Privacy Statement

Privacy Notice for Pupils, Parents/Carers

Who we are

We are Highfields Primary School, Beeches Road, Rowley Regis, West Midlands, B65 0DA. We are a maintained school for children aged 3 to 11. This privacy notice was written October 2022 and explains how we collect, store and use personal data about our pupils. We, Highfields Primary School, are the ‘data controller’ for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and as such we are obliged to inform you of the information we hold on you and your child(ren), what we use it for, who we share it with, and for how long we keep it.

The Categories of Pupil & Parent Information that we Collect, Hold and Share

Pupil

Personal Information:

Name
Address
Date of Birth
Unique pupil number

Characteristics:

Gender
Ethnicity
Religion
Nationality
Preferred Language
Country of birth
Free School Meal eligibility
Special educational needs information - EHCP’s, statements, applications for support, care or support plans
Medical Conditions and relevant medical information - NHS information, health checks, physical and mental health care, immunisation program and allergies)
Attendance information. Session attended, number of absences and absence reasons and exclusion information
Assessment information - data scores, tracking, and internal and external testing
Behavioural information – details of support, including care packages, plans and support
Safeguarding information
Photographs - for internal safeguarding & security purposes, school newsletters, media and promotional purposes
CCTV images

We may also hold data about pupils that we have received from other organisations, including other schools, local authorities and the Department for Education

Parent/Carer

Name
Address
Telephone number
Email address
Date of Birth
Identification documents
Emergency contact preference telephone number
National insurance number
Income/benefit details

Why We Collect and Use This Information

The personal data we process is provided to us directly by you.

We use the pupil and parent data to:

support pupil learning
to monitor and report on pupil progress
to provide appropriate pastoral and medical care
for safeguarding and pupil welfare purposes
administer admissions waiting lists
for research purposes
to inform you about school events
to assess the quality of our services
to comply with the law regarding data sharing

The lawful basis on which we use this information

Our lawful basis for collecting and processing pupil information is defined in GDPR under Article 6. The following elements of the article apply:

Data subject gives consent for one or more specific purposes. Where you have been asked for your consent, you are able to remove this at any time. You can do this by contacting Rachel Andrews, Office manager on 0121 559 1037.
Processing is necessary to comply with the legal obligations of the controller.
Processing is necessary to protect the vital interests of the data subject (Pupil, parent/carers)
Processing is necessary for tasks in the public interest or exercise of authority vested in the controller (the provision of education).

Our lawful basis for collecting and processing pupil information is further defined under Article 9, in that some of the information we process is deemed to be sensitive, or special category data. The following elements of the article apply:

The data subject (Pupil, parent or carer) has given explicit consent.
It is necessary to fulfil the obligations of controller (school) or of data
subject. (pupil, parent/carer)
It is necessary to protect the vital interests of the data subject. (pupil, parent/carer)
Processing is carried out by a foundation or not-for-profit organisation (includes religious, political or philosophical organisations and trade unions)
Reasons of public interest in the area of public health
It is in the public interest

Collecting Pupil Information

We collect your personal information directly from you via the school’s data collection form. We also receive your data via the Local Authority or from a transferring school (if applicable)

A full breakdown of the information we collect on pupils can be found in the school’s data mapping document.

Who We Share Pupil Information With

We routinely share pupil information with appropriate external agencies to meet our legal obligation or where we have sought your permission. The agencies who we routinely share pupil information with include:

Our local authority – to meet our legal obligations to share certain information with it, such as safeguarding concerns and exclusions
The Department for Education (DfE)
Educators and examining bodies
Ofsted
Suppliers and service providers – to enable them to provide a service as part of a contract – Music lesson providers; sports coaches; school meal providers; school photographers.
Financial organisations
Central and local government
Our auditors
Survey and research organisations
Health authorities
Public Health England
Security organisations
Health and social welfare organisations
Professional advisers and consultants
Charities and voluntary organisations
Police forces, courts, tribunals
Professional bodies
Schools that the pupil’s attend after leaving us

If we transfer personal data to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area, we will do so in accordance with data protection law.

Please contact our Data Protection Lead (see contact details at the end of this privacy notice) who can provide you with further details of who we share pupil information with as recorded in our data mapping document.

How we Use the Information you Provide to us and Why we Share Pupil Information

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

Some of the reasons listed above for collecting and using pupils’ personal data overlap, and there may be several grounds, which justify our use of this data. Such reasons include:

The submission of the school census returns to the Department of Education (DfE). The DfE collects personal data from educational settings and the local authorities via various statutory data collections. We are required to share information about our pupils with the DfE either directly or via our local authority for the purpose of those data collection as follows:

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.

All data is transferred securely and held by DfE under a combination of software and hardware controls, which meet the current government security policy framework.

For more information, please see ‘How Government uses your data’ section.

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-collectionand-censuses-for-schools.

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

Storing pupil data

We hold pupil data whilst pupils attend our School. The file will follow the pupil when they leave the school. However, we have a legal obligation to keep information beyond their attendance at the school, which will be destroyed in line with our data retention schedule as outlined within out data mapping document. Please contact us if you would like further clarification on our retention timescales.

We have data protection policies and procedures in place, including strong organisational and technical measures, which are regularly reviewed. Further information can be found on our website.

Requesting Access to your Personal Data and your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection legislation, parents and pupils have the right to request access to information about them that we hold, through a Subject Access Request. Parents/carers can make a request with respect to their child’s data where the child is not considered mature enough to understand their rights over their own data (usually under the age of 12), or where the child has provided consent. Parents also have the right to make a subject access request with respect to any personal data the school holds about them.

We will provide information in a way that is:

Concise
Transparent
Intelligible
Easily accessible
Uses clear and plain language

If you would like to make a subject access request please contact our Data Protection Lead. Mrs Rachel Andrews, Highfields Primary School.

Data subjects have the following rights with regards to their personal information, as follows:

Confirmation that their personal data is being processed
Access to a copy of the data
The purpose of the data processing
The categories of personal data concerned
Who the data has been, or will be, shared with
How long the data will be stored for, or if this isn’t possible, the criteria used to determine this period
Where relevant, the existence of the right to request rectification, erasure or restrictions, or to object to such processing
The right to lodge a complaint with the ICO or another supervisory authority
The source of the data, if not the individual
The safeguards provided if the data is being transferred internationally

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 11.

Complaints

We take any complaints about our collection and use of personal information very seriously. If you think that our collection or use of personal information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate, or have any other concern about our data processing, please raise this with us in the first instance. To make a complaint, please contact our Data Protection Lead within school Mrs Garratt, Headteacher, Highfields Primary School

Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns or would like more information about anything mentioned in this privacy notice, please contact our Data Protection Lead. Rachel Andrews, Office Manager, Highfields Primary School.

Our Data Protection Officer (DPO) is provided by SIPS Education Ltd. The following officers can be contacted via GDPR@sips.co.uk:

Sue Courtney-Donovan

Amanda Moore

You can also report a concern online to the Information Commissioners Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns

Telephone Number 0303 123 1113

Address: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF 12.

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice may be updated from time to time. We encourage you to check this privacy notice from time to time to ensure you understand how your data will be used and to see any minor updates. If material changes are made to the privacy notice, for example, how we would like to use your personal data, we will provide a more prominent notice (for example, email notification or correspondence of privacy notice changes).

Privacy Notice for Pupils, Parents and Carers