Privacy Notice Students / Parents

We The Bewdley School are a data controller for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation. We collect information from you and may receive information about you from your previous school, Worcestershire County Council, DfE (Department for Education, Police, NHS and other external government agencies.

The General Data Protection Act (2018) How we use student information

Why do we collect and use student information?

We collect and use student information under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
We use the student data:
• to maintain our own accounts and records
• to communicate and inform stakeholders of the school
• to support student teaching and learning
• to support student’s career guidance
• to monitor and report on student progress
• to provide appropriate pastoral care / Safeguarding
• to assess the quality of our services
• to comply with the law regarding data sharing
• to assess the performance of the school

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

• Personal information (such as name, date of birth, unique student number, unique learner number and address)
• Characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, nationality, country of birth and free school meal eligibility)
• Photographs
• Education details and national curriculum assessment results
• Attendance information (such as sessions attended, number of absences and absence reasons)
• Disciplinary and behaviour records
• Safeguarding and Pastoral records
• Assessment information
• Relevant medical and dietary information
• Special educational needs information
• Exclusions / behavioural information
• Post 16 learning information

Collecting student information

Whilst the majority of student information we are provided with is mandatory, some of it is provided to us on a voluntary basis. In order to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, we will inform students, parents/carers whether they are required to provide certain student information to us or if they have a choice in this.
Information shared with Worcestershire County Council
We are required by law to pass some student information to Worcestershire County Council as part of the Intended Destination, September Guarantee and Annual Activity processes. This is to assist Worcestershire County Council fulfil its legal obligation under the Education and Skills Act 2008 and the Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 to assist, encourage and enable young people aged 13-19 (and young adults with learning difficulties or disabilities up to the age of 25) to participate in education or training. Worcestershire County Council are then required to share this information with the Department of Education.

We share the following information about students with Worcestershire County Council:
• What students are intending to do after Year 11 in terms of education, training or employment (your intended destination).
• Which post-16 provider made offers of a place on a course at the end of Year 11 or Year 12 if the student stayed with us after Year 11 (referred to as the September Guarantee).
• What students’ destinations are after they leave Year 11 or Year 12 or Year 13, if we are aware of this (as part of the Annual Activity Survey). This could include sixth form at this school.

Information Worcestershire County Council may share with us once you have left school

Worcestershire County Council has a legal responsibility to track all young people up to the age of 19 (and young adults with an education healthcare plan up to the age of 25). The purpose of collecting this information is to assist the planning of education and training for young people and the support services they require. Some of this information is then shared with the Department for Education who use the information to plan at a national level.
Worcestershire County Council will, if students, parents/carers allow, inform us, The Bewdley School, of students’ current activity once they have left the school. This is in relation to education, training, employment with training you may be undertaking and whether you are NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training).
The purpose of this is to:
• Enable us, The Bewdley School, to offer support should you become NEET
• Check that the education we provide is enabling students to make a positive progression once they leave the school
• Help plan support and education for future students.

If students, parents/carers would like to get a copy of the information that Worcestershire County Council shares with the Department for Education or post-16 providers or how they use your information, please contact:

Information Access Team
Corporate Information
Management Unit
Worcestershire County Council
County Hall
Spetchley Road
Worcester
WR5 2NP

dataprotection@worcestershire.gov.uk

Students, parents/carers can also visit the Worcestershire County Council website if they need more information about how Worcestershire County Council use and store information.

http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/info/20031/data_protection/420/make_a_data_protection_request

Information that may be shared with other schools and colleges

Some of the information we collect from students during Year 10 and 11 and as part of the Intended Destination, September Guarantee and Annual Activity processes may also be shared with EFA funded post-16 providers (hereafter referred to as ‘post-16 providers’) who deliver in Worcestershire and surrounding areas.

These providers are listed on http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/info/20006/schools_education_and_learning

These providers could offer students a progression route and support their transition into post-16 education, training or employment with training.

To support the transition to post-16 education and to support planning for future learners we, or Worcestershire County Council, may also need to share further information about students directly with post-16 providers after they have enrolled, this includes:

• Whether they are NEET and may need support finding an education/training/employment opportunity
• Their activity after leaving a FE College after Year 12 or 13
• Their attendance record at school
• Whether they have been excluded from school
• If they have any special educational needs
• Whether they are looked after/or a care leaver
• Whether they are a carer
• Whether they are a traveller
• Whether they receive free school meals, and
• Whether they are currently supervised by the Youth Offending Team.

