Privacy Policy

1 Introduction

1.1www.GDST.net (the ‘Site’) is operated by The Girls’ Day School Trust (‘we’ and ‘us’).

1.2This policy (together with our website Terms of Use) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.

1.3For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998, the data controller is The Girls’ Day School Trust.

2 Information we may collect from you

We may collect and process the following data about you:

2.1information that you provide by filling in forms on www.GDST.net (the ‘Site’), including, but not limited to, information provided at the time of requesting a prospectus or brochure, subscribing to any service, posting material, or becoming a registered user or if you enter any online competition or promotion sponsored by us;

2.2information from surveys that we may use from time to time for research purposes, if you choose to respond to them;

2.3communications you send to us, for example to report a problem with or submit a comment regarding the Site; and

2.4details of your visits to the Site, including, but not limited to, traffic data, location data and the resources that you access.

3 IP addresses and cookies

3.1We may collect information about your computer including, where available, your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration. This is statistical data about our users' browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.

3.2For the same reason, we may obtain information about your general internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive. They help us to improve the Site and to deliver a better and more personalised service. They enable us to:

3.2.1estimate our audience size and usage pattern;

3.2.2store information about your preferences, and so allow us to customise the Site according to your individual interests; and

3.2.3recognise you when you return to the Site.

3.3You may refuse to accept cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of cookies. However, if you select this setting, you may be unable to access certain parts of the Site. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you use the Site. The "Help" menu of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether. For more information about cookies and how to stop cookies being installed or how to delete existing cookies from your hard drive visit the following website: www.allaboutcookies.org.

4 How we process and store your information

4.1The data that we collect from you is processed by staff who work for The Girls’ Day School Trust or one of its subsidiary charities or associated companies with whom we are affiliated or for one of our service providers. Such staff may be engaged in, among other things, the fulfilment of your information requests and the provision of support services.

4.2All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to the Site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access. Remember to close your browser when you have finished your user session. This will help to ensure that others do not access your personal information if you share your computer or use a computer in a public places such as a library or internet café.

5 Uses made of your information

5.1We use information held about you in the following ways:

5.1.1to provide you with information that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have indicated that you wish to be contacted for such purposes by post, email or telephone;

5.1.2to ensure that content from the Site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;

5.1.3to allow you to participate in any interactive features of our Site which we may make available from time to time, when you choose to do so; and

5.1.4to notify you about changes to our services.

5.2If you do not want us to use your data for the purposes of direct marketing of our educational services, please check or un-check (as directed) the relevant box situated on the form on which we collect your data.

6 Protecting pupils' identities

6.1It is our policy to protect the identity of pupils on the Site.

6.2We may, from time to time, wish to publish pupils' names in articles on the Site, and we may also wish to publish photographs containing their images. We will not include the full name (which means first name and surname) of any child together with her image, without good reason and without the appropriate consent. We operate an ‘opt in’ policy for each parent or guardian, where they are happy to do so, to give their consent to having their child's image appear on the Site.

7 Disclosure of your information

7.1We may disclose your personal information to any of our subsidiary charities or associated companies with whom we are affiliated.

7.2We may disclose your personal information to third parties:

7.2.1in the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.

7.2.2if we or substantially all of our assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by us about our Site users will be one of the transferred assets; or

7.2.3if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our website Terms of Use or other agreements; or to protect our rights, property, or safety or those of third parties.

8 Your rights

8.1You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for the purposes of direct marketing of our educational services. We will usually inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking or un-checking (as directed) certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your data or by sending an email to the unsubscribe address included on any marketing emails we send you. You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting us at webmistress@wes.gdst.net.

8.2The Site may, from time to time, contain hyperlinks to and from internet sites operated by other organisations. If you follow a hyperlink to any of these sites, please note that they will have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to such sites.

9 Access to your information

10 How to contact us

11 Updates