Privacy Notice (How we use pupil information – Secondary & 16+)

The categories of pupil information that we process include:

• personal identifiers and contacts (such as name, unique pupil number, contact details and address)
• characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, and free school meal eligibility)
• safeguarding information (such as court orders and professional involvement)
• special educational needs (including the needs and ranking)
• medical and administration (such as doctors information, child health, dental health, allergies, medication and dietary requirements)
• attendance (such as sessions attended, number of absences, absence reasons and any previous schools attended)
• assessment and attainment (such as Key Stage 1 and phonics results, Key Stage 2, GCSE Results
• behavioural information (such as exclusions and any relevant alternative provision put in place)
• Personal information about a pupil’s parents and/or other relatives (such as name, contact details, relationship to child)
• Destinations and course information for post-16.

Why we collect and use pupil information

We collect and use pupil information, for the following purposes:

• to support pupil learning
• to monitor and report on pupil attainment progress
• to provide appropriate pastoral care
• to assess the quality of our services
• to keep children safe (food allergies, or emergency contact details)
• to meet the statutory duties placed upon us for the Department for Education (DfE) data collections

We use the pupil data:

• to support pupil learning
• to monitor and report on pupil progress
• to provide appropriate pastoral care
• to assess the quality of our services
• to comply with the law regarding data sharing
• To share data for statutory inspections and audit purposes

The lawful basis on which we use this information

We collect and use pupil information under

• The Education Act (various years)
• The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations
• The School Standards and Framework Act 1998
• The School Admissions Regulations 2012
• Children and Families Act 2014
• The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014
• Article 6 of the UK GDPR
• Concerning Special Category Data, conditions as set out under Article 9 of the UK GDPR.

The DfE process census data under the various Education Acts – further information can be found on their website: https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools

Collecting pupil information

We collect pupil information via completion of the School Admissions Form, notes taken by the SPL or Senior Staff at induction interviews and via a CTF and pupil personal files provided by the previous school.

Pupil data is essential for the schools’ operational use. Whilst the majority of pupil information you provide to us is mandatory, some of it requested on a voluntary basis. In order to comply with the data protection legislation, we will inform you at the point of collection, whether you are required to provide certain pupil information to us or if you have a choice in this.

Storing pupil data

We hold pupil data securely for the set amount of time shown in our data retention schedule. For more information on our data retention schedule and how we keep your data safe, please visit the school’s Data Policy.

Who we share pupil information with

We routinely share pupil information with:

• schools that the pupils attend after leaving us
• our local authority,Waltham Forest Council  https://walthamforest.gov.uk/
• youth support services (pupils aged 13+)
• the Department for Education (DfE)
• The school nurse
• Go4Schools
• Other third party providers to facilitate learning.

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.

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.

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 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

The information shared is limited to the child’s name, address and date of birth. However where a parent or guardian provides their consent, other information relevant to the provision of youth support services will be shared. This right is transferred to the child / pupil once they reach the age 16.

Data is securely transferred to the youth support service via secure email and is stored Local authority network servers and held in relation to their data retention policy.

Pupils aged 16+

We will also share certain information about pupils 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 advisers

Data is securely transferred to the youth support service via Secure Data Transfer and is stored on local authority network servers and held in accordance with the LB of Waltham Forest’s data retention policy.

For more information about services for young people, please visit our local authority website.

Department for Education (DfE)

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

Section 3 of The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.

All data is transferred securely and held by the Department for Education (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.

The National Pupil Database (NPD)

The NPD is owned and 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 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 Mr D Shackson: Data Protection Officer.

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 or complaint 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/

For further information on how to request access to personal information held centrally by the Department for Education (DfE), please see the ‘How Government uses your data’ section of this notice.

Withdrawal of consent and the right to lodge a complaint

Where we are processing your personal data with your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent from non-stutary services. If you change your mind, or you are unhappy with our use of your personal data, please let us know by contacting Mr D Shackson: Data Protection Officer

Last updated:

We may need to update this privacy notice periodically so we recommend that you revisit this information from time to time. This version was last updated on April 2024

Contact

If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact: Mr D Shackson: Data Protection Officer.