We need to collect and use pupil information in order to comply with the relevant legislation for providing education to a child, including the Education Act 2006, the Education and Inspections Act 2006, and the Children’s Acts 1989 and 2004. Our lawful basis for processing is therefore as we have a statutory obligation as defined by Article 6(1)(c) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Some of the information we need to hold is classed as special category information – primarily ethnicity, gender and any health conditions. Our legal basis for processing this data is provided by Article 9(2)(b) of GDPR.
Whilst the majority of pupil information you provide to us is mandatory, some of it is provided to us on a voluntary basis - for example the use of permission slips for days out, and photographs or digital media to record such events. We will always inform you whether you are required to provide certain pupil information to us, or if you have a choice in this, and will respect your right to refuse to provide information.
We hold your main education records securely until you change school. Your records will then be transferred to your new school, where they will be retained until you reach the age of 25,after which they are safely destroyed.
All information is held securely with physical, organisational and electronic access controls to safeguard the information both at rest and when in transit.
We routinely share pupil information with:
We do not share information about our pupils with anyone without consent unless the law and our policies require or allow us to do so. We will always seek your positive consent to share information if there is no legal basis to share.
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 the (DfE) under regulation 5 of The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.
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.
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 NPD, go to https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupil-database-user-guide-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:
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:
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
To contact DfE: https://www.gov.uk/contact-dfe
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 to request access to your child’s educational record, please contact the School.
You also have the right to:
If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we request that you raise your concern with us in the first instance. Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/
If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact the school in the first instance.
The School’s Data Protection officer can be contacted via any of the following methods:
Data.Protection@sunderland.gov.uk,
0191 520 5555,
or via Data Protection Officer, Governance Services, Civic Centre, PO Box 100,
Sunderland, SR2 7DN
