Parent Privacy Notice

Privacy Notice (How we use pupil information)

Under Data Protection law, individuals have a right to be informed about how the School uses any personal data that we hold about them.

This privacy notice explains how we collect, store and use personal data about pupils.

We, Cantell School, Violet Road, Southampton, Hants SO16 3GJ are the ‘data controller’ for the purposes of data protection law.

Our Data Protection Officer is Keith Pinney, School Business Manager (see ‘Contact us’ below).

Why do we collect and use pupil information?

We collect and use pupil information under:

General Data Protection Regulations

Article 6(1)(e) – the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

Article 9(2)(g) – the processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest. We use the pupil data:

  • to support pupil learning;
  • to monitor and report on pupil progress;
  • to assess pupils;
  • to provide appropriate pastoral care;
  • to protect pupil welfare, including protecting their health and taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes; and carry out safeguarding activities and duties;
  • to assess the quality of our services;
  • to comply with the law regarding data sharing;
  • to meet the statutory duties placed upon us for the Department for Education (DfE) data collections.

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

  • Personal information (such as name, unique pupil number, address, date of birth, identification documents); pupils, parents or guardians personal data, e.g. contact details;
  • Characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, nationality and country of birth);
  • Attendance information (such as sessions attended, number of absences and absence reasons);
  • Eligibility information, such as for Free School Meals and Pupil Premium;
  • Academic progress / assessment data;
  • Relevant medical information;
  • Special Educational Needs information;
  • Exclusions / behavioural information;
  • Safeguarding information;
  • Biometrics for those who wish to be included in the Cashless Catering and signing in systems;
  • Photographs, CCTV images and videos.

Collecting pupil information

We collect pupil information via the the registration forms upon admission and/or Common Transfer File (CTF) from a previous school.

Pupil data is essential for the school’s operational use. Whilst the majority of pupil information you provide to us is mandatory, some of it is provided to us on a voluntary basis in support of exercising our official tasks. In order to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, we will inform you whether you are required to provide certain pupil information to us or if you have a choice in this.

Storing pupil data

We keep personal information about pupils while they are attending our school. We may also keep it beyond their attendance at our school in accordance with the Southampton City Council Records and Retention Schedule: https://www.southampton.gov.uk/media/h4wdc03r/retention-of-records-update-of-policy-review-jan22-final-check-transfer-form-280422.pdf

Who do we share pupil information with?

We do not share information about pupils with any third party without consent unless the laws 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 pupil information with:

  • Schools / other education providers;
  • our Local Authority;
  • youth support services (pupils aged 13+) – see below;
  • careers advisers;
  • the Department for Education (DfE) – see below;
  • the NHS;
  • other Local Authorities;
  • our regulator (Ofsted);
  • Police forces, courts and tribunals.

For further details, please see “Why do we collect and use pupil information?” above.

Youth support services – Pupils aged 13+

Once our pupils reach the age of 13, we also pass pupil information to our local authority and/or provider of your 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

A parent or guardian can object to any information in addition to their child’s name, address and date of birth being passed to their local authority or provider of youth support services by informing us. This right is transferred to the child/pupil once they reach 16.

Department for Education

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 section 3 of The Education (Information about Individual Pupils) (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 school census) go to https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection- and-censuses-for-schools.

The National Pupil Database (NPD)

The NPD is 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. Some of this information is then stored in the NPD. The law that allows this is the Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.

To find out more about the pupil information we share with the department, for the purpose of data collections, go to https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools.

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

Requesting access to your personal data

Under data protection legislation, 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 Sarah Bradshaw, School Business Manager who will make the necessary arrangements.

You also have the right to:

  • to ask us for access to information about you that we hold
  • to have your personal data rectified, if it is inaccurate or incomplete
  • to request the deletion or removal of personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing
  • to restrict our processing of your personal data (i.e. permitting its storage but no further processing)
  • to object to direct marketing (including profiling) and processing for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics
  • not to be subject to decisions based purely on automated processing where it produces a legal or similarly significant effect on you

If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, you should raise your concern with us in the first instance and if not satisfied, directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Contact:

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

If you require more information about how the Local Authority (LA) and/or DfE store and use your information, then please go to the following websites:

If you are unable to access these websites we can send you a copy of this information.

Please contact the LA or DfE as follows:

Solicitor for Education: Legal Services, Southampton City Council, Ground Floor, Civic

Centre, SO14 7LY

Public Communications Unit: Department for Education, Sanctuary Buildings, Great

Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BT

Website: www.education.gov.uk

Email: www.education.gov.uk/help/contactus

Telephone: 0370 000 2288 School postal addressCantell School, Violet Road, Southampton, Hants, SO16 3GJ
School e-mail addressinfo@cantell.co.uk
School telephone number02380 323111