces, courts, tribunals


Transferring data internationally

Where we transfer personal data to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area, we will do so in accordance with data protection law.

Parents rights regarding personal information

Individuals have a right to make a ‘subject access request’ to gain access to personal information that the school holds about them. Parents/carers can make a request with respect to their child’s data where the child is not considered mature enough to understand their rights over their own data (usually under the age of 12), or where the child has provided consent.

Parents also have the right to make a subject access request with respect to any personal data the school holds about them.

If you make a subject access request, and if we do hold information about you or your child, we will:

  • Give you a description of it
  • Tell you why we are holding and processing it and how long we will keep it for
  • Explain where we got it from, if not from you or your child
  • Tell you who it has been or will be, shared with
  • Let you know whether any automated decision-making is being applied to the data, and any consequences of this
  • Give you a copy of the information in an intelligible form
  • Individuals also have the right for their personal information to be transmitted electronically to another organisation in certain circumstances. If you would like to make a request please contact our Data Protection Officer.

Parents/carers also have a legal right to access to their child’s education record. To request access, please contact the school Data Protection Officer.

Other Rights

Under data protection law individuals have certain rights regarding how their personal data is used and kept save, including the right to:

  • Object to the use of personal data if it would cause, or is causing, damage or distress.
  • Prevent it to being used to send direct marketing.
  • Object to decisions being taken by automated means (by a computer or a machine rather than a person).
  • In certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data corrected, deleted or destroyed, or restrict processing.
  • Claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the data protection regulations.
  • To exercise any of these rights please contact our data protection officer.


Complaints

We take any complaints about our collection and use of personal information very seriously.

If you think our collection or use of personal information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate, or have any other concerns about our data processing, please raise this with us in the first instance.

To make a complaint please contact our data protection officer. Alternatively, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

  • Report a concern online by clicking the link ico.org.uk
  • Call 0303 123 1113
  • Or write to: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.


Contact us

If you have any questions, concerns or would like more information about anything mentioned in this privacy notice, please contact our data protection officer.

This notice is based on the Department for Education’s model privacy notice for pupils, amended for parents and to reflect the way we use data in this school.

Full GDPR Report:

Privacy Notices:

Other related policies: