Privacy Notice (How we use parent information)

This privacy notice explains how The Sixth Form College, Colchester collects, uses and shares your personal data, and your rights in relation to the personal data we hold. This privacy notice concerns our processing of personal data of past, present and prospective parents, guardians or legal contacts students of The Sixth Form College, Colchester.

For the purpose of this document the term parent refers to anyone who is the parent, guardian or legal contact for a student at the College.

The Sixth Form College, Colchester is the data controller of your personal data and is subject to current data protection legislation.

How we collect your information

We may collect your personal data in a number of ways, for example:

  • from the information your son/daughter/ward provides to us when a student submits an application to study at the College;
  • when a student complete the College enrolment forms and other documentation related to our other admissions processes and procedures;
  • when you communicate with us by telephone, email or via our website, for example in order to make enquiries or raise concerns;
  • from third parties, for example from the previous or current school/ college your son/daughter/ward may have studies with.

The types of information we collect

We may collect the following types of personal data about you:

  • your name, and contact information such as address, email address and telephone number;
  • information connected when dealing with the College regarding student welfare and progress.

How we use information about parents

The purposes for which we may use personal data (including sensitive personal data) we collect during a student's association with us include:

  • emergency contact in case of medical issues;
  • academic matters, including:
    • learning services (e.g. reporting attendance, managing and monitoring progress, student behaviour);
    • student reports.
  • other administrative purposes, including:
    • carrying out research and statistical analysis;
    • carrying out audits (e.g. to ensure compliance with our regulatory and legal obligations);
    • promoting our services (e.g. providing information about events happening on and off college premises);
    • preventing and detecting crime;
    • dealing with grievances and disciplinary actions;
    • dealing with complaints and enquiries;
    • assessing the quality of our services;
    • to comply with the law regarding data sharing.

The basis for processing and using your information

We may process your personal data in order to provide support to your son/daughter/ward as part of the delivery of their education. In this respect, we use your personal data for the following:

  • interact with you to provide information on the progress of your son/daughter/ward;
  • once your son/daughter/ward has enrolled, to provide you with the services as set out in your Parent Handbook;
  • to deal with any concerns or feedback you may have;
  • for any other purpose for which you provide us with your personal data.

We may also process your personal data because it is necessary for the performance of our tasks carried out in the public interest or because it is necessary for our or a third party's legitimate interests (e.g. compliance with the terms of the 1996 Education Act). In this respect, we may use your personal data for the following:

  • to provide access to www.go4schools.com in order to publish progress reports covering your son/daughter/ward’s performance at the College;
  • to seek advice on our rights and obligations, such as where we require our own legal advice;

We may also process your personal data for our compliance with our legal obligations. In this respect, we may use your personal data for the following:

  • to meet our compliance and regulatory obligations, such as compliance with safeguarding requirements;
  • in order to assist with investigations (including criminal investigations) carried out by the police and other competent authorities.

We may also process your personal data where:

  • it is necessary for medical purposes (e.g. medical diagnosis, provision of health or social care or treatment, or a contract with a health professional);
  • it is necessary to protect your or another person’s vital interests; or
  • we have your specific or, where necessary, explicit consent to do so.

Storing parent data

Subject to any other notices that we may provide to you, we may retain your personal data for a period of six years after your association with us has come to an end. However, some information may be retained indefinitely by us in order to maintain your academic record for archiving.

Sharing information with others

For the purposes referred to in this privacy notice and relying on the bases for processing as set out above, we may share your personal data with certain third parties. Unless an opt-out is in place, we may disclose limited personal data to a variety of recipients including:

  • agents where there is a legitimate reason for their receiving the information, including:
    • third parties who work with us to provide student support services (e.g. counselling, mental health and Safeguarding agencies);
    • internal and external auditors.
    • government departments and agencies where we have a statutory obligation to provide information (e.g. the ESFA, the Home Office (in connection with UK visas and immigration), Council Tax and Electoral Registration Officers at relevant local authorities (for the purpose of assessing liability for Council Tax and for electoral registration purposes));
    • crime prevention or detection agencies (e.g. the police, the Department for Work and Pensions and Trading Standards);
  • www.go4schools.com for the purpose of providing academic reports about your son/daughter/ward’s academic progress.
  • WisePay for the purpose of allowing you to pay any bills (trips / visits etc.) on-line.

Why we share parent information

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

Data collection requirements:

To find out more about the data collection requirements placed on us by the Department for Education (for example; via the college ILR returns) go to: https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-for-further-education-providers

Requesting access to your personal data

Under the current data protection legislation, you have the following rights:

  • to obtain access to, and copies of, the personal data that we hold about you;
  • to require that we cease processing your personal data if the processing is causing you damage or distress;
  • to require us not to send you marketing communications.
  • to require us to correct the personal data we hold about you if it is incorrect;
  • to require us to erase your personal data;
  • to require us to restrict our data processing activities (and, where our processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent, without affecting the lawfulness of our processing based on consent before its withdrawal);
  • to receive from us the personal data we hold about you which you have provided to us, in a reasonable format specified by you, including for the purpose of you transmitting that personal data to another data controller;
  • to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to any of our particular processing activities where you feel this has a disproportionate impact on your rights.

Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.

If you have given your consent and you wish to withdraw it, please contact our Data Protection Officer using the contact details set out below. Please note that where our processing of your personal data relies on your consent and where you then withdraw that consent, we may not be able to provide all or some aspects of our services to you and/or it may affect the provision of those services.

Under data protection legislation, you have the right to request access to information about you that we hold. To make a request for your personal information, contact the College’s Data Protection Officer (DPO) via email:  dpo@colchsfc.ac.uk

Changes to your personal data

Please tell us promptly about any changes to the information we hold about you. This is particularly important for your contact details used in emergency situations. You can do this via your son/daughter/ward’s Personal or Senior Tutor.

Contact

If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact our Data Protection Officer by email: dpo@colchsfc.ac.uk

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 at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Last updated 19 July 2019