Open Morning – 28 September 2024

WHO WE ARE

Loughborough Schools Foundation (LSF) is the organisation (referred to in this policy as “the Foundation”) responsible for four independent schools and a nursery operating under a single Board of Trustees. The Foundation comprises Fairfield Preparatory School (co-educational, 3-11), Loughborough Amherst School (co-educational 4-18) Loughborough Grammar School (boys, 10-18, day and boarding), Loughborough High School (girls, 11-18) , and ‘The Nursery’ for children from 6 weeks to 4 years.

The Foundation is incorporated as a company limited by guarantee, number 4038033, and is a registered charity, number 1081765.

The Foundation is registered as the Data Controller under Data Protection Law and will observe the provisions of all related legislation, as well as frameworks provided by the Department for Education (DfE), to all Schools and departments within the Foundation. This includes Early Years Foundation Stages (EYFS), The Nursery, alumni associations and any subsidiary companies.
WHAT THIS PRIVACY NOTICE IS FOR

This Notice is intended to provide information about how the Foundation will use (or “process”) personal data about individuals including: its staff; its current, past and prospective pupils; and their parents, carers or guardians (referred to in this policy as “parents”).

This information is provided in accordance with the rights of individuals under Data Protection Law to understand how their data is used. Staff, parents and pupils are all encouraged to read this Privacy Notice and understand the Foundation’s obligations to its entire community.

If we ask for your personal information, we will:

tell you the reasons why we’re asking for it;
only ask for the information we need;
make sure we don’t keep it for longer than necessary;
protect it and make sure only the appropriate people have access to it;
let you know if we’ll share it with other organisations;
keep it up to date where necessary and let you know if you need to notify us about changes to your circumstances;
consider privacy risks when we’re planning to change the way we use or hold it; and
train our staff to ensure we properly use and protect it.

This Privacy Notice applies alongside any other information the Foundation may provide about a particular use of personal data, for example when collecting data via an online or paper form.

This Privacy Notice also applies in addition to the Foundation’s other relevant terms and conditions and policies, including:

any contract between the Foundation and its staff or the parents of pupils;
the Foundation’s policy on Taking, Storing and Using Images of Children;
the Foundation’s CCTV Code of Practice and/or LGS’ Biometrics policy;
the Foundation’s Information and Record Retention policy;
the Foundation’s safeguarding, pastoral, or health and safety policies, including as to how concerns or incidents are recorded; and
the Foundation’s IT policies, including its Responsible Use policy, eSafety policy and Remote Working policy.

Anyone who works for, or acts on behalf of, the Foundation (including staff, volunteers, governors and service providers) should also be aware of and comply with the Foundation’s Data Protection policy for staff, which also provides further information about how personal data about those individuals will be used.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR DATA PROTECTION

The Foundation has appointed Mrs Ruth Brutnall as Data Protection Officer who will deal with all requests and enquiries concerning the Foundation’s uses of your personal data (see section on Your Rights below) and endeavour to ensure that all personal data is processed in compliance with this policy and Data Protection Law. The Data Protection Officer can be contacted on dataprotection@lsf.org
WHY THE FOUNDATION NEEDS TO PROCESS PERSONAL DATA

In order to carry out its ordinary duties to staff, pupils and parents, the Foundation needs to process a wide range of personal data about individuals (including current, past and prospective staff, pupils or parents) as part of its daily operation.

Some of this activity the Foundation will need to carry out in order to fulfil its legal rights, duties or obligations – including those under a contract with its staff, or parents of its pupils.

Other uses of personal data will be made in accordance with the Foundation’s legitimate interests, or the legitimate interests of another, provided that these are not outweighed by the impact on individuals, and provided it does not involve special or sensitive types of data.

