Data Protection Privacy Notice and GDPR

Woodcroft Primary School Privacy Notice (How we use pupil information)

The categories of pupil information that we collect, hold and share include:

  • Personal information (such as name, unique pupil number and address)
  • Characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, nationality, country of birth and free school meal/pupil premium eligibility)
  • Attendance information including exclusions (such as sessions attended, number of absences and absence reasons)
  • Assessment data (such as teacher assessment and SATs results)
  • Medical/Dietary information (such as allergies, disabilities and religious reasons)
  • Special Educational Needs information (such as learning difficulties, physical difficulties and behavioural/emotional difficulties)
  • Safeguarding information ( such as disclosures, reports of abuse)
  • Looked After Children and Post Looked After Children (documents detailing reasons for LAC, current carers details)

The lawful basis on which we collect and use this information

We collect and use pupil information under:

  • Education Act 1996
  • GDPR Article 6 ‘Lawfulness of processing’ – Compliance with a legal obligation
  • GDPR Article 9 “Processing of special categories of personal data” processing is carried out in the course of legitimate activities
  • Data Protection Act 2018

Collecting Pupil Information

Whilst the majority of pupil information you provide to us is mandatory, some of it is provided to us on a voluntary basis. In order to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, we will inform you whether you are required to provide certain pupil information to us or if you have a choice in this.

Why we collect and store pupil data

We hold pupil data for:

  • Assessment/Test Data – current year +6 years.
  • Personal Information – Closure of setting +50 years
  • Safeguarding Information – DOB +30 years
  • SEN information – destroy once the pupil has left.
  • Accident/First Aid Information – DOB +25 years

Who we share pupil information with

We routinely share pupil information with:

  • schools that the pupil’s attend after leaving us
  • our local authority
  • the Department for Education (DfE)
  • NHS/School Nursing Team
  • Social Services
  • LA Safeguarding Team

Why we share pupil information

We do not share information about our pupils with anyone without consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so.

We share pupils’ data with the Department for Education (DfE) on a statutory basis. This data sharing underpins school funding and educational attainment policy and monitoring.

We are required to share information about our pupils with our local authority (LA) and the Department for Education (DfE) under section 3 of The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.

Data collection requirements:

To find out more about the data collection requirements placed on us by the Department for Education (for example; via the school census) go to https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools.

The National Pupil Database (NPD)

The NPD is owned and managed by the Department for Education and contains information about pupils in schools in England. It provides invaluable evidence on educational performance to inform independent research, as well as studies commissioned by the Department. It is held in electronic format for statistical purposes. This information is securely collected from a range of sources including schools, local authorities and awarding bodies.

We are required by law, to provide information about our pupils to the DfE as part of statutory data collections such as the school census and early years’ census. Some of this information is then stored in the NPD. The law that allows this is the Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.

To find out more about the NPD, go to https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupil-database-user-guide-and-supporting-information.

The department may share information about our pupils from the NPD with third parties who promote the education or well-being of children in England by:

The Department has robust processes in place to ensure the confidentiality of our data is maintained and there are stringent controls in place regarding access and use of the data. Decisions on whether DfE releases data to third parties are subject to a strict approval process and based on a detailed assessment of:

To be granted access to pupil information, organisations must comply with strict terms and conditions covering the confidentiality and handling of the data, security arrangements and retention and use of the data.

For more information about the department’s data sharing process, please visit:https://www.gov.uk/data-protection-how-we-collect-and-share-research-data

For information about which organisations the department has provided pupil information, (and for which project), please visit the following website:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupil-database-requests-received

To contact DfE: https://www.gov.uk/contact-dfe

Requesting access to your personal data

Under data protection legislation, parents and pupils have the right to request access to information about them that we hold (Subject Access Request). To make a request for your personal information, or be given access to your child’s educational record, contact Mrs Gill Langdon, School Office Manager in writing.

You also have the right to:

  • object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing, damage or distress
  • prevent processing for the purpose of direct marketing
  • object to decisions being taken by automated means
  • in certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed; and
  • claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Data Protection regulations

If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we request that you raise your concern with us in the first instance. Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Contact

If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact:

Mr Craig Tallon, Headteacher (Data protection Officer)