Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

We at The Stonebridge School will collect various types of data from you and other sources during your child’s time with us, we will gather and use information relating to you. Information that we hold in relation to individuals is known as their “personal data”. This will include data that we obtain from you directly and data about you that we obtain from other people and organisations. We might also need to continue to hold your personal data for a period of time after your child has left the school. Anything that we do with an individual’s personal data is known as “processing”.

We, The Stonebridge School, Shakespeare Avenue, NW10 8NG, 0208 965 6965 are the ‘data controller’ for the purposes of UK data protection law.
This privacy notice explains how we collect, store and use personal data about pupils at our school, like you. Under UK data protection law, individuals have a right to be informed about how our 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.

2. The personal data we hold

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

• Your contact details
• Your test results, details about your learning and what you have achieved at school
• Your attendance records
• Details of any behaviour issues or exclusions
• Information about how you use school computers and other IT and communications systems

We may also collect, use, store and share (when appropriate) information about you that falls into ‘special categories’ of more sensitive personal data. This includes, but is not restricted to:

• Information about your characteristics, such as your ethnic background or any special educational needs (SEN)
• Information about any medical conditions you have
• Photographs and CCTV images

We may also hold data about you that we have received from other organisations, including other schools and local authorities.
We may also collect, use, store and share (when appropriate) information about you that falls into ‘special categories’ of more sensitive personal data. This includes, but is not restricted to:

• Information about any health conditions you have that we need to be aware of
• Photographs and CCTV images captured in school

We may also hold data about you that we have received from other organisations, including other schools and local authorities.

3. Why we use this data

• We collect and use the data listed above to:
• Report to you on your child’s attainment and progress
• Confirm your identity
• Get in touch with you and your parents or carers when we need to
• Check how you’re doing in exams and work out whether you or your teachers need any extra help
• Track how well the school as a whole is performing
• Look after your wellbeing and keep you safe
• Answer your questions and complaints
• Publish statistics, for example, about the number of pupils or learners in schools
• Meet legal requirements placed upon us
• Make sure our information and communication systems, equipment and facilities (e.g. school computers) are used appropriately, legally and safely

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we have collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

3.1 Use of your personal data for marketing purposes

Where you have given us consent to do so, we may send you marketing information by email or text promoting school events, campaigns, charitable causes or services that may be of interest to you.

You can withdraw consent or ‘opt out’ of receiving these emails and/or texts at any time by selecting the ‘Unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of any such communication, or by contacting us (see ‘Contact us’ below).

3.2 Use of your personal data in automated decision-making and profiling

We do not currently process any parents’ or carers’ personal data through automated decision-making or profiling.

If this changes in the future, we will amend any relevant privacy notices in order to explain the processing to you, including your right to object to it.

3.3 Use of your personal data for filtering and monitoring purposes

While you’re in our school, we may monitor your use of our information and communication systems, equipment and
facilities (e.g. school computers). We do this so that we can:

• Comply with health and safety and other legal obligations
• Comply with our policies (e.g. child protection policy, IT acceptable use policy) and our legal obligations
• Keep our network(s) and devices safe from unauthorised access, and prevent malicious software from harming our network(s)
• Protect your child’s welfare
  

4. Our lawful basis for using this data

Our lawful bases for processing your personal data for the purposes listed in section 3 above are as follows:
Where you have provided us with consent to use your data, you may withdraw this consent at any time. We will make this clear when requesting your consent, and explain how you would go about withdrawing consent if you wish to do so.

a) Report to you on your child’s attainment and progress
b) Keep you informed about the running of the school (such as emergency closures) and events
c) Process payments for school services and clubs
d) Provide appropriate pastoral care
e) Protect pupil welfare
f) Administer admissions waiting lists
g) Assess the quality of our services
h) Carry out research
i) Comply with our legal and statutory obligations
j) Make sure our information and communication systems, equipment and facilities (e.g. school computers) are used appropriately, legally and safely

4.1 Our basis for using special category data

For ‘special category’ data, we only collect and use it when we have both a lawful basis, as set out above, and 1 of the following conditions for processing as set out in UK data protection law:

• We have obtained your explicit consent to use your personal data in a certain way
• We need to perform or exercise an obligation or right in relation to employment, social security or social protection law
• We need to protect an individual’s vital interests (i.e. protect your life or someone else’s life), in situations where you’re physically or legally incapable of giving consent
   The data concerned has already been made manifestly public by you
• We need to process it for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
• We need to process it for reasons of substantial public interest as defined in legislation
• We need to process it for health or social care purposes, and the processing is done by, or under the direction of, a health or social work professional or by any other person obliged to confidentiality under law
• We need to process it for public health reasons, and the processing is done by, or under the direction of, a health professional or by any other person obliged to confidentiality under law
• We need to process it for archiving purposes, scientific or historical research purposes, or for statistical purposes, and the processing is in the public interest
  

For criminal offence data, we will only collect and use it when we have both a lawful basis, as set out above, and a condition for processing as set out in UK data protection law. Conditions include:

• We have obtained your consent to use it in a specific way
• We need to protect an individual’s vital interests (i.e. protect your life or someone else’s life), in situations where you’re physically or legally incapable of giving consent
• The data concerned has already been made manifestly public by you
• We need to process it for, or in connection with, legal proceedings, to obtain legal advice, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal rights
• We need to process it for reasons of substantial public interest as defined in legislation

Failure to provide this information

Failure to provide this information If you fail to provide information to us, we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations.

