From 25 May 2018, the rules around data protection changed. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) changes how we can use your personal data and keep it safe; it also strengthens your rights over your own data. The point of this is to make sure sensitive or private information about yourselves and your children stays safe. Whilst it is similar to the previous Data Protection Act in many ways, there are some differences which have necessitated us making some changes at the school in order to ensure compliancy.
One of these changes included updating our Privacy Notice. Please find a link to this document below. You will also find links to our Data Protection Policy.
A Privacy Notice sets out to individuals how any personal information that is held about them is used. It is a requirement under data protection legislation that we published this. This Privacy Notice explains how we process (collect, store, use and share) personal information about our pupils and parents.
Meadow Green is the ‘data controller’. This means we are responsible for how your personal information is processed and for what purposes. Meadow Green is registered as the Date Controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO); Registration Number:
What are the legal reasons for us to process your personal information?
We are required to process personal information in accordance with data protection legislation and only do so when the law allows us to. The lawful reasons we have for processing personal information are as follows:
1. To comply with the law
We collect and use general purpose pupil information in order to meet certain legal requirements and legal obligations placed upon us by law.
2. To protect someone’s vital interest
We are able to process personal information when there is an emergency and/or where a person’s life is in danger.
3. With the consent of the individual to whom the information ‘belongs’
Whilst much of the personal information processed is in accordance with a legal requirement, there is some personal information that we can only process when we have your consent to do so.
In these circumstances, we will provide you with specific and explicit information regarding the reasons the data is being collected and hoe the data will be used.
4 To perform a public task
It is a day to day function of school to ensure that children receive the education and support they require. Much of this work is not set out directly in any legislation but it is deemed to be necessary in order to ensure that pupils are properly educated and supported.
Special Category Information
In order to process ‘special category’ data, we must be able to demonstrate how the law allows us to do so. In additional to the lawful reasons above, we must also be satisfied that ONE of the following additional lawful reasons applies:
1) Processing relates to personal data which is manifestly made public by the data subject
2) Explicit consent of the data subject
3) Necessary for establishing, exercising or defending legal claims
4) Necessary for reasons of substantial public interest
5) Necessary for preventive or occupational medicine, or for reasons of public interest in
the area of public health
6) Necessary for archiving, historical research or statistical purposes in the public interest
What we need and why we need it
We collect, use and store personal information about our pupils and their parents/carers; this
information helps us to:
support our pupils’ teaching and learning;
follow and report on our pupils’ progress;
provide the right care and support for our pupils;
understand how well our school is doing as a whole; and
fulfil our duties under relevant legislation and regulations
The information we collect, use and store includes names and contact details, pupil place and date of birth, assessment marks and results, attendance records, any exclusion information, Special Educational Needs information, disability information, gender, ethnic group, religion and any relevant medical information.
For a more comprehensive list of the information held by schools, please see the Department for Education (DfE) Common Basic Data Set, here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/common-basic-data-set-cbds-database
Information we receive
If you provide us with contact details of others, for example, in case of emergency or when you may not be available please ensure they are aware their information has been passed to the school.
We will also receive the above types of personal information, where relevant, from the previous school and may also receive information from the Local Authority (LA) and the DfE.
Who we share it with
Effective and relevant information sharing between parents, schools, LAs and the DfE is necessary to ensuring that all children are safe and receiving suitable education.
1. Local Authority and Department for Education
We are required, by law, to pass certain information about our pupils to the LA, and the DfE.
Where relevant this may include reporting safeguarding concerns to Social Services at the LA or to request education support services.
The DfE may also share pupil level personal data that we supply to them, with third parties. This will only take place where legislation allows it to do so and it is in compliance with the Data Protection law. Decisions on whether the DfE releases this personal data to third parties are
subject to a robust approval process and are 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 and the arrangements in place to store and handle the data. For more information on how this sharing process works, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-pupil-database-apply-for-adata-
extract
For information on which third party organisations (and for which project) the DfE have provided pupil level data to, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupildatabase-requests-received
2. Attendance and Welfare Support
If we have any attendance concerns we will pass on names, contact details, date of birth, attendance records, any exclusion information, Special Education Needs, gender and any relevant medical information.
3. NHS School Nurse Team
We sometimes need to share personal information with NHS teams, such as the School Nurse Team who promote health and emotional wellbeing in schools and provide services such as health assessments and immunization programmes.
4. Schools
We will also pass information about Pupils to their next school in order that the Educational record is maintained for a Pupil’s entire school life.
How long we keep it
The information we collect, use and store about pupils and their parents/carers is retained either until it is updated/superseded or until the pupil leaves. If we are the pupil’s last known school we will retain the information until the pupil is at least 25 years old; this ties in with the Limitation Act 1980.
Your rights
Data Protection law allows an individual to ask the school for copies of the information we hold about them or their children. If you would like more information about this please contact the school. If at any point you believe the information we hold is inaccurate or you have concerns about our use of it please let us know.
Consent
We have collected consent to process information about/on photographs, videos and website; please note you have a right to withdraw consent at any time and can contact the school to do this.
Contact
For more information on the content of this Notice, how Meadow Green complies with Data Protection law, or if you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled personal information please contact the school office:
enquiries@meadowgreen.worcs.sch.uk
If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with Data Protection law you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
For more information about how the DfE stores and uses information about pupils, you can visit the following website or contact them at the details below:
https://www.gov.uk/data-protection-how-we-collect-and-share-research-data
Tel: 0370 000 2288
Contact form: https://www.gov.uk/contact-dfe