Ryburn Valley High School Privacy Notice
Privacy Notice for Parents/Carers
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 students and their families.
We, Ryburn Valley High School, St Peter’s Avenue, Sowerby Bridge, HX6 1DF, are the ‘data controller’ for the purposes of data protection law.
Our data protection officer is Janine Webb.
Why does the school collect personal data on students
Ryburn Valley High School has the legal right to collect and use personal data relating to pupils and their families, and it may also receive information regarding them from their previous school, Local Authority (LA) and/or the Department for Education (DfE). The personal data collected is essential, for the school to fulfil their official functions and meet legal requirements.
The school will collect and use personal data in order to meet legal requirements and legitimate interests set out not only in the UK data protection requirements but also:
Education Act 1996
Regulation 5 of the Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013
In accordance with the above, the personal data of pupils and their families is collected and used for the following reasons:
To support pupil learning
To monitor and report on pupil progress
To provide appropriate pastoral care
To assess the quality of our service
To facilitate school trips and activities
Administer admissions waiting lists
Protect pupil welfare and keep children safe
To comply with the law regarding data sharing
OUR LAWFUL BASIS FOR USING THIS DATA
We only collect and use pupils’ personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we process it to:
1. Comply with a legal obligation. The school will collect and use personal data in order to meet legal requirements and legitimate interests set out not only in the UK data protection requirements but also:
• Section 537 of the Education Act 1996
• Regulation 3 of The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013
• The Education (School Performance Information) (England) Regulations 2007
• Children’s Act 1989
• Education and Skills Act 2008
• DfE Keeping children safe in education 2018
• DfE Working together to safeguard children 2018
• Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
• The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
2. Perform an official task in the public interest. The school will collect and use personal data in order to meet the curriculum requirements of section 78 of the Education Act 2002 - to deliver a balanced and broadly-based curriculum which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. This includes school trips and activities.
3. Protect an individual’s vital interests.
4. Where we have gained your explicit consent. We may occasionally require your consent to process particular personal data, examples would be the sharing of photographs of children and where we use your contact information to share information about external activities.
Where we process special categories of personal data, such as medical information and ethnicity, the processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest. Where this does not apply the school will seek consent for specific purposes.
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.
Whilst the provision of the majority of personal data is mandatory, some of it is provided to the school on a voluntary basis. In order to comply with the UK data protection requirements, the school will inform you whether you are required to provide certain information or if you have a choice.
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.
COLLECTING THIS INFORMATION
We have the legal right to collect and use personal data relating to pupils and their families and may also receive information regarding them from their previous school, Local Authority and/or the Department for Education. Whilst the majority of information we collect about pupils is mandatory, there is some information that can be provided voluntarily.
We collect pupil information via common transfer files from previous schools and data collection returns.
Pupil data is essential for the schools’ operational use. Whilst the majority of pupil information you provide to us is mandatory, some of it requested on a voluntary basis. In order to comply with the data protection legislation, we will inform you at the point of collection, whether you are required to provide certain pupil information to us or if you have a choice in this and we will tell you what you need to do if you do not want to share this information with us.
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.
What information do we collect?
Personal data that we may collect, use, store and share (when appropriate) about pupils includes, but is not restricted to:
personal identifiers and contacts (such as name, unique pupil number, contact details and address)
characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, and free school meal eligibility)
safeguarding information (such as court orders and professional involvement)
special educational needs (including the needs and ranking)
medical and administration (such as doctors information, child health, dental health, allergies, medication and dietary requirements)
attendance (such as sessions attended, number of absences, absence reasons and any previous schools attended)
assessment and attainment (such as key stage 1 and phonics results, post 16 courses enrolled for and any relevant results)
behavioural information (such as exclusions and any relevant alternative provision put in place)
We may also hold data about pupils that we have received from other organisations, including other schools, local authorities and the Department for Education.
When collecting data, the school will inform you if your consent is needed. Where consent is required, the school will provide you with specific and explicit information with regards to the reasons the data is being collected, how the data will be used and how consent can be withdrawn.
HOW WE STORE THIS DATA
We keep personal information about pupils and their families whilst 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. Our record retention schedule/records management policy (available on our website) sets out how long we keep information about pupils.
Personal information that is no longer needed, or has become inaccurate or out of date, is disposed of securely. For example, the school will securely shred or incinerate paper-based records and override electronic files. The school may also use an outside company to safely dispose of records.
How long do we hold it for?
We hold pupil data until the August after your child reaches 25 years.
Why do we Share Pupil Data?
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 regulation 5 of The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.
Who do we share this data with?
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 data protection law) we may share personal information about pupils with:
Our local authority
The Department for Education
The pupil’s family and representatives
Educators and examining bodies
Ofsted
Suppliers and service providers – to enable them to provide the service we have contracted them for
Financial organisations
Central and local government
Our auditors
Survey and research organisations
Health authorities
Security organisations
Health and social welfare organisations
Professional advisers and consultants
Charities and voluntary organisations
Police forces, courts, tribunals
Professional bodies
SHARING BY DEPARTMENT
The law allows the Department to share pupils’ personal data with certain third parties, including:
schools
local authorities
researchers
organisations connected with promoting the education or wellbeing of children in England
other government departments and agencies
organisations fighting or identifying crime
For more information about the Department’s NPD data sharing process, please visit: NPD
Organisations fighting or identifying crime may use their legal powers to contact DfE to request access to individual level information relevant to detecting that crime. Whilst numbers fluctuate slightly over time, DfE typically supplies data on around 600 pupils per year to the Home Office and roughly 1 per year to the Police.
For information about which organisations the Department has provided pupil information, (and for which project) or to access a monthly breakdown of data share volumes with Home Office and the Police please visit the following website.
HOW TO FIND OUT WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION THE DEPARTMENT of EDUCATION HOLD ABOUT YOU
Under the terms of the Data Protection Act 2018, you are entitled to ask the Department:
if they are processing your personal data
for a description of the data they hold about you
the reasons they’re holding it and any recipient it may be disclosed to
for a copy of your personal data and any details of its source
If you want to see the personal data held about you by the Department, you should make a ‘subject access request’. Further information on how to do this can be found within the Department’s personal information charter that is published here.
Contact the DfE
What is the National Pupil Database
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. 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. The law that allows this is the Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013. 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.
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.
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: and
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
Parent and pupil rights regarding personal data
Under GDPR, 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, contact the school office.
Depending on the lawful basis above, you may 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
a right to seek redress, either through the ICO, or through the courts
Other rights regarding personal data
Under data protection law, individuals have certain rights regarding how their personal data is used and kept safe. You have the right to:
object to the use of personal data if it would cause, or is causing, damage or distress
object to the use of your personal data for 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
WITHDRAWAL OF CONSENT
Where we are processing your personal data with your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent. If you change your mind, or you are unhappy with our use of your personal data, please let us know by contacting M Thorley
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:
Call 0303 123 1113
Or write to: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Where can you find out more information?
If you would like to find out more information about how we use and store your personal data, please click here to view our Data Protection Policy.
To find out more about the pupil information the school shares with the DfE, for the purpose of data collections, go to https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools.
Contact
If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact our Data Protection Officer: Janine Webb, via Scout Road Academy, Scout Road, Mytholmroyd, HX7 5JR (01422 883327)