Privacy Notice
Privacy Notice – Students and Families
Data Protection Act 2018 (incorporating General Data Protection Regulation 2018)
La Retraite Roman Catholic Girls’ School is the Data Controller for the information we collect about you. This notice explains why we have to collect information about you, what information we collect, how we use it and who we share it with. It also explains what rights you have over the information we have collected.
How we use student information
We use student data:
- to support student learning
- to monitor and report on student progress
- to enter students for public examinations
- to provide appropriate pastoral care
- to participate in school residential visits and extra-curricular activities
- to provide free school meals
- to ensure the safety of students through CCTV monitoring
- to assess the quality of our services
- to comply with the law regarding data sharing
- to allow the Local Authority to calculate the annual school budget on the basis of students registered from Years 7 to 11
- to allow the Education and Skills Funding Agency to calculate the annual school budget on the basis of students registered in the 6th Form
- to facilitate blended learning
Why do we collect and use student information?
We collect and use student information primarily because we legally must do so. This is called a statutory duty. The laws and guidance we have to follow are:
- The Children Act 1989
- The Education Act 1996
- Special Education Needs and Disability Act 2001
- Education Act 2002
- The Academies Act 2010
- The Children and Families Act 2014
- The Education (Information about Individual Students) (England) Regulations 2013.
- Keeping Children Safe in Education
- Human Rights Act 1998
- Equality Act 2010
The categories of student information that we collect, hold and share include:
- Personal information (such as name, unique student number and address)
- Characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, nationality, country of birth and free school meal eligibility)
- Attendance information (such as sessions attended, number of absences and absence reasons)
- Details of any health issues such e.g. asthma, allergies etc.
- Details of who to contact in an emergency
- Information about parental contact
- Information about attainment and progress at school
- Examination results
- Information about behaviour at school
- Information about any special educational needs
- Information about destinations after students have left school e.g. to go to an apprenticeship or university
- Personal bank details (for 16-19 Bursary payments and other hardship payments)
Collecting student information
Whilst the majority of student information that is provided 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 (GDPR), 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 for time which you attend the school and for set periods after you have left. We will not keep personal data any longer than is required to fulfil our legal obligations. This applies to paper records and as well as data held on computer systems. The schools uses Capita SIMS as its management information system (MIS).
The length of time we keep data depends on the type of information and if they are any requirements from external bodies such as Department for Education (DfE) to keep it for a set number of years. Where there are no legal time limits, we follow best practice provided by the Information and Records Management Society.
| TYPE OF DATA | RETENTION PERIOD | ACTION AT END OF RETENTION PERIOD |
|---|---|---|
| Student Educational Records | Date of birth + 25 years | Secure disposal (shredding or deleting for electronic version) |
| Child Protection Information on Student File |
Kept in sealed envelope Date of birth + 25 years |
Secure disposal (shredding) |
| Child Protection Information - on separate file | Date of birth + 25 years then review. Check if LA social services has a copy. | Secure disposal (shredding) |
| Special Education Needs files and ECHP | Date of birth + 25 years | Review and decide if necessary to keep |
| Statement of Special Educational Needs | Date of birth + 25 years | Secure disposal |
| Student Bank Details (Sixth Formers) | Termination + 6 years | Secure disposal |
Who do we share student information with?
We routinely share student information with:
- schools that the students attend after leaving us
- the Local Authority (and other LAs where students reside)
- the Department for Education (DfE)
- the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)
- Examination Boards
- National Health Service
- Public Health England
- School Nurse Service
- Learning Record Service
- Google Classroom (Blended Learning)
- Microsoft Teams (Blended Learning)
- UCAS
- Edulink
- ScoPay (for online payments)
- Any software provider that enables the school to deliver the curriculum (e.g. GSCEPod, Kerboodle etc.)
Levels of information we share on students with the above bodies will differ and may, in many cases, only include the individual student’s name and date of birth for example.
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 school 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 school census), please click here.
Youth support services
What is different about 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
A parent / 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.
Our 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 advice
- work placements
For more information about services for young people, please visit our local authority website.
The National Pupil 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.
To find out more about the student information we share with the department for the purpose of data collections, please click here.
To find out more about the NPD, please click here.
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
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 the 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.
For more information about the department’s data sharing process, please click here.
For information about which organisations the department has provided student information, (and for which project), please click here.
To contact the Department for Education, please click here.
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 Miss Madeleine – Admissions & Data Manager (Data & Exams) at mlove@laretraite.co.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
- claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Data Protection regulations
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 or 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 Mr Paul Steward, the school’s Data Protection Officer at psteward@laretraite.co.uk