The Data Protection Act 1998 was replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 on the 25th May 2018. GDPR brings with it a new responsibility to inform parents and stakeholders about how we are using personal data and who it is being used by.
GDPR requires schools to identify the lawful basis for processing and storing personal data, to audit information already held and to take a ‘data protection by design and default’ approach to personal data. It also introduces new individual rights relating to personal data.
At Gosfield Community Primary School, we take our data protection obligations seriously. We will ensure that your personal data is processed fairly and lawfully, is accurate, is kept secure and is retained for no longer than is necessary. Our pupils, parents, carers, staff, governance members and stakeholders have the right to be right to be informed, to object, to rectification, to erasure, to restrict processing and to data portability.
A great deal of the processing of personal data undertaken by the school will fall under the specific legal basis ‘in the public interest’. As it is in the public interest to operate schools successfully, specific consent will not be required in the majority of cases in schools. Explicit consent must be given however to anything that isn’t within the normal business of the school, especially if it involves a third party.
Attain Academy Trust is registered as a ‘Data Controller’ with the Information Commissioner’s Office (Reg. No. Z6544921).
Our Data Protection Officer is Mrs K Ellwood. It is the Data Protection Officer's role to ensure that any personal information processed by the Organisation is processed fairly and lawfully (respecting your rights and ensuring we follow the law).
If you have any queries, please get in touch with our Data Protection Officer, who can be contacted at dpo@attain.essex.sch.uk or 01245 442031. Mrs Morgan acts as a representative for the school and may also be contacted on admin@gosfield-pri.essex.sch.uk or 01787 472266..
The documents below detail how Gosfield Community Primary School uses and protects your personal information. Simply click on the links to find out more.
Please click the link below to access the Trust-wide Data Protection and Data retention Policies, and the Academy's Freedom of Information Policy.
We may need to use some information about you to:
Personal information is often records that can identify and relate to a living person. This can include information that when put together with other information can identify a person or determine their location.
There are a number of legal reasons why we need to collect and use personal data. Each privacy notice from the menu at the bottom of this page explains for each service which legal reason is being used. Generally we collect and use personal information in the following circumstances:
Where we are using your consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. If you wish to withdraw your consent, please contact DPO@attain.essex.sch.uk so that your request can be dealt with.
This is personal information that needs more protection due to its sensitivity. This information is likely to include:
Where necessary Gosfield Community Primary School processes personal data to deliver our services effectively; but wherever possible, the data that we process will be anonymised, pseudonymised or de-personalised. This means the information can no longer identify a person.
When using personal data for research purposes, the data will be anonymised/pseudonymised to avoid the identification of a person, unless you have agreed that your personal information can be used for the research project.
We do not sell personal data to any other organisation for the purposes of selling products.
The law provides you with a number of rights to control the processing of your personal information.
Accessing the information we hold about you -
You have the right to ask for all the information we have about you. When we receive a request from you in writing, we must normally give you access to everything we have recorded about you. However, we will not let you see any parts of your record which contain:
This applies to paper and electronic records. If you ask us, we will also let others see your record (except if one of the points above applies). If you cannot ask for your records in writing, we will make sure there are other ways you can apply. If you have any queries regarding access to your information please contact dpo@attain.essex.sch.uk or 01245 442031.
Changing information you believe to be inaccurate -
You should let us know if you disagree with something written on your file. We may not always be able to change or remove the information; however, we will correct factual inaccuracies and may include your comments in the records. Please use the contact details above to report inaccurate information.
Asking for your information to be deleted (right to be forgotten) -
In some circumstances you can request the erasure of the personal information used by the Organisation, for example:
Where personal information has been shared with others, the Organisation shall make every reasonable effort to ensure those using your personal information comply with your request for erasure.
Please note that the right to erasure does not extend to using your personal information where:
It is required by law
Restricting what your information is used for -
You have the right to ask us to restrict what we use your personal data for where one of the following applies:
When information is restricted it cannot be used other than to securely store the data, and with your consent, to handle legal claims, protect others, or where it is for important public interests in the UK.