Storing student data

Both The Bewdley School and Worcestershire County Council keep information about students, parents/carers on computer systems and also sometimes on paper. We hold student education records securely and retain them from the student’s date of birth until they reach the age of 25, after which they are safely destroyed in a timely manner. There are strict controls on who can see student’s information. We will not share students’ data if they have advised us that they do not want it shared unless it is the only way we can make sure students remain safe and healthy or we are legally required to do so.

Network account are deleted when students leave the school, and data is stored for a number of years as per the school’s retention policy.

Any other data required for legal purpose will remain on file and archived.

Who do we share student information with?

We sometimes need to share the personal information we process with the individual themselves and also with other organisations. Where this is necessary we are required to comply with all aspects of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). What follows is a description of the types of organisations we may need to share some of the personal information we process with for one or more reasons.

Where necessary or required we share information with:
• Worcestershire County Council, our other local authority
• The Department for Education (DfE) and central government
• Educational providers that students have attended or are transferring to
• Education, training, careers and examining bodies
• School staff (if legal and necessary)
• Family, associates and representatives of the person whose personal data we are processing
• NHS and healthcare professionals
• Social and welfare organisations
• Law enforcement organisation and courts
• Current, past or prospective employers
• Voluntary and charitable organisations
• Suppliers and educational service providers (e.g. Sisra, SIMS In-Touch, Pebble, MLS, Cunninghams)
• Financial organisations
• Security organisations
• Press and the media
• School trips organisations

Transfers

It may sometimes be necessary to transfer personal information overseas. When this is needed information may be transferred to countries or territories around Europe. Any transfers made will be in full compliance with all aspects of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Aged 14+ qualifications

For students enrolling for post 14 qualifications, the Learning Records Service will give us a student’s unique learner number (ULN) and may also give us details about the student’s learning or qualifications.

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 the (DfE) under regulation 5 of The Education (Information About Individual Students) (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-for-schools.

Youth support services

What is different about students aged 13+?

Once our students reach the age of 13, we also pass student information to our local authority and / or provider of youth support services as they have responsibilities in relation to the education or training of 13-19 year olds under section 507B of the Education Act 1996.

This enables them to provide services as follows:
• youth support services
• careers advisers

Students can request that only their name, address and date of birth is passed to their local authority or provider of youth support services by informing us. This right is transferred to the child / student once he/she reaches the age 13.

Our students aged 16+

We will also share certain information about students aged 16+ with our local authority and / or provider of youth support services as they have responsibilities in relation to the education or training of 13-19 year olds under section 507B of the Education Act 1996.

This enables them to provide services as follows:
• post-16 education and training providers
• youth support services
• careers advisers

For more information about services for young people, please visit Worcestershire County Council Website.

Students have a choice about what information is shared after they turn 13.

Students can ask that:
• No information beyond name, address and data of birth be shared with Worcestershire County Council or
• No information about students’ current activities once they have left school be shared with us and or
• No information to be shared with post 16 providers in the future.

To do this please contact the Schools Office Manager to let them know which information you do not want to be shared. Alternatively you could contact the Management Information Team at Worcestershire County Council, dataprotection@worcestershire.gov.uk

The National Student 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 Students) (England) Regulations 2013.

To find out more about the student information we share with the department, for the purpose 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-student-database-user-guide-and-supporting-information.

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: https://www.gov.uk/data-protection-how-we-collect-and-share-research-data

For information about which organisations the department has provided student information, (and for which project), please visit the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-student-database-requests-received

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

Requesting access to personal data

Under General Data Protection Regulation, 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 be given access to educational record, contact DataRequest@bewdley.worcs.sch.uk

Students, parents/carers 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
• have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed in certain circumstances; and
• claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the General Data Protection Regulation

If students, parents/carers have a concern about the way we are collecting or using personal data, they should raise their concern with The Bewdley School in the first instance or directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Contact:

If parents/Students would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice,
please contact: DataRequest@bewdley.worcs.sch.uk