Privacy Notice and GDPR

For general questions or advice about the school’s data protection procedures or to alert us to any issues you may have in the way we may handle your or your child’s information please contact: Mrs E Walker, Deputy Headteacher - e.walker@stmcollege.org.uk 0161 336 2743

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. To make a request for your personal information, or be given access to your child’s educational record please download and complete this form and then email the completed form to sar@stmcollege.org.uk We have compiled a document detailing how you can exercise your rights as a data subject which is available to download here

If you prefer, you may contact the School’s independent Data Protection Officer direct at:Schools’ Data Protection Officer, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, Information Governance Dept, Stopford House, Stockport SK1 3XE 

Privacy Notice (How we use pupil information)

We St Thomas More RC College are a data controller for the purpose of the General Data Protection Regulation. We collect information from you and may receive information about you from your previous school, local authority and/or the Department for Education.

Why do we collect and use pupil information?

We collect and use pupil information under the Education Act 1996. The EU general data protection regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) will take effect in May 25 2018 including Article 6 ‘lawfulness of processing’ and Article 9 ‘Processing of special categories of personal data’
https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools

We use the pupil data: 

  • To support pupil learning and the delivery of education
  • To monitor and report on pupil progress
  • To provide appropriate pastoral care
  • To assess the quality of our services
  • To comply with the law regarding data sharing
  • To comply with our statutory obligations

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

  • Personal information such as: name, DoB, gender, image, class details, admission data, unique pupil number, address, family contact details, GP contact details, dietary requirements, school history, attendance, behaviour log)
  • Special categories of information such as: ethnicity, nationality, religion, country of birth, free school meal eligibility, medical needs, assessment, data, Special Educational Needs and Disability status
  • Exclusions and behavioural information
  • Assessment information
  • Attendance information (such as sessions attended, number of absences and absence reasons) 

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. 

Storing pupil data

We hold pupil data for 9 years following a student’s last entry which would be when they reach 25 years of age. 

Who do we share pupil information with ?

We share pupil data with a number of services in order to provide appropriate support for our pupils. This will include Local Authority educational services including specialist inclusion, support and access services as well as health services like School Nursing.

  • Schools that the pupil’s attend after leaving us
  • Our Local Authority
  • The Department for Education (DfE)

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 the (DfE) under regulation 5 of The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.
Youth support services

The lawful basis on which we use this information :

Legal obligation

We are required to use pupil data when undertaking our legal obligations and to comply with our statutory functions.
The following information is processed as a result of the school’s legal obligation:
Pupil Name, Date of Birth, Gender, Image, Class details, Admission Date, ULN, UPN, Address, Family Members, Family Contact Details, GP Contact Details, Dietary Requirements, Ethnicity, Nationality, Religion, FSM, School History, Attendance, Medical Needs, Assessment Data, Behaviour Log, SEN Status.

Consent

The consent of parents may be relied upon to process some forms of pupil data. We will request consent in the following circumstances:

  • To allow us to process the personal and sensitive information for school visits (Name, DOB, Contact Telephone Number, Medical Requirements) 
  • When taking photographs of pupils to be used on the school website / used within the school environment 
  • When taking photographs by the school photographer
  • To share information with the Team Around the Child (TAC)  

Where the legal reason for processing your personal information is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of our processing prior to your withdrawal. Please contact the school should you wish to withdraw your consent for any of the above activities. 

                           

 

What is different about pupils aged 13+?

Once our pupils reach the age of 13, we also pass pupil information to our local authority and / or provider of youth support services as they have responsibilities in relation to the education or training of 13-19 year olds under section 507B of the Education Act 1996.

This enables them to provide services as follows: 

  • Youth support services
  • Careers advisers 
  • A parent / guardian can request that only their child’s name, address and date of birth is passed to their local authority or provider of youth support services by informing us. This right is transferred to the child / pupil once he/she reaches the age 16.

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 pupil information we share with the department, for the purpose of data collections, go to https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools. 

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:

  • Conducting research or analysis
  • Producing statistics
  • Providing information, advice or guidance 

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: 

  • Who is requesting the data
  • The purpose for which it is required
  • The level and sensitivity of data requested
  • The arrangements in place to store and handle the data

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. We have compiled a document detailing how you can exercise your rights as a data subject which is available to download here. To make a request for your personal information, or be given access to your child’s educational record, Please email sar@stmcollege.org.uk 

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
  • 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, you should raise your concern with us in the first instance or directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Data Breach Policy

View our Data Breach Policy here, detailing how we would manage any serious information governance incident.

Data Protection Policy

View our Data Protection Policy here, detailing how we comply with the Data Protection law and good practice.


Contact:

If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact: Mrs E Walker e.walker@stmcollege.org.uk