Privacy Notice

Why do we collect and use pupil information?

Margaret McMillan Primary School collects and uses pupil information under the principle of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which states that data is used for “specified, explicit and legitimate purposes”.

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

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

Personal information (such as name, unique pupil number and address)
Characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, nationality, country of birth and free school meal eligibility)
Attendance information (such as sessions attended, number of absences and absence reasons)
Assessment information
Relevant medical information
Special Educational Needs information
Exclusions and behavioural information

Why we are allowed to use your data

The majority of pupil information you provide to us is mandatory and where we have legal obligation or public task under various UK laws including but not limited to:

The Education Act 1944, 1996, 2002
The Education & Adoption Act 2016
The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013
The Education and Skills Act 2008
The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006
Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities in England to Identify Children Not Receiving Education – February 2007
The Education and Inspections Act 2006
The Children Act 1989, 2004
The Childcare Act 2006
The Children & Families Act 2014
Local Safeguarding Children Boards Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/90)
Contract (traded services)

Storing pupil data

We hold pupil data in line with the Information Records Management Society http://irms.org.uk

Who do we share pupil information with?

We routinely share pupil information with:

Schools that pupils attend after leaving us
Our local authority
The Department for Education (DfE)
The school nurse/NHS

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-forschools

The National Pupil Database

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 pupil information we share with the department, for the purposes of data collections, go to https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools

To find out more about the NPD, go to https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupildatabase-user-gude-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 of 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/dataprotection-how-we-collect-and-share-research-data

For more information about which organisations the Department has provided pupil information, and for which project, please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupil-database-requests-received

To contact the DfE go to https://www.gov.uk/contact-dfe

To contact our local authority go to https://bso.bradford.gov.uk

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 the Headteacher.

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
In certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed; and
Claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Data Protection regulations

If you have a concern 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

Other disclosures

We will advise you at the time, should we wish to disclose your child’s data to any other appropriate third party (ie new contractors/partners), and this Privacy Notice will be updated.

Contact

If you would like to discuss anything in this Privacy Notice, please contact:

Lorraine Martin
Headteacher
Margaret McMillan Primary School
Scotchman Road
Bradford BD9 5DF

Tracey Parry
Chief Operating Officer and Data Protection Lead
The Priestley Academy Trust
Upper Ground Floor
Merchant’s Quay
Ashley Lane
Bradford BD17 7DB

If you cannot access any of the websites mentioned within this document, please contact the school on 01274 495934.