Information for Pupils, Parents and Carers – How we use your information
We collect and use pupil information under section 537A of the Education Act 1996, and section 83 of the Children Act 1989. We also comply with Article 6(1)(c) and Article 9(2)(b) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Why do we collect and use your information
We need to use 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
- to support pupils to decide what to do after they leave our school.
Categories of pupil information that we collect, hold and share include:
- Personal information (such as name, unique pupil number and contact details)
- 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)
- National curriculum assessment results
- Special educational needs information
- Relevant medical information
- Relevant safeguarding information.
We also need to collect and hold limited information for each pupil about their parents and carers (such as names and contact details). We use this information for the School to communicate with parents and carers and to provide appropriate pastoral care. We also use this information to send communications to parents and carers on behalf of organisations associated with the School.
Collecting your information
We collect pupil information from you and may also receive information about pupils from their pre-school or previous school, local authority and/or the Department for education (DfE). Whilst the majority of pupil information you provide to us 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 you whether you are required to provide certain pupil information to us or if you have a choice in this.
We collect parents and carers information from you and may also receive information from the local authority (such as in connection with admissions requests).
It is essential that the contact information we hold about parents and carers is accurate and up to date and we ask you to advise us immediately of any changes.
Storing your information
Sandhurst Primary School keeps pupil information on computer systems and also sometimes on paper.
We hold pupils’ education records securely until they change school. Pupils’ hard copy and electronic records will then be transferred to their new school, where they will be retained until they reach the age of 25, after which they are safely destroyed.
We only retain limited access to electronic records of former pupils and only retain hard copy records of information about former pupils in situations where and for as long as there is a legal requirement to do so.
There are strict controls on who can see pupil information. We will not share pupil data if you have advised us that you do not want it shared unless it is the only way we can make sure pupils stay safe and healthy or we are legally required to do so.
Information about parents and carers is connected with pupils’ records on our computer systems and kept on a paper contact list in the School office while your children are at the School. Electronic records are transferred to the new school with the pupil records and paper contact lists are safely destroyed as they are updated. We may retain limited access to information about parents and carers of former pupils through our limited access to former pupils’ records, as described above.
Who do we share your information with?
We do not share pupil information with anyone without consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so.
We routinely share information about our pupils with:
- schools or colleges that the pupils attend after leaving us
- our local authority, Kent County Council (KCC) and their commissioned providers of local authority services
- the Department for Education (DfE)
- our commissioned providers of pupil assessment tests, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), and GL assessments
- our commissioned provider of pupil attainment and progress tracking systems, Target Tracker and EExBA (Early Years Baseline)
- our commissioned provider of PE, Premier Sport, for the purposes of pupil attainment and tracking.
- IT support company for administration of the programmes named in this document.
As necessary, we share relevant information for specific pupils with:
- the School nurse
- therapists and teachers providing individual pupil support
- Social Services
- School appointed providers of after School clubs.
We also share limited information with:
- PTA
- Our caterers
- School Photographer
- Teachers2Parents/School Money (our payment services provider).
Where we use educational websites or Apps as part of class work or homework (such as Class Dojo, Abacus and Times Tables Rockstars), we may also share very limited information about pupils (such as first name and first letter of surname) with the relevant providers, in order to create separate accounts for each pupil.
We share information about parents and carers with our commissioned providers of communication services (Teachers2Parents, Studybug, KLZ), but do not otherwise share your information without consent.
Why we share your information
We only share your information to the extent that we believe is necessary to comply with our legal responsibilities and to run a safe and efficient School. We always seek to ensure that any data shared is adequately protected through appropriate security measures and (where relevant) contractual protections.
We share pupil information on a statutory basis which underpins school funding and educational attainment policy and monitoring. We are in particular required to share information about our pupils with KCC and the DfE under section 3 of The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.
Some of the information that we provide to the DfE as part of statutory data collections such as the school census and early years’ census is then stored 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 pupil information we share with the DfE, 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
The DfE 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 DfE 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 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
For information about which organisations the department has provided pupil information, (and for which project), please visit the following website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupil-database-requests-received
Requesting access to your personal data
Under data protection legislation, parents and carers / pupils have the right to request access to information about them that we hold. 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.
School Contact: To make a request for your personal information, or be given access to your child’s educational record, contact the School Office Manager.
KCC Contact: If you would like to get a copy of the information about you that KCC shares with the DfE or how they use your information, please contact:
Sessions House,Kent ME14 1XQ
| Information Resilience & Transparency Team |
| Room 2.71, |
| Maidstone, |
| Email: dataprotection@kent.gov.uk |
You can also visit the KCC website if you need more information about how KCC use and store your information.
Please go to: http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/contact-us/access-to-information/your-personal-information.
DfE Contact: To contact DfE: https://www.gov.uk/contact-dfe.
If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we ask that you raise your concern with us in the first instance. Please contact the School Office Manager or the Headteacher. Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/.
Further Information
If you would like to discuss any of the principles in this privacy notice, please contact the Headteacher or the Governor responsible for Data Protection (contact through the School Office).
Updated : May 2018
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