Doucecroft Privacy Policy

Privacy Notice (How we use pupil information)

The categories of pupil information that we process include:

  • Personal identifiers and contacts (such as name, unique pupil number, contact details and address)
  • Characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, and free school meal eligibility)
  • Safeguarding information (detail of disclosures, outcomes of meetings, various plans and sensitive information regarding court proceedings, child protection plans and correspondence with outside agencies.)
  • Special educational needs (including the needs and ranking)
  • Medical and administration (such as doctor’s information, child health, dental health, allergies, medication and dietary requirements)
  • Attendance (such as sessions attended, number of absences, absence reasons and any previous schools attended)
  • Assessment and attainment (such as attainment and progress records across curriculum subjects)
  • Behavioural information (such as exclusions and any relevant alternative provision put in place)

This list is not exhaustive, to access the current list of categories of information we process please see here.


Why we collect and use pupil information

  • We collect and use pupil information, for the following purposes:
  • Support pupil learning
  • Monitor and report on pupil progress
  • Provide appropriate pastoral care
  • Assess the quality of our services
  • Keep children safe (food allergies, or emergency contact details)
  • Meet the statutory duties placed upon us by the relevant authorities

The lawful basis on which we use this information

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing pupil information are:
For further information on how data is used, please visit the following website https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools


Collecting pupil information

Pupil data is essential for the schools’ operational use. Whilst the majority of pupil information you provide to us is mandatory, some of it 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.


Storing 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 and how we keep your data safe.


Who we share pupil information with
We routinely share pupil information with:

Schools that the pupils attend after leaving us
Our local authority
Youth support services (pupils aged 13+)
The Department for Education (DfE)
Social Care
Local School Partnership

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. We will share pupils data with our local authority and the Department for Education. Under Section 3 of the Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.

Department for Education (DfE)


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:
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/data-protection-how-we-collect-and-share-research-data
All data is transferred securely and held by the Department for Education (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 Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@autism-anglia.org.uk.

You also have the right to:
to ask us for access to information about you that we hold
to request the deletion or removal of personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing
to restrict our processing of your personal data
in certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or
destroyed;
to object to direct marketing (including profiling) and processing for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics

If you have a concern or complaint 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/


Withdrawal of consent and the right to lodge a complaint
Where we are processing your personal data with your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent. If you change your mind, or you are unhappy with our use of your personal data, please let us know by contacting in writing to: Data Protection Officer, Autism Anglia, 59 North Hill, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1QF, or by email to dataprotection@autism-anglia.org.uk.
Last updated
We may need to update this privacy notice periodically, so we recommend that you revisit this information from time to time via our website. This version was last updated on 1st September 2024.
Contact
If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact The Headteacher of Doucecroft School.