Privacy Notice for students

This notice is to help students and parents understand how and why we collect your personal information and what we do with that information. It also explains the decisions that you can make about your own information.

Who processes your information?

Abbeyfields First School is the data controller of the personal information you provide to us. This means the school determines the purposes for which, and the manner in which, any personal data relating to students and their families is to be processed. Mark Tait is the Data Protection Officer. His role is to oversee and monitor the school’s data protection procedures, and to ensure they are compliant with the GDPR. The Data Protection Officer can be contacted on 01670 515415.

What is ‘personal information’?

Personal information is information that the school collects about you. This includes information such as your name, date of birth and address as well as things like exam results, medical details and behaviour records.

How and why does the school collect personal information?

Admissions forms give us lots of personal information. Your old school also gives us information about you. We get information from you, your teachers and other students. Sometimes we get information from your doctors and other professionals. CCTV, photos and video recordings of you are also personal information. We use your personal information:

  • To support student learning
  • To monitor and report on student progress
  • To provide appropriate pastoral care
  • To assess the quality of our services
  • To ensure the safety of students
  • To comply with the law regarding data sharing

Here are some examples:

  • We need to tell all your teachers if you are allergic to something or might need extra help with some tasks
  • We use CCTV to make sure the school site is safe
  • We may need to report some of your information to the Department for Education (DfE)
  • Depending on where you will go when you leave us we may need to provide your information to other schools. We may share information about your exam results and provide references
  • We may need to share information with the police or our legal advisers if something goes wrong or to help with an enquiry
  • We may share your academic and your behaviour records with your parent/carer so they can support your schooling
  • We may use photographs or videos of you for the school’s website and social media sites or prospectus to show prospective students what we do here and for teaching purposes
  • We publish sports fixtures and other news on the website and put articles and photographs in the local news to tell people about what we have been doing

Information about your parents:

  • We use information about your parents where we need this to help the school to run properly. For example, financial information for making school payments and their contact details
  • Sometimes we need information from your parents about things that are happening at home which might have an effect on how you are feeling

The categories of student information that we collect, hold and share include:

  • Personal information (such as name, unique pupil number and address, transport arrangements, financial support, welfare arrangements, details of previous schools)
  • Characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, nationality, country of birth and free school meal eligibility)
  • Attendance information (such as lessons attended, number of absences and absence reasons)
  • Exclusion/behavioural information
  • Special educational needs information
  • National curriculum assessment/examination results/internal assessments
  • Relevant medical information
  • Post 16 learning information
  • Student photographs and videos
  • CCTV recordings
  • Biometrics (for payment of school lunches)

The lawful basis on which we use this information

We collect and use student information under the Education Act 1996 and under section 6(1)(b) of the General Data Protection Regulations 2018. Processing is necessary for a variety of legal reasons but usually falls into one of the following headings: necessary for the performance of an official task in the public interest, to comply with a legal duty, the performance of a contract with the subject and also with the consent of the individual, parent or carer.

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.

Providing student information

Whilst the majority of student information you provide to us is mandatory, some of it is provided to us on a voluntary basis. In order to comply with the GDPR, we will inform you whether you are required to provide certain student information to us or if you have a choice in this. If required data is not provided, we may not be able to provide all of our services as an education provider or fulfil our duty of care to our students.

Storing student data

  • Data will not be kept for longer than is necessary
  • Unrequired data will be deleted as soon as practicable
  • Some educational records relating to former students of the Trust may be kept for an extended period for legal reasons, but also to enable the provision of references or academic transcripts
  • Paper documents will be shredded or pulped, and electronic memories scrubbed clean or destroyed, once the data should no longer be retained
  • Student photographs may be used once you have left the school, to celebrate successes and achievements of students and the school (where you gave consent for your photo to be taken initially)

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 our Local Authority (LA) and the Department for Education (DfE) under Regulation 5 of The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013. We routinely share student information with:

  • The Department for Education
  • Northumberland County Council to meet our legal obligations to share certain information with it, such as safeguarding concerns and exclusions
  • Examining bodies
  • Trust staff in the support of student learning
  • The school’s Board of Directors and Governors
  • Consultants engaged by the Trust to support student learning
  • Staff of other Trust schools in the support of student learning
  • Staff of Partnership schools in the support of student learning
  • Cloud based educational programmes to support student learning and communication
  • Parents and carers of our school
  • School Nursing & Dental Services
  • External agencies; NHS, SEND, child protection, police, welfare and safeguarding services
  • Charities and voluntary organisations
  • Financial organisations
  • Local media publications
  • Schools and establishments that students attend after leaving us
  • Other third parties approved by the school

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) visit their 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 Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.

To find out more about the NPD, go to their website.

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 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 visit the .Gov website.

For information about which organisations the department has provided student information, (and for which project), please visit this website.

Click here to contact DfE.

Requesting access to your personal data

Under data protection legislation, parents/carers and students have the right to request access to information about them that we hold. To make a request for your personal information, or to be given access to your child’s educational record, contact: Mairi Gibson, Abbeyfields First School, Abbots Way, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 2LZ, 01670 513582.

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
  • Data Portability (the right to have electronic data transferred in a commonly used format to a third party, i.e. a transfer school)
  • 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
  • Withdraw consent where it has been given

If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we request that you raise your concern with us in the first instance. Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Visitors and Third Parties can view the privacy notice by clicking here.

Students and Parents/Carers can view the privacy notice by clicking here.

Members, Trustees, Academy Councillors, and Persons with Delegated Authority can view the privacy notices by clicking here.

Staff members can view the privacy notices by clicking here.