Privacy notice for parents / carers

This privacy notice explains how we collect, store and use personal data about students.
We, Chelsea Academy, Lots Road, London. SW10 0AB, are the ‘data controller’ for the purposes of data protection law.
Our data protection officer is Niamh McGuinness (see ‘Contact us’ below).

The personal data we hold

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

Contact details, contact preferences, date of birth, identification documents
Results of internal assessments and externally set tests
student and curricular records
Characteristics, such as ethnic background, eligibility for free school meals, or special educational needs
Behaviour and exclusion information
Details of any medical conditions, including physical and mental health
Attendance information
Safeguarding information
Details of any support received, including care packages, plans and support providers
Photographs
CCTV images captured in school

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

Why we use this data

We use this data to:

Support student learning
Monitor and report on student progress
Provide appropriate pastoral care
Protect student welfare
Assess the quality of our services
Administer admissions and waiting lists
Carry out research
Comply with the law regarding data sharing

Our legal basis for using this data

We only collect and use students’ personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we process it where:

We need to comply with a legal obligation
We need it to perform an official task in the public interest

Less commonly, we may also process students’ personal data in situations where:

We have obtained consent to use it in a certain way
We need to protect the individual’s vital interests (or someone else’s interests)

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

Where we have obtained consent to use students’ personal data, this consent can be withdrawn at any time. We will make this clear when we ask for consent, and explain how consent can be withdrawn. You can check what consents we have for using your child’s personal data via the Academy’s Parent App, or online at www.sims.parent.co.uk, or by contacting the Registrar admissions@chelsea-academy.org. You may also use any of these if you wish to withdraw consent at any time.

Collecting this information

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

Whenever we seek to collect information from you or your child, we make it clear whether providing it is mandatory or optional. If it is mandatory, we will explain the possible consequences of not complying.

How we store this data

We keep personal information about students while they are attending our school. We may also keep it beyond their attendance at our school if this is necessary in order to comply with our legal obligations. We store data in line with the Information and Records Management Society’s (IRMS) Retention Guidelines for Schools.

Data sharing

We do not share information about students 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 students with:

Our local authority RBKC (Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) to meet our legal obligations to share certain information with it, such as safeguarding concerns and exclusions
Schools that students attend after leaving us to meet our legal obligations to share certain information such as safeguarding, attendance and assessment data
The Department for Education to meet our legal obligations
The student’s family and representatives
Educators and examining bodies in connection with public examination entries and results
Our regulator, Ofsted to support statutory inspections
Suppliers and service providers – to enable them to provide the service we have contracted them for
Central and local government to enable them to carry out statutory functions or to investigate fraud or illegal activity
Our auditors to enable them to carry out regulatory financial and audit work
Survey and research organisations to support educational research
Health authorities and our school nurse in relation to students’ medical needs
Security organisations where this is necessary in the public interest to maintain national security
Health and social welfare organisations to support students’ health and welfare
Professional advisers and consultants to assess and monitor the Academy’s performance
Charities and voluntary organisations in connection with bursary or work experience opportunities
Police forces, courts, tribunals in connection with criminal or civil proceedings

National Pupil Database

We are required to provide information about students 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 other organisations which promote children’s education or wellbeing in England. Such organisations 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.

Youth support services

Once our students reach the age of 13, we are legally required to pass on certain information about them to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, as it has legal responsibilities regarding the education or training of 13-19 year-olds.

This information enables it to provide youth support services, post-16 education and training services, and careers advisers.

Parents/carers, or students once aged 16 or over, can contact our data protection officer to request that we only pass the individual’s name, address and date of birth to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea youth support services provider.

Transferring data internationally

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

Parents and students’ rights regarding personal data

Individuals have a right to make a ‘subject access request’ to gain access to personal information that the school holds about them.

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.

If you make a subject access request, and if we do hold information about you or your child, we will:

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 or your child
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

Most of the year we aim to do this in a timely manner, but during school holidays this may be more difficult.

Individuals also have the right for their personal information to be transmitted electronically to another organisation in certain circumstances.

If you would like to make a request please contact our data protection officer (dpo@chelsea-academy.org).

Chelsea Academy will also consider requests from parents to access to their child’s educational record, in line with the provisions of the Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005. This covers information that comes from a teacher or other employee of a local authority or school, the pupil or you as a parent, and is processed by or for the school’s governing body or teacher, except for information the teacher has solely for their own use. We will respond to requests for access to the educational record within 15 days. There will be no charge to view the educational record. We will charge for providing a copy of the educational record on a sliding scale from £1.20 for up to 19 pages, to £50 for over 500 pages.

To request access, please contact the Principal by email: principal@chelsea-academy.org

Other rights

Under data protection law, individuals have certain rights regarding how their personal data is used and kept safe, including the right to:

Object to the use of personal data if it would cause, or is causing, damage or distress
Prevent it being used to send direct marketing
Object to decisions being taken by automated means (by a computer or machine, rather than by a person)
In certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data corrected, deleted or destroyed, or restrict processing
Claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the data protection regulations

To exercise any of these rights, please contact our data protection officer.

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 officer.

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

Report a concern online at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/
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 our data protection officer:

David Greene, Assistant Principal. Chelsea Academy, Lots Road, London. SW10 0AB. dpo@chelsea-academy.org