Privacy Notice for parents/carers – use of your child’s personal data 

Under UK 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 at our school. 

We, Highcliffe St Mark Primary School, Greenways, Highcliffe, Christchurch, BH23 5AZ are the ‘data controller’ for the purposes of data protection law. 

Our Data Protection Officer is Claire Hughes (see ‘Contact us’ below).  

The personal data we hold 

Personal data that we may collect, use, store and share (when appropriate) about pupils 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 captured in school or whilst attending school visits and trips 

• Exclusion information 

• CCTV recordings 

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: 

• Comply with our legal and public interest obligations 

• 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 

• Make sure our information and communication systems, equipment and facilities eg school computers, are used appropriately, legally and safely 

• Comply with the law regarding data sharing 

• To promote the school 

Use of your child’s personal data for filtering and monitoring purposes  

While your child is in in our school, we may monitor their 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 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 

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 and statutory 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. The Information and Records Management Society’s toolkit for schools  sets out how long we keep information about pupils.  

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 UK 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, attendance, fines and exclusions 

• The Department for Education – to meet our legal obligations to share information in relation to pupils attainment and progress - section 3 of the Education (Information about individual pupils) (England) Regulations 2013 

• The pupil’s family and representatives – to meet our public task to keep parents/carers informed about all aspects of pupil’s attainment and progress 

• Educators and examining bodies – to meet our public task obligations to pass on data for transitional purposes when a child moves to a new educational establishment 

• Our regulator, Ofsted to meet our legal obligation to share information, such as safeguarding, attendance, assessment data and progress 

• Suppliers and service providers – to enable them to provide the service we have contracted them for, such as free school meals, on line payment systems 

• Central and local government – we are legally required to share information about our pupils with our local authority and the Department of Education (Dfe) under section 3 of the Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013 

• Health authorities -  to meet our public interest obligations with regard to pupils receiving health checks with the school nurse 

• Health and social welfare organisations -  to meet public task, our legal obligation or vital interests of a pupil/family in relation to a health or safeguarding concern 

• Professional advisers and consultants – to meet our public task in supporting the academic or social and emotional needs of a pupil 

• Police forces, courts, tribunals –  in child protection cases to comply with our public task, legal obligations or vital interests of a pupil or family 

• Teachers and staff within the school – to carry out their public tasks within school 

• Governors to carry out our public task.  Whist we share data regarding exclusions, attendance and results, on the whole this is all anonymised 

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. 

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 UK data protection law. 

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 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. 

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 educational record unless there is a safeguarding issue. To request access, please contact Claire Hughes office@highcliffeprimary.dorset.sch.uk, 01425 273029 

Your right to access your child’s educational record  

Parents, or those with parental responsibility, also have the right to access their child’s educational record (which includes most information about a pupil). This right applies as long as the pupil is aged under 18. 

There are certain circumstances in which this right can be denied, such as if releasing the information might cause serious harm to the physical or mental health of the pupil or another individual, or if it would mean releasing exam marks before they are officially announced. 

To make a request, please contact Claire Hughes office@highcliffeprimary.dorset.sch.uk, 01425 273029 

Other rights 

Under UK 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 make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. 

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 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: 

Claire Hughes office@highcliffeprimary.dorset.sch.uk, 01425 273029 

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.