Skip to content ↓
Northmead Junior School

Northmead Junior School

Privacy Notice

Introduction     

Under data protection law, individuals have a right to be informed about how our school uses any personal data that we hold about them. We comply with this right by providing ‘privacy notices’ (sometimes called ‘fair processing notices’) to individuals where we are processing their personal data.

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

This privacy notice applies while we believe your child is not capable of understanding and exercising their own data protection rights.

We, Northmead Junior School, are the ‘data controller’ for the purposes of data protection law.

The personal data we hold

Personal data that we may collect, use, store, and share (when appropriate) about your child includes, but is not restricted to:

  • Contact details, contact preferences, date of birth, identification documents
  • Results of internal assessments and externally set tests
  • Special Educational needs information (such as the needs and ranking, details of any support received, care packages, plans and support providers)
  • Pupil and curricular records
  • Behavioural information (such as exclusions and any relevant alternative provision put in place)
  • Attendance information (absences and absences reasons, any previous school attended)
  • Safeguarding information (such as court orders and professional involvement)
  • Where they go after they leave us.

We may also collect, use, store, and share (when appropriate) information about your child that falls into "special categories" of more sensitive personal data. This includes, but is not restricted to, information about:

  • Any medical conditions we need to be aware of, including physical and mental health
  • Photographs and CCTV images captured in school
  • Characteristics, such as ethnic background or special educational needs

We may also hold data about your child that we have received from other organisations, including other schools and social services.

Why we use this data

We use the data listed above to:

  • Support pupil learning
  • Monitor and report on pupil progress
  • Provide appropriate pastoral care
  • Protect pupil welfare
  • Assess the quality of our services
  • Administer admissions waiting lists
  • Meet the statutory duties placed upon us by the Department for Education
  • Comply with the law regarding data sharing

Where you have given us consent to do so, we may send your child marketing information by email or text promoting school events, campaigns, charitable causes or services that may be of interest to them.

You can withdraw consent or ‘opt out’ of receiving these emails and/or texts at any time by clicking on the ‘Unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of any such communication, or by contacting us (see ‘Contact us’ below).

Our lawful basis for using this data

Our lawful bases for processing your child’s personal data for the purposes listed in section 3 above are as follows:

  • For the purposes of a), b), c), d), e), f), g) and h), in accordance with the ‘legal obligation’ basis – we need to process data to meet our responsibilities under law as set out here:
    • 6(1)(a), 6(1)(c), 6(1)(d) and 6(1)(f) of the GDPR
    • 9(2)(b) of the GDPR
    • DfE statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education
  • For the purposes of d), in accordance with the ‘vital interests’ basis – we will use this personal data to protect someone’s life.

Where you have provided us with consent to use your child’s data, you may withdraw this consent at any time. We will make this clear when requesting your consent, and explain how you would go about withdrawing consent if you wish to do so.

Our basis for using special category data

For ‘special category’ data, we only collect and use it when we have both a lawful basis, as set out above, and one of the following conditions for processing as set out in data protection law:

  • We have obtained your explicit consent to use your child’s personal data in a certain way
  • We need to perform or exercise an obligation or right in relation to employment, social security, or social protection law
  • We need to protect an individual’s vital interests (i.e. protect your child’s life or someone else’s life), in situations where you’re physically or legally incapable of giving consent
  • The data concerned has already been made manifestly public by you
  • We need to process it for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims
  • We need to process it for reasons of substantial public interest as defined in legislation
  • We need to process it for health or social care purposes, and the processing is done by, or under the direction of, a health or social work professional or by any other person obliged to confidentiality under law
  • We need to process it for public health reasons, and the processing is done by, or under the direction of, a health professional or by any other person obliged to confidentiality under law
  • We need to process it for archiving purposes, scientific or historical research purposes, or for statistical purposes, and the processing is in the public interest

For criminal offence data, we will only collect and use it when we have both a lawful basis, as set out above, and a condition for processing as set out in data protection law. Conditions include:

  • We have obtained your consent to use it in a specific way
  • We need to protect an individual’s vital interests (i.e. protect your child’s life or someone else’s life), in situations where you’re physically or legally incapable of giving consent
  • The data concerned has already been made manifestly public by you
  • We need to process it for, or in connection with, legal proceedings, to obtain legal advice, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal rights
  • We need to process it for reasons of substantial public interest as defined in legislation.