The Foundation expects that the following uses may fall within that category of its “legitimate interests”:

For the purposes of pupil selection (and to confirm the identity of prospective pupils and their parents);
To administer and provide education and training services, including musical education, physical training and spiritual development; career services, including work experience placements and extra-curricular activities to pupils, including trips, sports and social events and the monitoring and reporting of pupils’ progress and educational needs;
For the purposes of due diligence for bursarial assistance;
Maintaining relationships with alumni, parent and parent/teacher associations and the school community, including direct marketing or fundraising activity and the organisation of events involving parents, former parents, students and staff.
For the purposes of donor due diligence, and to confirm the identity of prospective donors and their background;
For the purposes of administration and management of Foundation property, including the planning and administration of access, maintenance, repair, security and safety arrangements;
For the administration of supplier records relating to goods, orders, services and accounts provided to and by the Foundation;
For the purposes of office administration (including office directories, e-mail, word processing, dealing with enquires and complaints);
For the purposes of staff, agent and contractor administration covering self-employed, contract personnel, temporary staff or voluntary workers and incorporating the planning and management of staff workload and/or business activities, the administration of agents and other intermediaries, vetting checks, staff training, the provision of occupational health services, pension administration and disciplinary matters, etc.;
For the purposes of management planning and forecasting, research and statistical analysis, including that imposed or provided for by law (such as diversity or gender pay gap analysis and taxation records);
To enable relevant authorities to monitor the Foundation’s performance and to intervene or assist with incidents as appropriate;
To give and receive information and references about past, current and prospective pupils, including relating to outstanding fees or payment history, to/from any educational institution that the pupil attended or where it is proposed they attend; and to provide references to potential employers of past pupils;
To enable pupils to take part in national or other assessments, and to publish the results of public examinations or other achievements of pupils of a School;
To safeguard pupils’ welfare and provide appropriate health and pastoral services, including counselling;
To monitor (as appropriate) use of the Foundation’s IT and communications systems in accordance with the Foundation’s Responsible Use policy;
To make use of photographic images of pupils in School publications, on the School websites and (where appropriate) on the Foundation’s social media channels for advertising, marketing and promotional purposes in accordance with the Foundation’s policy on Taking, Storing and Using Images of Children;
For security purposes, including crime prevention and the prosecution of offenders by operating a CCTV system in accordance with the Foundation’s CCTV Code of Practice; and
Where otherwise reasonably necessary for the Foundation’s purposes, including to obtain appropriate professional advice and insurance for the Foundation.

In addition, the Foundation may need to process special category personal data (concerning health, ethnicity, religion, biometrics or sexual life) or criminal records information (such as when carrying out DBS checks) in accordance with rights or duties imposed on it by law, including as regards safeguarding and employment, or from time to time by explicit consent where required. These reasons may include:

To safeguard pupils’ welfare and provide appropriate pastoral (and where necessary, medical) care, and to take appropriate action in the event of an emergency, incident or accident, including by disclosing details of an individual’s medical condition where it is in the individual’s interests to do so: for example, for medical advice, social services, insurance purposes or to organisers of out-of-school visits;
To provide educational services in the context of any special educational needs of a pupil;
To provide spiritual education in the context of any religious beliefs;
In connection with employment of its staff, for example DBS checks, welfare or pension plans;
To run any of its systems that operate on biometric data, such as for security and other forms of pupil identification (registration, lunch etc.); or
For legal and regulatory purposes (for example child protection, diversity monitoring and health and safety) and to comply with its legal obligations and duties of care.

TYPES OF PERSONAL DATA PROCESSED BY THE FOUNDATION

This will include by way of example:

names, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and other contact details;
car details (about those who use our car parking facilities);
biometric information, which will be collected and used by the Grammar School in accordance with the School’s biometrics policy;
bank details and other financial information, e.g. about parents who pay fees to the Foundation;
past, present and prospective pupils’ academic, disciplinary, admissions and attendance records (including information about any special needs), and examination scripts and marks;
where appropriate, information about individuals’ health, and contact details for their next of kin;
references given or received by the Foundation about pupils, and information provided by previous educational establishments and/or other professionals or organisations working with pupils;
images of pupils (and occasionally other individuals) engaging in Foundation activities, and images captured by the Foundation’s CCTV system (in accordance with the Foundation’s policy on Taking, Storing and Using Images of Children); and
User ID IP addresses and MAC addresses within our log data

HOW THE FOUNDATION COLLECTS DATA

Generally, the Foundation receives personal data from the individual directly (including, in the case of pupils, from their parents). This may be via a form, or simply in the ordinary course of interaction or communication (such as by phone, email or written assessments).

