Kells Infant School

Privacy Notice (how we use Pupil Information)

 

Kells Infant School is the data controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act.  We collect personal information from you and may receive information about you from your previous school.

We collect and use the pupil information, for the following purposes:

(a)          to support pupils learning

(b            to monitor and report on pupil attainment progress

(c)           to provide appropriate pastoral care

(d)          to assess the quality of our services

(e)          to keep children safe (food allergies, or emergency contact details

 (f)          to meet statutory duties placed upon us for DfE data collections

Under the General  Data Protection Regulation (GDPR),the lawful bases we rely on for processing pupil information are:

For the purpose of (a),(b),(c),(d) in accordance with the legal basis of Public task: collecting the data is necessary to perform tasks that schools are required to perform as part of their statutory function.

For the purpose of (e) in accordance with the legal basis of Vital interests: to keep children safe (food allergies, or medical conditions.

For the purpose of (f) in accordance with the legal basis Legal obligation: data collected for DfE Census Information.

  • Section 537A of the Education Act 1996
  • The Education Act 1996 s29(3)
  • The Education (School Performance Information) (England) Regulations 2007.
  • Regulations 5 and 8 School Information Regulations 2008.
  • The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2013

In addition, concerning any special category data:

  • Conditions a, b,c and d of GDPR Article 9.

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

  • Personal information (such as name, unique pupil number, contact details and address)
  • Characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, and free school meal eligibility)
  • Safeguarding information (such as court orders and professional involvement)
  • Special educational needs (including the needs and ranking)
  • Medical and administration (such as doctors information, child health, dental health, allergies, medication and dietary requirements)
  • Attendance (such as sessions attended, number of absences and absence reasons and any previous schools attended)
  • Assessment and attainment (such as Achievement against the Early Learning Goals, key stage 1 and phonics results)
  • Behavioural information (such as exclusions and any relevant alternative provision put in place)

 

To process a piece of personal data we must satisfy at least one condition for the lawful processing of personal data from Article 6 of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR )

We rely on different conditions for the lawful processing of personal data for different things.

To process the personal data of our pupils we rely on:

6(1)(e) Necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller - i.e. to educate them.

To publish their SATs/phonics/Early Years Outcome Results we rely on:

 6(1)(c) Necessary for compliance with a legal obligation - i.e. because the law requires us to

To hold their next of kin data we rely on:

 6(1)(d) Necessary to protect the vital interests (life) of a data subject or another person.

To use their image we rely on:

6(1)(a) Consent of the data subject.

We rely on different conditions to process different pieces of the personal data of families.

For their financial details to provide meals, photographs etc:

We rely on 6(1)(b) Necessary for the performance of a contract with the data subject or to take steps to enter into a contract.

For their contact details in case their child is ill.

We rely on 6(1)(d) Necessary to protect the vital interests (life) of a data subject or another person.

To process a piece of sensitive personal data we must satisfy at least one condition for the lawful processing of special categories of data from Article 9 of the GDPR  as well as one condition from Article 6 of the GDPR.

We rely on different conditions for the lawful processing of sensitive personal data for different things.

To process the sensitive personal data of our pupils in respect of child protection and multi-agency safeguarding work we rely on:

9(2)(b) Necessary to meet obligations under employment, social security or social protection law, or a collective agreement.

To use their health information to protect them at school we rely on:

9(2)(b ) or 9(2)(h) For preventative or occupational medicine; assessing work capacity of an employee, medical diagnosis, providing health & social care or treatment or management of healthcare services under EU/National law or contract with a health professional.

To report on their health to PHE or the HSE as required we rely on:

9(2)(i) For public health e.g. protecting against serious cross-border threats to health or ensuring high standards of healthcare & medicinal products or medical devices.

To retain accident and ill-health information in case of a claim for compensation we rely on:

9(2)(f) For the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or court judicial capacity.

How we collect pupil information

We collect pupil information via application forms, Medication Forms, Health Care Plans, Common Transfer File (CTF) or secure file transfer from previous school.

Pupil data is essential for the schools’ operational use.  Whilst the majority of pupil information you provide to us is mandatory, some of it is requested on a voluntary basis.  In order to comply with the data protection legislation, we will inform you at the point of collection, whether you are required to provide certain pupil information to us or if you have a choice in this.

How we store pupil data

We hold pupil data securely for the set amount of time shown in our data retention schedule.

For more information on our data retention schedule please click HERE

Who we share pupil information with

We routinely share pupil information with:

  • schools that the pupils attend after leaving us
  • our local authority
  • the Department for Education (DfE).
  • School Nurse
  • NHS

Why we regularly 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.

Department for Education

The Department for Education (DfE) collects personal data from educational settings and local authorities via various statutory data collections.  We are required to share information about our pupils with the Department for Education (DfE) either directly or via our local authority for the purpose of those data collections, under: section 3 of The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.

All data is transferred securely and held by DfE under a combination of software and hardware controls, which meet the current government security policy framework.

For more information, please see ‘How Government uses your data’ section.

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 Mrs Heidi Burns via the school Office.

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
  • a right to seek redress, either through the ICO, or through the courts

If you have a concern or complaint about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we request that you raise your concern with us in the first instance or directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Contact

If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact: Mrs J. Jones via the school office.

How Government uses your data

The pupil data that we lawfully share with the DfE through data collections:

  • underpins school funding, which is calculated based upon the numbers of children and their characteristics in each school.
  • Informs ‘short term’ education policy monitoring and school accountability and intervention (for example Pupil Progress measures).
  • Supports ‘longer term’ research and monitoring of educational policy (for example how certain subject choices go on to affect education or earnings beyond school)

Data Collection requirements

To find out more about the data collection requirements placed on use by the Department for Education (for example; via the school census) go to https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools

The National Pupil Database (NPD)

Much of the data about pupils in England goes on to be held in the National Pupil Database (NPD).

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.

To find out more about the NPD, go to https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupil-database-user-guide-and-supporting-information.

Sharing by the Department

The law allows the Department to share pupils’ personal data with certain third parties, including:

  • schools
  • local authorities
  • researchers
  • organisations connected with promoting the education or wellbeing of children in England
  • other government departments and agencies
  • organisations fighting or identifying crime

For more information about the department’s data sharing process, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/data-protection-how-we-collect-and-share-research-data

Organisations fighting or identifying crime may use their legal powers to contact DfE to request access to individual level information relevant to detecting that crime.  Whilst numbers fluctuate slightly over time, DfE typically supplies data on around 600 pupils per year to the Home Office and roughly 1 per year to the Police.

For information about which organisations the department has provided pupil information, (and for which project) or to access a monthly breakdown of data share volumes with Home Office and the Police, please visit the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupil-database-requests-received

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

High Road, Kells, Whitehaven, Cumbria, CA28 9PQ

01946 691865

admin@kells-inf.cumbria.sch.uk