Privacy Notice (How we use pupil information)

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)
  • Attendance information (such as sessions attended, number of absences and absence reasons)
  • Assessment information
  • Medical conditions
  • Special Educational Needs and Disability
  • Behaviour and exclusions
  • Post-16 learning information

Why we collect and use this information

We use the pupil data:

  • to support pupil learning
  • to monitor and report on pupil progress
  • to provide appropriate pastoral care
  • to assess the quality of our services
  • to comply with the law regarding data sharing
  • to safeguard pupils (this includes the use of CCTV)

The lawful basis on which we use this information

We ensure that information we collect and use is in line with GDPR and the Data Protection Act. This means that we must have a lawful reason to collect the data, and that if we share that with another organisation or individual we must have a legal basis to do so.

The lawful basis for schools to collect information comes from a variety of sources, including the Education Act 1996, Regulation 5 of The Education (Information About Individual Students) (England) Regulations 2013, Children’s Act 1989 – Section 83 – places a duty on the Secretary of State or others to conduct research, Article 6 and Article 9 of the GDPR.

Local Authorities and The Department for Education require us to collect certain information and report this back to them. This is called a ‘public task’ and is recognised in law as it is necessary to provide the information.

We also have obligations to collect data about children who are at risk from harm, and we are required to share that with other agencies who also have a responsibility to safeguard children, for example the police and social care. We also share information about students who may require an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or a statement of educational needs. School nurses may visit the school and have access to some information about students. This can be by agreement or because the law says that we must share this information. Counselling services, the careers service, occupational therapists are amongst the types of people and teams that we will share information with, so long as we have consent or are required to share the information by law.

In school we also use various third party tools to make sure that students’ best interests are advanced. This includes financial software to manage school budgets, which may include student data. We use systems to take electronic payments for school meals, additional resources such as revision and text books, and trips. We use software to track progress and attainment. We must keep up to date information about parents and carers for emergency contact and we also use contact information to keep students, parents and carers up to date about school events.

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. 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.

The use of CCTV

By using CCTV systems the school collects, stores, and uses static or moving images of individuals located in the surveillance area.

The school may be able to identify those individuals by using other existing information.

The school operates CCTV for the following purposes:

  • for safeguarding children,

Our lawful basis for processing your personal data is Article 6(1)(e) and 6(1)(f) respectively:

  • 6(1)(e) – Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller – Safeguarding children.
  • 6(1)(f) – Processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests – prevention and detection of crime.

Who has access to CCTV?

This information will only be made available to school employees where there is a need to investigate the recording. Only employees authorised by school management may have access to this footage.

Storing pupil data

We hold pupil data until their 25th birthday, unless we are obliged by law to retain them for longer (See the school’s retention policy).

Who we share pupil information with

We routinely share pupil information with:

  • Schools/colleges that the pupils attend after leaving us
  • our local authority
  • the Department for Education (DfE)
  • NHS/school nurse
  • The Police, if requested via an official request form.
  • Educational websites (who may require first names, surnames and dates of birth in order to provide secure log-in details to individual students).

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.

We are required to share information about our pupils with our local authority (LA) and the Department for Education (DfE) under section 3 of The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.

Data collection requirements:

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/datacollection-and-censuses-for-schools.

Youth support services
Pupils aged 13+
Once our pupils reach the age of 13, we also pass pupil information to our local authority and / or provider of youth support services as they have responsibilities in relation to the education or training of 13-19 year olds under section 507B of the Education Act 1996.
This enables them to provide services as follows:
• youth support services
• careers advisers
A parent or guardian can request that only their child’s name, address and date of birth is passed to their local authority or provider of youth support services by informing us. This right is transferred to the child / pupil once he/she reaches the age 16.

For more information about services for young people, please visit our local authority website.