However, in some cases personal data may be supplied by third parties (for example another school, or other professionals or authorities working with that individual); or collected from publicly available resources.
WHO HAS ACCESS TO PERSONAL DATA AND WHO THE FOUNDATION SHARES IT WITH

Occasionally, the Foundation will need to share personal information relating to its community with third parties, such as:

professional advisers (e.g. lawyers, insurers, PR advisers and accountants)
appropriate regulatory bodies (e.g. NCTL, the Independent Schools Inspectorate, the Charity Commission or the Information Commissioner)
educational providers and resources (e.g. VLE, Trip Management)
to enable the relevant authorities to monitor the relevant School’s performance;
to compile statistical information (normally used on an anonymous basis);
to secure funding for the Schools (and where relevant, on behalf of individual pupils);
to safeguard pupils’ welfare and provide appropriate pastoral (and where relevant, medical and dental) care for pupils;
where specifically requested by pupils and/or their parents or guardians;
where necessary in connection with learning and extra-curricular activities undertaken by pupils;
to enable pupils to take part in national and other assessments and to monitor pupils’ progress and educational needs;
where a reference or other information about a pupil or ex-pupil is requested by another educational establishment or employer to whom they have applied;
where otherwise required by law, for example in connection with government agencies or regulatory authorities (e.g. HMRC, DfE, police or the local authority); and
otherwise where reasonably necessary for the operation of the relevant School.

All of these are data controllers in respect of the personal data they receive, and must themselves comply with the Data Protection legislation. Further details of anticipated potential third party recipients are available on request. For the most part, personal data collected by the Foundation will remain within the Foundation, and will be processed by appropriate individuals only in accordance with access protocols (i.e. on a ‘need to know’ basis). Particularly strict rules of access apply in the context of:

medical records (held and accessed only by the school doctor and appropriate medical staff under his/her supervision, or otherwise in accordance with express consent); and
pastoral or safeguarding files.

However, a certain amount of any SEN pupil’s relevant information will need to be provided to staff more widely in the context of providing the necessary care and education that the pupil requires.

Staff, pupils and parents are reminded that the Foundation is under duties imposed by law and statutory guidance (including Keeping Children Safe in Education) to record or report incidents and concerns that arise or are reported to it, in some cases regardless of whether they are proven, if they meet a certain threshold of seriousness in their nature or regularity. This may include file notes on personnel or safeguarding files, and in some cases referrals to relevant authorities such as the LADO or police. For further information about this, please view the Foundation’s Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy.

Finally, in accordance with Data Protection Law, some of the Foundation’s processing activity is carried out on its behalf by third parties, such as IT systems, web developers or cloud storage providers. This is always subject to contractual assurances that personal data will be kept securely and only in accordance with the Foundation’s specific directions.
DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

In many circumstances the Foundation will not disclose personal data without consent. However, there may be some circumstances where we may need to share personal information with organisations and with other relevant bodies, where the law allows it or we have a legal obligation to do so.

You can also get further information on:

agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information;
circumstances where we can pass on personal data without consent for example, to prevent and detect crime and to produce anonymised statistics;
our instructions to staff on how to collect, use and delete personal data; and
how we check that the information we hold is accurate and up to date.

HOW LONG WE KEEP PERSONAL DATA

The Foundation will retain personal data securely and in accordance with our internal retention policies. We will determine the length of time we keep it for based on the minimum retention periods required by law or regulation. This policy sets out a structured approach to reviewing and destroying records in relation to the Foundation. However, the Foundation may have lawful and necessary reasons to hold on to some data for longer than the specified retention periods in special circumstances.

If you have any specific queries about how this internal policy is applied, or wish to request that personal data that you no longer believe to be relevant is considered for erasure, please contact dataprotection@lsf.org .
KEEPING IN TOUCH AND SUPPORTING THE FOUNDATION

The Foundation will use the contact details of parents, alumni and other members of the Schools community to keep them updated about the activities of the Foundation, or alumni and parent events of interest, including by sending updates and newsletters, by email and by post. Unless the relevant individual objects, the Foundation may also:

Share personal data about parents and/or alumni, as appropriate, with organisations set up to help establish and maintain relationships with the school community, such as any parent associations, The Loughburians etc.;
Collect information from publicly available sources about parents’ and former pupils’ occupation and activities.

Should you wish to limit or object to any such use, or would like further information about them, please contact dataprotection@lsf.org . You always have the right to withdraw consent, where given, or otherwise object to direct marketing or fundraising. However, the Foundation may need nonetheless to retain some of your details (not least to ensure that no more communications are sent to that particular address, email or telephone number).

