Privacy notice for pupils

You have a legal right to be informed about how our school uses any personal information that we hold about you. To comply with this, we provide a ‘privacy notice’ to you where we are processing your personal data.

This privacy notice explains how we collect, store and use personal data about you.

We, Catcote Academy, Catcote Road, Hartlepool, TS25 4EZ, are the ‘data controller’ for the purposes of data protection law.

Our data protection officer (Veritau Ltd) can be contacted on 01609 532526.

 

The personal data we hold

We hold some personal information about you to make sure we can help you learn and look after you at school.

For the same reasons, we get information about you from some other places too – like other schools, the local council and the government.

This information includes:

  • Your contact details
  • Your assessment results
  • Your attendance records
  • Your characteristics, like your ethnic background or any special educational needs
  • Any medical conditions you have
  • Details of any behaviour issues or exclusions
  • Post 16 learning information
  • Child protection information
  • Photographs
  • CCTV images
  • Data about your use of the school’s information and communications system

 

Why we use this data

We use this data to help run the school, including to:

  • Get in touch with you and your parents when we need to
  • To support your learning
  • 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 protect you
  • Monitor equal opportunities

 

Our legal basis for using this data

We will only collect and use your information when the law allows us to. Most often, we will use your information where:

  • We need to comply with the law
  • In order to provide you with an education

Sometimes, we may also use your personal information where:

  • Your parents/carers have given us permission to use it in a certain way
  • We need to protect your interests (or someone else’s interest)
  • We need to fulfil a contract we have entered into with your parents/carers

Where we have got permission to use your data, your parents/carer may change their mind about this at any time. We will make this clear when we ask for permission, and explain how to go about withdrawing consent.

Some of the reasons listed above for collecting and using your information overlap, and there may be several grounds which mean we can use your data.

 

Collecting this information

While in most cases you, or your parent/carer, must provide the personal information we need to collect, there are some occasions when you can choose whether or not to provide the data.

We will always tell you if you have a choice. If you must provide the data, we will explain what might happen if you don’t.

 

How we store this data

We will keep personal information about you while you are a pupil at our school. We may also keep it after you have left the school, where we are required to by law.

We have a data retention and disposalpolicy which sets out how long we must keep information about pupils.

If you wish to see a copy of this policy please contact the Data Protection Officer on the telephone number provided.

 

Data sharing

We do not share personal information about you with anyone outside the school without permission from your parents/carers, unless the law and our policies allow us to do so.

Where it is legally required, or necessary for another reason allowed under data protection law, we may share personal information about you with:

  • Our local authority – to meet our legal duties to share certain information with it, such as concerns about pupils’ safety, attendance and exclusions
  • The Department for Education (a government department)
  • Your family and other people who your parent/carer have agreed we can contact regarding your education and wellbeing
  • Educators and examining bodies – to enable you to achieve and progress
  • Our regulator – Ofsted (the organisation or “watchdog” that supervises us)
  • Suppliers and service providers – so that they can provide the services we have contracted them for
  • Financial organisations – in order to access support funding
  • Our auditors – in order to make sure we provide accurate financial information
  • Computerised systems for the storage and processing of data
  • Health authorities and school nurse regarding your health and immunisations
  • Health and social welfare organisations regarding your EHC plan
  • Police forces, courts, tribunals – as required by law in the event of an investigation

 

National Pupil Database

We are required to provide information about you to the Department for Education so that they understand who our students are and the progress you are making.

Some of this information is then stored in the National Pupil Databaseand provides evidence on how schools are performing. This, in turn, supports research.

The Department for Education may share information from the database with other organisations which 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 research data.

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

 

Youth support services

Once you reach the age of 13, we are legally required to pass on certain information about you to Hartlepool Borough Council Youth Services, as it has legal responsibilities regarding the education or training of 13-19 year-olds.

This information enables it to provide youth support services, post-16 education and training services, and careers advice.

Your parent/carer, or you once you’re 16, can contact our data protection officer to ask us to only pass your name, address and date of birth to Hartlepool Borough Council Youth Services.

 

Transferring data internationally

Where we share data with an organisation that is based outside the European Economic Area, we will protect your data by following data protection law.

 

Your rights

How to access personal information we hold about you

You can find out if we hold any personal information about you, and how we use it, by making a ‘subject access request’, as long as we feel  that you can properly understand your rights and what they mean.

If we do hold information about you, we will:

  • Give you a description of it
  • Tell you why we are holding and using it, and how long we will keep it for
  • Explain where we got it from, if not from you or your parents
  • Tell you who it has been, or will be, shared with
  • Let you know if we are using your data to make any automated decisions (decisions being taken by a computer or machine, rather than by a person)
  • Give you a copy of the information

You may also ask us to send your personal information to another organisation electronically in certain circumstances.

If you want to make a request please contact our data protection officer.

Your other rights over your data

You have other rights over how your personal data is used and kept safe, including the right to:

  • Say that you don’t want it to be used if this would cause, or is causing, harm or distress
  • Stop it being used to send you marketing materials
  • Say that you don’t want it used to make automated decisions (decisions made by a computer or machine, rather than by a person)
  • Have it corrected, deleted or destroyed if it is wrong, or restrict our use of it
  • Claim compensation if the data protection rules are broken and this harms you in some way

 

 

Complaints

We take any complaints about how we collect and use your personal data very seriously, so please let us know if you think we’ve done something wrong.

You can make a complaint at any time by contacting our data protection officer.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office in one of the following ways:

  • 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 to Veritau Ltd, County Hall, Northallerton, DL7 8AL
  • Or by telephone on 01609 532526
  • Or email schoolsDPO@veritau.co.uk