Child-friendly Privacy Notice

Your school is part of the Girls’ Day School Trust and we collect and use information for all kinds of reasons. A new law was made that keeps your information safe – things like your address, date of birth and phone number. This new law tells organisations like your school exactly what they can do with your information.

When we collect some information about our pupils like you. It is our job to tell you how we collect the information, how we will record it and how we will use it.

In this notice, you see different names or terms used that you may not be familiar with, such as:

• Data Controller: This person (or group of people, like a school) oversees the information we collect.
• Data Processor: This person processes information for the Data Controller.
• Data Protection Officer (DPO): This person makes sure we do everything the law says. Here at the Girl’s Day School Trust the DPO is Jon Vogel.
• Personal Data: This means any information that can be used to identify someone, such as your address and date of birth.

The GDST oversees what happens with your information and this means they are the ‘Data Controller’. They must look after your personal information which is called data. The person who makes sure your school does what the law says is called the Data Protection Officer or ‘DPO’. The DPO at GDST is Jon Vogel. You are welcome to ask Jon questions or tell him if you are not happy about how your information is being used by sending him an email at dpo@wes.gdst.net

How we collect information

We collect information about you from your parents when you join the school, and we may ask you for some information. Sometimes your old school, the local council or other organisations may share information with us. The reasons we use your personal data includes:

• Making sure you are safe and seeing if you need any help
• Teaching and learning
• Giving you extra learning support if you need it
• Running our schools properly

Making sure you are safe and seeing if you need any help

Your safety is very important to us. We keep class registers and keep a record of your attendance and to record absences from school. We keep records of your behavior in school and may keep some notes on how you get on with other students. This is so we can see if there are areas where we can help if we think there is a problem. If you change schools, we may send this information to your new school. Also, if we cannot solve a problem ourselves and it is a serious matter, we may need to speak to the local authority children’s services, the health service or the police.

Teaching and learning

We keep a record of your progress in classes and use this for grade predictions. We share this information with your parents in your school reports.

Giving you extra learning support if you need it

It is the school’s responsibility to support students with any special educational needs like a learning difficulty or disability. For us to do this we may need to consult with external help to meet the students needs.

Running our schools properly

To run a school properly means lots of paperwork! We keep records of all our students, including date of birth, address, parent/guardian details, any allergies or illness we need to know about it.

Photographs

Your school may take a photograph of you when you start at school, so teachers know who you are! Teachers may take photographs or record video during lessons, performances or school trips so they can keep a record of how well you are doing in school.

Photographs for a school magazine, or to use on social media we will ask for permission. Who we ask for permission will depend on your age:

• Up to Junior School – your parents
• Secondary School – you and your parents
• Sixth form – just you!

Remember you do not have to agree to this and it is fine if you do not want to be photographed. It is your choice!

CCTV
We may use CCTV to keep your school safe, but we never use it in private areas such as changing rooms or toilets. If you are worried about this speak to your teacher (or email the DPO)

What are your rights?

You and your parents have the right to:

• Be told how we use your information.
• Ask to see the information we hold.
• Ask us to change information you think is wrong.
• Ask us to remove information when it’s not needed anymore.
• Ask us to only use your information in certain ways.
• Tell us you don’t want your information to be processed.

A request to see the information we hold is called a ‘subject access request’ but remember, it is YOUR information so if you feel uncomfortable about anything that might be disclosed, speak to your teacher or you can email the DPO – Jon Vogel at dpo@wes.gdst.net

If the information we are collecting is information that you can choose not to give, you can tell us to stop collecting it at any time. If you’re worried about how we use your information or would like to use any of your rights please speak to your teacher, or you can email the DPO – Jon Vogel at dpo@wes.gdst.net

If you want to speak to somebody who is not part of the GDST, you can call the people who look after information, called the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), on 0303 123 1113 or follow this link

Some important things to know

1. The law allows us to use your personal information to help us do our job. Most of the time we won’t ask for permission to do this but sometimes we might.
2. We may share your information with others, but only when we really need to and when the law says we can
3. We will ask for your permission to share your information whenever you have a choice.
4. You can ask us not to share your information or use your photo where you have a choice (even if you said we could before) – we really don’t mind if you say no!