5. Collecting this data

We will only collect and use your data when the law allows us to (as detailed above in section 4 of this notice). While the majority of information we collect about you is mandatory, there is some information that can be provided voluntarily.

Whenever we seek to collect information from you, we make it clear whether you must provide this information (and if so, what the possible consequences are of not complying), or whether you have a choice.

Most of the data we hold about you will come from you, but we may also hold data about you from:

• Local authorities
• Government departments or agencies
• Your children
• Police forces, courts or tribunals, social services
• Other schools and trusts

6. How we store this data

We keep personal information about you while you are attending our school. We may also keep it beyond their attendance at our school if this is necessary to comply with our legal obligations or to meet our regulatory requirements. How long we keep the information will depend on the type of information. Our Retention / records management policy] sets out how long we keep information about parents and carers.

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.

We will dispose of your personal data securely when we no longer have a legal requirement to retain it.

7. Who we share data with

Who will we share your personal data with? We routinely share information about you with:

• Schools that you may attend after leaving us
• Our local authority, Brent– because we have to share certain information with it, such as safeguarding concerns and information about exclusions
• Government departments or agencies
• Youth support services provider
• Our regulator, [e.g. Ofsted]
• Department for Education
• Suppliers and service providers: (SchoolComms)

Financial organisations

• Our auditors
• Survey and research organisations
• Health authorities
• Security organisations
• Health and social welfare organisations
• Professional advisers and consultants
• Charities and voluntary organisations
• Police forces, courts or tribunals

7.1 Sharing data with the Department for Education (DfE)

We have to share information about you with the Department for Education (a government department) either directly or via our local authority, via various statutory data collections.

The data shared will be in line with the following legislation:

Section 3 of The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013 The data is transferred securely and held by the Department for Education under a combination of software and hardware controls that meet the current government security policy framework.

The data we share about you with the Department for Education is used for a number of different purposes, including to:

• Help decide the amount of money that our school receives
• Monitor how well the education system is working and how well our school is doing in terms of educating our pupils
• Support research

The information shared with the Department for Education about you could include:

• Your name and address
• Your unique pupil number
• Pupil matching reference numbers
• Details of your gender or ethnicity
• Details of any special educational needs (SEN)
• Details of schools attended
• Absence and exclusion information
• Information relating to exam results
• Information relating to any contact with children’s services
• What you have done since finishing school

Please note: this list is not exhaustive.

National Pupil Database (NPD)

We have to provide information about you to the Department for Education as part of data collections such as the school census. 

Some of this information is then stored in the National Pupil Database, which is managed by the Department for Education and provides evidence on how schools are performing. This, in turn, supports research.

The database is held electronically so it can easily be turned into statistics. The information it holds is collected securely from schools, local authorities, exam boards and others. 

The Department for Education may share information from the database with other organisations, such as organisations that promote children’s education or wellbeing in England. These organisations must agree to strict terms and conditions about how they will use your data.

You can find more information about this on the Department for Education’s webpage on how it collects and shares personal data.

You can also contact the Department for Education if you have any questions about the database.

7.1 Transferring data internationally

We may share personal information about you with the following international third parties, where different data protection legislation applies:

Safeguarding teams, social services, police, schools and colleges

Where we transfer your personal data to a third-party country or territory, we will do so in accordance with UK data protection law.In cases where we have to set up safeguarding arrangements to complete this transfer, you can get a copy of these arrangements by contacting us.

8. Your rights

8.1 How to access personal information that we hold about you

You have a right to make a ‘subject access request’ to gain access to personal information that we hold about you.

If you make a subject access request, and if we do hold information about you, we will (subject to any exemptions that may apply):

• Give you a description of it
• Tell you why we are holding it, how we are processing it, and how long we will keep it for
• Explain where we got it from, if not from you
• 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

You may also have the right for your personal information to be transmitted electronically to another organisation in certain circumstances.

If you would like to make a request, please contact us (see ‘Contact us’ below).

8.2 Your other rights regarding your data

Under data protection law, you have certain rights regarding how your personal data is used and kept safe. For example, you have the right to:

• Object to our use of your personal data where it is likely to cause, or is causing damage or distress
• Prevent your data being used to send direct marketing
• Object to and challenge the use of your personal data for decisions being taken by automated means (by a computer or machine, rather than by a person)
• In certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data corrected or blocked
• In certain circumstances, have the personal data we hold about you deleted or destroyed, or restrict its processing
• Withdraw your consent, where you previously provided it for the collection, processing and transfer of your personal data for a specific purpose
• In certain circumstances, be notified of a data breach
• Make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office
• Claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the data protection regulations
  

We may refuse your information rights request for legitimate reasons, which depend on why we’re processing it. Some rights may not apply in these circumstances:

• Your right to have all personal data deleted or destroyed doesn’t apply when the lawful basis for processing is legal obligation or public task
• Your right to receive a copy of your personal data, or have your personal data transmitted to another controller, does not apply when the lawful basis for processing is legal obligation, vital interests, public task or legitimate interests
• Right to object to use of your private data doesn’t apply when the lawful basis for processing is contract, legal obligation or vital interests. And if the lawful basis is consent, you don’t haven’t the right to object, but you have the right to withdraw consent

See information on types of lawful basis in section 4 of this privacy notice.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us (see ‘Contact us’ below).

9. Contact us / Concerns

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 concerns about our data processing, please raise this with us in the first instance. You can make a complaint to us at any time by contacting Veren Vaja, the Data Protection Lead gdpr@stonebridge.brent.sch.uk / 0208 965 6965