Brooke Weston Trust Privacy Notice for Parents/Carers

Brooke Weston Trust takes its obligations towards personal data very seriously and is committed to ensuring that the requirements of the Data Protection Act (1998) are met and best practice in maintaining, processing and storing data is followed.

Schools, multi-academy trusts, local education authorities and the Department for Education all hold information on pupils in order to operate the education system. As this is personal information they must all comply with the Data Protection Act 1998, which means that amongst other things, the data held about pupils must only be used for specific purposes allowed by law. This notice describes the types of data held by Brooke Weston Trust, why that data is held and who it is shared with.

Brooke Weston Trust holds information on pupils in order to support their teaching and learning, to monitor and report on their progress and attendance, and to provide appropriate pastoral care. This information includes contact details, assessment and public examination results, attendance information, and characteristics such as ethnic group, special educational needs and any relevant medical information.

Certain transfers of information are carried out by the Trust’s schools to allow the operation of cashless catering systems, school improvement packages, school uniform purchase and first response systems that help safeguard pupils on their journey to school. The information shared is the minimum required to operate these systems and is limited to name, pupil identifier (roll number), tutor group and basic contact details.

At certain intervals we are required to pass on some pupil data to the Local Authority, to other schools to which pupils are transferring, to the Department for Education (DfE), Examination Boards and to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).

The Local Authority uses information about pupils to carry out specific functions for which it is responsible, such as the assessment of any special educational needs the pupil may have. It also uses the information for statistical purposes and this is performed in such a way that individual pupils cannot be identified from the data.

The Qualification and Curriculum Authority uses information about pupils to evaluate the effectiveness of the National Curriculum and the associated assessment arrangements and to ensure that these are continually approved.

The Department for Education uses information about pupils for statistical purposes to evaluate and develop education policy and monitor the performance of the education service as a whole. The statistics are used in such a way that individual pupils cannot be identified from them.

Pupils as data subjects, have certain rights under the Data Protection Act, including a general right of access to personal data held on them. Parents can exercise this right on their behalf if they are too young to do so themselves.

Please note that all rights under the Data Protection Act to do with information about your child rest with them as soon as they are old enough to understand them. This will vary from one child to another and you will wish to consider the position for your child but, as a broad guide, it is reckoned that most children will have a sufficient understanding by the age of 12. We would therefore encourage you to share this notice with your child if they are aged 12 or over.

Separately from the Data Protection Act, DfE regulations provide a pupil’s parent with the right to view, or to have a copy of their child’s educational record at the school. If you wish to exercise this right you should write to the school.