Privacy notice for Parents/Carers and Guardians
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 and/or their
parents/carers or guardians.
We, The Learning for Life Partnership T/A Leighton Academy are the ‘data controller’ for the
purposes of data protection law.
Our data protection officer is Mrs Sharon Dempsey (see ‘Contact us’ below).
The personal data we hold
Personal data that we may collect, use, store and share (when appropriate) about pupils and
parents/guardians includes, but is not restricted to:
Contact details, contact preferences, date of birth, identification documents
Results of internal assessments and externally set tests
Pupil and curricular records
Characteristics, such as ethnic background, eligibility for free school meals, or special
educational needs
Exclusion information
Details of any medical conditions, including physical and mental health
Attendance information
Safeguarding information
Details of any support received, including care packages, plans and support providers
Photographs
CCTV images captured in school (where CCTV is installed)
We may also hold data about pupils that we have received from other organisations, including other
schools, local authorities and the Department for Education.
Why we use this data
We use this data to:
Support pupil learning
Monitor and report on pupil progress
Provide appropriate pastoral care
Protect pupil welfare
Assess the quality of our services
Administer admissions waiting lists
Carry out research (National Pupil Database – detailed below)
Comply with the law regarding data sharing
Our legal basis for using this data
We only collect and use pupils’ 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
We need to protect the individual’s vital interests (or someone else’s interests)
Where we have obtained consent to use pupils’ personal data, this consent can be withdrawn at any
time. We will make this clear when we ask for consent, and explain how consent can be withdrawn.
Some of the reasons listed above for collecting and using pupils’ personal data 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 pupils is mandatory, there is some information that
can be provided voluntarily.
Whenever we seek to collect information from you or your child, we make it clear whether providing it
is mandatory or optional. If it is mandatory, we will explain the possible consequences of not
complying.
How we store this data
We keep personal information about pupils while they are attending our 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 data retention schedule sets out how long we keep information about pupils and how we dispose
of this information.
For a copy of the data retention schedule please contact the administration team within the School.
Data sharing
We do not share information about pupils 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 regulators e.g. Ofsted
Suppliers and service providers – to enable them to provide the service we have contracted
them for
Financial organisations – to hold balances of pupils e.g. lunches, trips, etc
Central and local government
Our auditors
Survey and research organisations – National Pupil Database
Health authorities
Security organisations
Health and social welfare organisations
Professional advisers and consultants
Police forces, courts, tribunals
Professional bodies
National Pupil Database
We are required to provide information about pupils to the Department for Education as part of
statutory data collections such as the school census and early years census.
Some of this information is then stored in the National Pupil Database (NPD), which is owned and
managed by the Department and provides evidence on school performance to inform research.
The database is held electronically so it can easily be turned into statistics. The information is
securely collected from a range of sources including schools, local authorities and exam boards.
The Department for Education may share information from the NPD with other organisations which
promote children’s education or wellbeing in England. Such organisations must agree to strict terms
and conditions about how they will use the data.
For more information, see the Department’s webpage on how it collects and shares research data.
You can also contact the Department for Education with any further questions about the NPD.
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.
Details of these transfers will be detailed in our Information Asset Register.
Parents and pupils’ rights regarding personal data
Individuals have a right to make a ‘subject access request’ to gain access to personal information
that the school holds about them.
Parents/carers and guardians 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. This is usually in the case
of a CTF (Common Transfer File) which is used to transfer data to other schools using the
Governments secure access service – S2S.
If you would like to make a request please contact our data protection officer c/o the School your child
attends.
Parents/carers and guardians also have a legal right to access to their child’s educational record. To
request access, please contact the school in writing to make this request and this will be provided
within 30 days.
Other rights
Under data protection law, individuals have certain rights regarding how their personal data is used
and kept safe, including the right to:
Object to the use of personal data if it would cause, or is causing, damage or distress
Prevent it being used to send direct marketing
Object to decisions being taken by automated means (by a computer or machine, rather than
by 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.
Validating Identification
We take our responsibility for keeping data secure under the General Data Protection Regulations
seriously and will seek to authenticate identification without exception.
This may take the form of confirming identification by answering questions about the information we
hold about you over the phone and/or providing identification where a Subject Access Request is
submitted.
Complaints
We take any complaints about our collection and use of personal information very seriously.
If you think that our collection or use of personal information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate, or
have any other concern 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 at
https://ico.org.uk/concerns/
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 in writing:
Mrs Sharon Dempsey c/o The School your child attends