The Development Office privacy notice can be found at https://www.endowedschools.org/development/privacy-notice/
YOUR RIGHTS

Individuals have various rights under Data Protection Law to access and understand personal data about them held by the Foundation, and in some cases ask for it to be erased or amended or for the Foundation to stop processing it, but subject to certain exemptions and limitations.

Any individual wishing to access or amend their personal data, or wishing it to be transferred to another person or organisation, or who has some other objection to how their personal data is used, should put their request in writing to the Data Protection Officer or contact dataprotection@lsf.org.

The Foundation will endeavour to respond to any such written requests as soon as is reasonably practicable and in any event within statutory time-limits, which is one month in the case of requests for access to information. The Foundation will be better able to respond quickly to smaller, targeted requests for information. If the request is manifestly excessive or similar to previous requests, the Foundation may decline to respond to the request, but only where Data Protection Law allows it.

You should be aware that certain data is exempt from the right of access. This may include information which identifies other individuals, or information which is subject to legal professional privilege. The Foundation is also not required to disclose any pupil examination scripts, nor any confidential reference given for the purposes of the education, training or employment of any individual.
PUPIL REQUESTS

Pupils can make subject access requests for their own personal data, provided that, in the reasonable opinion of the School, they have sufficient maturity to understand the request they are making (see section Whose Rights below). Indeed, while a person with parental responsibility will generally be entitled to make a subject access request on behalf of younger pupils, the information in question is always considered to be the child’s at law.

A pupil of any age may ask a parent or other representative to make a subject access request on his/her behalf. Moreover (if of sufficient age) their consent or authority may need to be sought by the parent making such a request. Pupils in Year 7 or above are generally assumed to have this level of maturity, although this will depend on both the child and the personal data requested, including any relevant circumstances at home. Slightly younger children may however be sufficiently mature to have a say in this decision.

All information requests from, or on behalf of, pupils – whether made under subject access or simply as an incidental request – will therefore be considered on a case by case basis.

If you wish to access the personal data of your child or a pupil for whom you have parental responsibility, then please put the request in writing to the Data Protection Officer or contact dataprotection@lsf.org
CONSENT

Where the Foundation is relying on consent as a means to process personal data, any person may withdraw this consent at any time (subject to similar age considerations as above). Please be aware however that the Foundation may have another lawful reason to process the personal data in question even without your consent.

That reason will usually have been asserted under this Privacy Notice, or may otherwise exist under some form of contract or agreement with the individual (e.g. an employment or parent contract, or because a purchase of goods, services or membership of an organisation such as an alumni or parents’ association has been requested).
WHOSE RIGHTS

The rights under Data Protection Law belong to the individual to whom the data relates. However, the Foundation will often rely on parental consent to process personal data relating to pupils (if consent is required) unless, given the nature of the processing in question, and the pupil’s age and understanding, it is more appropriate to rely on the pupil’s consent.

Parents should be aware that in such situations they may not be consulted, depending on the interests of the child, the parents’ rights at law or under their contract, and all the circumstances.

In general, a School will assume that pupils’ consent is not required for ordinary disclosure of their personal data to their parents, e.g. for the purposes of keeping parents informed about the pupil’s activities, progress and behaviour, and in the interests of the pupil’s welfare, unless, in the School’s opinion, there is a good reason to do otherwise.

However, where a pupil seeks to raise concerns confidentially with a member of staff and expressly withholds their agreement to their personal data being disclosed to their parents, the School may be under an obligation to maintain confidentiality unless, in the School’s opinion, there is a good reason to do otherwise; for example, where the School believes disclosure will be in the best interests of the pupil or other pupils, or if required by law.

Pupils are required to respect the personal data and privacy of others, and to comply with the school’s Responsible Use policy and the school rules. Staff are under professional duties to do the same covered under all relevant Foundation policies
DATA ACCURACY AND SECURITY

The Foundation will endeavour to ensure that all personal data held in relation to an individual is as up to date and accurate as possible. Individuals must please notify the relevant person of any significant changes to important information, such as contact details, held about them.

An individual has the right to request that any out-of-date, irrelevant or inaccurate or information about them is erased or corrected (subject to certain exemptions and limitations under Data Protection Law): please see above for details of why the Foundation may need to process your data, of who you may contact if you disagree.