Collecting this data

While the majority of information we collect about your child is mandatory, there is some information that can be provided voluntarily.

Whenever we seek to collect information from you, we make it clear whether you must provide this information (and if so, what the possible consequences are of not complying), or whether you have a choice.

Most of the data we hold about your child will come from you, but we may also hold data about your child from:

  • Local authorities
  • Government departments or agencies
  • Police forces, courts, tribunals
  • Health and social welfare organisations
  • Previous schools

How we store this data

We keep personal information about your child while they are attending our school. We keep it beyond their attendance at our school for one term after leaving.

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your child’s personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.

We will dispose of your child’s personal data securely when we no longer need it.

Who we share data with

We do not share information about your child with any third party without consent unless the law 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 personal information about your child with:

 

  • Our local authority, Surrey – to meet our legal obligations to share certain information with it, such as safeguarding concerns and information about exclusions
  • Government departments or agencies
  • CPOMS, safeguarding record system
  • Our regulator Ofsted
  • Suppliers and service providers: ABM Catering, School photo company, Parentmail, 247 IT Services
  • Third party educational providers: Mark for Pira, Puma, Gaps test, Accelerated reader, Junior librarian, phonics tracker system, School Cloud, Google Classroom, SEND provision mapping.
  • Secondary schools
  • Our auditors
  • Health authorities
  • Health and social welfare organisations
  • Professional advisers and consultants
  • Police forces, courts, tribunals

National Pupil Database

We are required to provide information about pupils to the Department for Education as part of statutory data collections such as the school census.

Some of this information is then stored in the National Pupil Database (NPD), which is owned and managed by the Department and provides evidence on school performance to inform research.

The database is held electronically, so it can easily be turned into statistics. The information is securely collected from a range of sources including schools, local authorities, and exam boards.

The Department for Education may share information from the NPD with third parties, such as other organisations which promote children’s education or wellbeing in England. These third parties must agree to strict terms and conditions about how they will use the data.

For more information, see the Department’s webpage on how it collects and shares research data.

You can also contact the Department for Education with any further questions about the NPD.

Your rights

How to access personal information that we hold about your child

You have a right to make a ‘subject access request’ to gain access to personal information that we hold about your child.

If you make a subject access request, and if we do hold information about your child, we will (subject to any exemptions that apply):

  • Give you a description of it
  • Tell you why we are holding and processing it, and how long we will keep it for
  • Explain where we got it from, if not from you
  • Tell you who it has been, or will be, shared with
  • Let you know whether any automated decision-making is being applied to the data, and any consequences of this
  • Give you a copy of the information in an intelligible form

You may also have the right for your child’s personal information to be transmitted electronically to another organisation in certain circumstances.

If you would like to make a request, please contact us (see ‘Contact us’ below).

Your right to access your child’s educational record

Academies, including free schools, and independent schools: there is no automatic parental right of access to the educational record in our setting.

Your other rights regarding your child’s data

Under data protection law, you have certain rights regarding how your child’s personal data is used and kept safe. For example, you have the right to:

  • Object to our use of your child’s personal data
  • Prevent your child’s data being used to send direct marketing
  • Object to and challenge the use of your child’s personal data for decisions being taken by automated means (by a computer or machine, rather than by a person)
  • In certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data corrected
  • In certain circumstances, have the personal data we hold about your child deleted or destroyed, or restrict its processing
  • In certain circumstances, be notified of a data breach
  • Make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office
  • Claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the data protection regulations

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us (see ‘Contact us’ below).

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.

Alternatively, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

  • Report a concern online at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
  • Call 0303 123 1113
  • Or write to: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or would like more information about anything mentioned in this privacy notice, please contact the school office on 01483529870 or info@northmead.surrey.sch.uk