Privacy Policy

How we use your information
Privacy notice for parents / pupils

Llanidloes High School
May 2018 

 

Introduction

This notice is to help you understand how and why we collect personal information about you and what we do with that information. It also explains the decisions that you can make about your own information.

If you have any questions about this notice please contact the school Business Manager.

 

What is personal information?

Personal information is information that identifies you as an individual and relates to you.
This includes your contact details, next of kin and financial information. We may also hold
information such as your religion or ethnic group. CCTV, photos and video recordings of you are also personal information.

 

How and why does the school collect and use personal information?

We set out below examples of the different ways in which we use personal information and where this personal information comes from. The school’s primary reason for using your personal information is to provide educational services to your child.

  • We obtain information about you from admissions forms and from your child’s previous school. We may also get information from professionals such as doctors and from local authorities.
  • We may have information about any family circumstances which might affect your child’s welfare or happiness.
  • We may need information about any court orders or criminal petitions which relate to you. This is so that we can safeguard the welfare and wellbeing of your child and the other pupils at the school.
  • We use CCTV to make sure the school site is safe. CCTV is not used in private areas such as toilets.
  • We may take photographs or videos of you at school events to use on social media and on the school website. This is to show prospective parents and pupils what we do here and to promote the school.  We may continue to use these photographs and videos after your child has left the school. The General Data Protection Regulations requires us to gain parental consent before we use this kind of data if your child is aged 12 or under.  Your child can give consent if they are aged 13 or over.
  • We may send you information to keep you up to date with what is happening at the school.  For example, by sending you information about events and activities taking place (including fundraising events) and the school newsletter.
  • We may keep details of your address when your child leaves the school so we can find out how your child is progressing.
  • We may use information about you if we need this for historical research purposes or for statistical purposes.

 

The collection of personal information

The school collects information about child(ren) and their parents or legal guardians when children and young people enrol at the school. The school also collects information at other key times during the school year and may receive information from other schools when children and young people transfer.
The school processes the information it collects to administer the education it provides to children and young people. For example:

  • the provision of educational services to individuals;
  • monitoring and reporting on pupils’/children’s educational progress;
  • the provision of welfare, pastoral care and health services;
  • the giving of support and guidance to children and young people, their parents and legal guardians;
  • the organisation of educational events and trips;
  • the planning and management of the school.

 

Welsh Government and Local Authority (LA)

The Welsh Government receives information on school pupils normally as part of the Pupil Level Annual Schools Census (PLASC). The Welsh Government may receive information on children who attend LA funded early years provision in non-maintained settings. The Welsh Government uses this personal information for research (carried out in a way that ensures individual children and young people cannot be identified) and for statistical purposes, to inform, influence and improve education policy and to monitor the performance of the education service as a whole. Examples of the sort of statistics produced can be viewed at www.wales.gov.uk/statistics.
The LA also uses the personal information collected to do research. It uses the results of this research to make decisions on policy and the funding of schools, to calculate the performance of schools and help them to set targets. The research is carried out in a way that ensures individual children and young people cannot be identified.
In addition the Welsh Government and LAs receive information regarding National Curriculum assessment and public examination results and attendance data at individual pupil level.

 

Personal information held

The sort of personal information that will be held includes:

  • personal details such as name, address, date of birth, child/young person identifiers and contact details for parents and guardians;
  • information on any special educational needs;
  • information on performance in internal and national assessments and examinations;
  • information on the ethnic origin and national identity of children and young people (this is used only to prepare summary statistical analyses);
  • details about children’s and young people’s immigration status (this is used only to prepare summary statistical analyses);
  • medical information needed to keep children and young people safe while in the care of the school;
  • information on attendance and any disciplinary action taken;
  • information about the involvement of social services with individual children and young people where this is needed for the care of the child/young person.
  • Biometric information for ParentPay

 

Organisations which may share personal information

Information held by the school, LA and the Welsh Government on children and young people, their parents or legal guardians may also be shared with other organisations when the law allows and providing all appropriate steps are taken to keep the information secure, for example:

  • other education and training bodies, including schools, when children and young people are applying for courses or training, transferring schools or seeking guidance on opportunities;
  • bodies doing research for the Welsh Government, LA and schools as long as steps are taken to keep the information secure;
  • central and local government for the planning and provision of educational services;
  • social services and other health and welfare organisations where there is a need to share information to protect and support individual children and young people;
  • Management Information System (MIS) providers in order to ensure that system functionality and accuracy is maintained;
  • The Regional Consortium (ERW) to support regional statistical analysis as required by Welsh Government;
  • various regulatory bodies, such as ombudsmen and inspection authorities, where the law requires that information be passed on so that they can do their work;
  • the Office of National Statistics (ONS) in order to improve the quality of migration and population statistics

Children and young people have certain rights under the Data Protection Act, including a general right to be given access to personal data held about them by any “data controller.” The presumption is that, by the age of 12, children and young people have sufficient maturity to understand their rights and to make an access request themselves if they wish. A parent would normally be expected to make a request on a child’s behalf if the child is younger.
If you wish to access your personal data, or that of your child, then please contact the relevant organisation in writing. Details of this organisation can be found on the following website (http://www.llanidloeshighschool.co.uk/). For those children and young people or parents where this is not practical, a hard copy can be obtained from the school by contacting the Head teacher on 01686 412289)
Young people aged 14 or over
The information you supply will be used by the Chief Executive of the Education and Skills Funding Agency, to issue you with a Unique Learner Number (ULN), and to create your Personal Learning Record. Further details of how your information is processed and shared can be found at the Learning Records Service website:
http://www.learningrecordsservice.org.uk

 

Other information

The Welsh Government, LA and school place a high value on the importance of information security and have a number of procedures in place to minimise the possibility of a compromise in data security.
The Welsh Government, LA and school will endeavour to ensure that information is kept accurate at all times. Personal information will not be sent outside the United Kingdom.

 

Your rights under the Data Protection Act 1998

The Data Protection Act 1998 gives individuals certain rights in respect of personal information held on them by any organisation. These rights include:

  • the right to ask for and receive copies of the personal information held on yourself, although some information can sometimes be legitimately withheld;
  • the right, in some circumstances, to prevent the processing of personal information if doing so will cause damage or distress;
  • the right to ask for wrong information to be put right;
  • the right to seek compensation if an organisation does not comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 and you personally suffer damage;
  • in some circumstances, the parent or legal guardian of a child or young person may have a right to receive a copy of personal data held about a child/young person in their legal care. Such cases will be considered on an individual basis where the individual concerned is deemed to have insufficient understanding of their rights under the Act.
  • You also have the right to ask the Information Commissioner, who enforces and oversees the Data Protection Act 1998, to assess whether or not the processing of personal information is likely to comply with the provisions of the Act.

 

Seeking further information

For further information about the personal information collected and its use, if you have concerns about the accuracy of personal information, or wish to exercise your rights under the Data Protection Act 1998, you should contact:

  • Llanidloes High School on 01686 412289;
  • your Local Authority on 01597 827666;
  • the Information Commissioner’s Office help line on 0303 123 1113;
  • the Information Commissioner’s Office contact form https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/
    information is also available from https://ico.org.uk/
  • the Welsh Government’s data protection officer at the Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