The security of your information is important to us. We use appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect Your Information from misuse, unauthorized or unlawful access or disclosure, loss, alteration, damage or destruction. These measures include:

Physical safeguards, with locked doors and file cabinets, controlled access to our facilities and secure destruction of media containing your information;

Technological safeguards, like the use of anti-malware, encryption, monitoring of our systems and data centres, firewalls, encrypted channels, and secure communications software, to safeguard the confidentiality of your information; and

Organisational safeguards, like training and awareness programs on security and privacy, to make sure all staff and governors understand the importance and means by which they must protect personal information. Our organisation privacy policies and standards also guide our handling of your information.
VISITORS TO OUR WEBSITES

When someone visits one of our websites (list) we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

Search engine

Our website uses a search and decision notice search engine. Search queries and results are logged anonymously to help us improve our website and search functionality. No user-specific data is collected by either the Foundation or any third party.

Website Hosting

The Foundation uses a third party service to host the Foundation websites. To deliver this service it processes the IP addresses of visitors to the Foundation websites.

E-newsletter

We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies including clear gifs to help us monitor and improve our e-newsletter.

Use of cookies by LSF

For more information on how we use cookies, please refer to our Cookie policy at Cookies policy (link)

Links to other websites

Our Sites contain links to other websites owned or operated by other companies. If you choose to visit any linked websites, we encourage you to review their privacy statements carefully, as they may differ from ours. We do not exercise control over third party websites and we are not responsible for their content or privacy practices. These other websites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit personal information from you.
PEOPLE WHO CONTACT US VIA SOCIAL MEDIA

If you send us a private or direct message via social media the message will be stored for three months.
PEOPLE WHO CALL US

When you call us we collect Calling Line Identification (CLI) information. We use this information to help improve our efficiency and effectiveness.
PEOPLE WHO EMAIL US

We will monitor any emails sent to us, including file attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send is within the bounds of the law.
PEOPLE WHO COMPLAIN TO US

When we receive a complaint from a person we create a file containing the details of the complaint. This normally contains the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint.

We will only use the personal information we collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service we provide. We do compile and publish statistics showing information like the number of formal complaints a School receives, but not in a form which identifies anyone.

We usually have to disclose the complainant’s identity to whoever the complaint is about. This is inevitable where, for example, the accuracy of a person’s record is in dispute. If a complainant doesn’t want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, we will try to respect that. However, it may not be possible to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis.

We will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with our Information and Records Retention policy. This means that information relating to a complaint will be retained for a minimum of three years from closure, depending on the nature of the complaint. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle.

Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to us we will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service we provide.
JOB APPLICANTS, CURRENT AND FORMER LES EMPLOYEES

The Foundation is the data controller for the information you provide during the recruitment and selection process unless otherwise stated. If you have any queries about the process or how we handle your information, please contact us at recruitment@lsf.org or check the Recruitment privacy notice (link)
REQUESTING ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL DATA

Under data protection legislation, you have the right to request access to information about you that we hold. To make a request for your personal information, put the request in writing addressing it to the Data Protection Officer or email, dataprotection@lsf.org

If we do hold information about you, we will:

give you a description of it;
tell you why we are holding it;
tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

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

If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, or to correct any mistakes on the information we hold about you, we ask 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/

Please be as specific as you can about the information you’re asking us about. If possible, state which School or department is holding the information and why.

Before we can consider your request, we will need to check your identity and your right to access the information you are requesting. This means we may ask you to supply us with a copy of the identification pages of your current passport or photo driving licence. We may also ask you for proof of your current address.
QUERIES AND COMPLAINTS

The Foundation tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.

This privacy notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of the Foundation’s collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed.

If an individual believes that the Foundation has not complied with this notice or acted otherwise than in accordance with Data Protection Law, they should utilise the Foundation’s Complaints policy and should also notify the Data Protection Officer. You can also make a referral to, or lodge a complaint with, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), although the ICO recommends that steps are taken to resolve the matter with the Foundation before involving the regulator. Their address is: First Contact Team, Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.

HOW TO CONTACT US

Any comments or queries on this notice, or if you want to request more information about our privacy notice, you can contact:

Name: Mrs. Ruth Brutnall, Data Protection Officer

Email: dataprotection@lsf.org

Address: 3 Burton Walks. Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE12 2DU

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. The Foundation will update this Privacy Notice from time to time. Any substantial changes that affect your rights will be provided to you directly as far as is reasonably practicable.

This privacy notice was last updated on 2 December 2019.