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GDPR & Privacy Notice

What is GDPR?


This refers to the General Data Protection Regulation which superseded the Data Protection Act 1998, on 25 May 2018.

The legislation is designed to ‘harmonise’ data privacy laws across Europe, as well as give greater protection and rights to individuals. Within the GDPR there are large changes for the public, as well as businesses and bodies, that handle personal information. In essence, it is about protecting personal data and how it is used. It gives individuals greater control and say over how their personal data is used.
 

GDPR defines personal data as:


Any information relating to an identified or identifiable person (known as a Data Subject).

An identifiable person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as name, an ID number, location data, an online identifier or one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of a natural person.

Subject Access Requests


To make a Subject Access Request, please complete the request form  (word document / pdf versions below) and email it to the Westcountry Schools Trust Data Protection Officer at  DPO-WeST@westst.org.uk

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The Westcountry Schools Trust will respond within one month of your request.  There will be no charge for this request.

Privacy Notice

Eggbuckland Community College is the data controller of the personal information you provide us. This means that ECC determines the purposes for and manner in which any personal data relating to students and their families is to be processed.

 

In some cases, your data will be outsources to a third party processor. However, this will only be done with your consent, unless the law requires the Trust to share your data. The third party processor will have the same data protection standards that ECC upholds imposed upon the processor.

 

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

  • Personal information e.g. name, unique student number and address

  • Characteristics e.g. ethnicity, language, nationality, country of birth and free school meal eligibility

  • Attendance information e.g. sessions attended, number of absences and absence reasons

  • Assessment information

  • Relevant medical information

  • Special educational needs information

  • Exclusions / behavioural information

  • Post 16 learning information

 

Why we collect and use this information

 

We use the student data:

  • To support student learning

  • To monitor and report on student progress

  • To provide appropriate pastoral care

  • To assess the quality of our services

  • To comply with the law regarding data sharing

  • The lawful basis on which we use this information

 

We collect and use student information to meet legal requirements and legitimate interests set out in the GDPR and UK law, including those in relation to the following:  

  • Article 6 and Article 9 of the GDPR

  • Education Act 1996 

  • Regulation 5 of The Education (Information About Individual Students) (England) Regulations 2013

  

In accordance with the above, the personal data of students and their families is collected and used for the following reasons: 

  • To support student learning 

  • To monitor and report on student progress 

  • To provide appropriate pastoral care

  • To assess the quality of our service

  • To comply with the law regarding data sharing

  • To safeguard students

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Collecting student information

 

Whilst the majority of student 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 student information to us or if you have a choice in this.    

 

Storing student data

 

We hold student data in accordance with Appendix C Toolkit for Schools v5. We routinely share student information with a range of third parties as per the attached link.

 

 

Why we share student information

 

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

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

 

We are required to share information about our students with the (DfE) under regulation 5 of The Education (Information About Individual Students) (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 College census) go to https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools.

 

Youth Support Services

 

Students aged 13+ 

 

Once our students reach the age of 13, we also pass student 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

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A parent or 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 / student once he/she reaches the age 16. 

 

Students aged 16+ 

 

We will also share certain information about students aged 16+ with 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: 

  • Post-16 education and training providers

  • Youth support services

  • Careers advisers

  • For more information about services for young people, please visit our local authority website. 

The National Student Database (NPD)

 

The NPD is owned and managed by the Department for Education and contains information about students 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 students 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 Students) (England) Regulations 2013.

 

The department may share information about our students 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

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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 student 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.

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Requesting access to your personal data

 

Under data protection legislation, parents and students 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 in the first instance, Mr S Crawford at the College and then, our DPO, Westcountry Schools Trust Data Protection Officer at  DPO-WeST@westst.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; and

  • Claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Data Protection regulations 

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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

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

Mr S Crawford.

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