Privacy Notice for Admissions and Access to Education

Purpose for processing your information

The School Admissions service is the coordinator body for the application process for schools and academies and the initial contact point for school admissions related enquires. 

The information we collect

Information we request from you is for the purpose of processing your school application. These are:

• full name of your child, date of birth, home address, parent/carers full name, address if different from your child
• your contact details including phone numbers and email address
• Council Tax number 
• current or previous education provision
• professional supporting documents if relevant to your application
• background education history of applying for an in-year admission
• country of origin if a new arrival to the country and length of stay in the UK. 

This information is only used for the intended purpose but if we intend to use it for any other purpose, we will normally ask you first. In some cases, the Council may use your information for another purpose if it has a legal duty to do so, to provide a complete service to you, to prevent and detect fraud, or if there is a risk of serious harm or threat to life.

How we collect your information

The initial application for a school place can either be submitted online or as a hard copy on paper.
Additional information will be requested either by letter, email, telephone or face-to-face.

Who the information is shared with

The Admissions Team may also use your information for other legitimate purposes and may share (where necessary) with other Council departments and external bodies responsible for administering services to children and young people.

Reasons for sharing information with the internal and external bodies will be to:

• enable the processing of school applications
• fulfil the council’s safeguarding duty and comply with the Prevent Strategy
• provide central government bodies with mandatory data returns
• notify the Home Office of potential illegal immigration and the Police may request information at any time as part of a criminal investigation. 

Internal bodies

Internal bodies are:

• the SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disabilities) team
• the Virtual School 
• the Data Team
• the Early Help Service
• the MASH Team and Safeguarding service
• the Early Years’ Service
• Governance and Legal Services.

External bodies

External bodies are:

• schools/academies (previous current and applied for)
• other Councils/boroughs and the Police
• central government bodies comprising the Department for Education, the Local Government Ombudsmen and the Office of the School Adjudicator
• the Home Office and the Department of Work and Pensions. 

For the purpose of validating proof of address, the School Admissions Team will refer to data held by any of the services mentioned above, internal Council Tax records, the Housing Team, Parking Services and the Fraud Team.

How long do we keep your information?

The Admissions Team will keep your application record for 3 years. After this time it will be deleted. 

Your rights and access to your information

You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. 

The new General Data Protection Regulation also gives you additional rights about the information we hold about you and how we use it, including the right to:

• Withdraw consent and the right to object and restrict further processing of your data; however, this may affect service delivery to you
• Request to have your data deleted where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing and provided that there are no legitimate grounds for retaining it.
• Request your data to be rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete
• Have your data transferred or copied should you move to another authority
• Not be subject to automated decision-making including profiling.

To submit a Subject Access Request email the Admissions Team at: [email protected] or [email protected] 

If you have any concerns

Please contact us if you would like to know more about the information we hold about you and how we use it. The School Admissions Team can be contacted on telephone: 0202 7745 6432 or 6433 between 9.00am to 2.00pm Monday to Friday.

You have a right to complain to us if you think we have not complied with our obligation for handling your personal information. Please  email the Admissions Team at: [email protected] or [email protected]. Your concerns will be investigated via the respective Council’s complaints procedures. 

If you are not satisfied with the Council’s response you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). View the ICO website. 

Changes in your circumstances

You must notify us immediately if there are any changes in your circumstances and personal details so we can maintain an accurate and up to date record of your information.