Where restriction of use has been granted, we will inform you before the use of your personal information is resumed.
You have the right to request that the Organisation stop using your personal information for some services. However, if this request is approved this may cause delays or prevent us delivering a service to you. Where possible we will seek to comply with your request, but we may need to hold or use information in connection with one or more of the Organisation's legal functions.
Computer based decision making refers to a decision which is taken solely on the basis of automated processing of your personal data. The academy does not normally make decisions by automated means. However, if you are a prospective Free School Meals (FSM) claimant, we may use the third party LGfL FSM Eligibility Checker to determine eligibility. This uses automated decision-making with the equivalent of legal effect based on the Department of Education and Department of Work and Pensions policies.
You have the right to object about decisions being made about you by automated means (by a computer and not a human being), unless it is required for any contract you have entered into, required by law, or you have consented to it. You also have the right to object if you are being ‘profiled’. Profiling is where decisions are made about you based on certain things in your personal information.
If you have concerns regarding automated decision making, or profiling, please contact the Academy who will advise you about how your information is being used.
We use a range of companies and partners to either store personal information or to manage it for us. Where we have these arrangements there is always a contract, memorandum of understanding or information sharing protocol in place to ensure that the organisation complies with data protection law. We complete privacy impact assessments before we share personal information to ensure their compliance with the law.
Sometimes we have a legal duty to provide information about people to other organisations, e.g. Child Protection concerns or Court Orders.
We may also share your personal information when we feel there is a good reason that is more important than protecting your confidentiality. This does not happen often, but we may share your information:
The law does not allow us to share your information without your permission, unless there is proof that someone is at risk or it is required by law. This risk must be serious before we can go against your right to confidentiality. When we are worried about physical safety or we feel that we need to take action to protect someone from being harmed in other ways, we will discuss this with you and if possible, get your permission to tell others about your situation. We may still share your information if we believe the risk to others is serious enough to do so.
There may also be rare occasions when the risk to others is so great that we need to share information straight away. If this is the case, we will make sure that we record what information we share and our reasons for doing so. We will let you know what we have done and why as soon as or if we think it is safe to do so.
We are required by law to share certain information with the Department of Education; for more details on how they use personal data please click here.
We are also required to share some information with Essex County Council; for more details on how they use personal data please click here.
We will do what we can to make sure we hold personal records (on paper and electronically) in a secure way, and we will only make them available to those who have a right to see them. Our security includes:
View our policy on Data Protection here.
If your information leaves the country -
Sometimes, for example where we receive a request to transfer Organisation records to a new Organisation, it is necessary to send that information outside of the UK. In such circumstances additional protection will be applied to that data during its transfer, and where the receiving country does not have an adequacy decision, advice will be sought from the Information Commissioners Office prior to the data being sent.
To make this website easier to use, we sometimes place small text files on your device (for example your iPad or laptop). These are known as 'cookies'. Most big websites do this too.
They improve things by:
By using our website, you agree that we can place these type of cookies on your device. We do not use cookies on this website that collect information about what other websites you visit (often referred to as privacy intrusive cookies).
Our cookies aren't used to identify you personally. They're just here to make the site work better for you. Indeed, you can manage and/or delete these files as you wish.
To learn more about cookies and how to manage them, visit AboutCookies.org or watch a video about cookies.
Turning off Cookies -
You can stop cookies being downloaded on to your computer or other device by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. If you do this, however, you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.
There is more information about how to delete or stop using cookies on AboutCookies.org. If you wish, you can opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics.
Further guidance on the use of personal information can be found at ico.org.uk.
For each reason why we use your personal information there is often a legal reason for why we need to keep it for a period of time. We try to capture all of these and detail them in what is called a 'retention schedule'. This schedule lists for each service how long your information may be kept for.
Please click here for more information.
You can contact our Data Protection Officer at DPO@attain.essex.sch.uk or by calling 01245 442031
For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to use a national rate number, Monday - Fridays 9am - 5pm.
Alternatively visit ico.org.uk or email casework@ico.org.uk