This policy provides information about how the School 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”).

Personal data is data that relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data, or from that data and other information, which is in the possession of, or is likely to come into the possession of, the Data Controller.

This information is provided because Data Protection Law gives individuals rights to understand how their data is used. Staff, parents and pupils are all encouraged to read this Privacy Notice and understand the School’s obligations to its entire community.

This Privacy Notice applies alongside any other information the School 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 School’s other relevant terms and conditions and policies, including:

• any contract between the School and its staff or the parents of pupils;
• the School’s policy on taking, storing and using images of children;
• the School’s retention of records policy;
• the School’s safeguarding, pastoral, or health and safety policies, including as to how concerns or incidents are recorded; and
• the School’s IT policies; including its ICT Code of Conduct (Senior Department) and Acceptable Use Policy (Pre-Prep and Prep).

Anyone who works for, or acts on behalf of, the School (including staff, governors, volunteers, and service providers) should also be aware of and comply with this Privacy Notice and the School’s data protection policy for staff which provides further information regarding how personal data about those individuals will be used.

The School has appointed Judicium Education as its Privacy and Compliance Officer who will deal with all your requests and enquiries concerning the School’s uses of your personal data (see section on Your Rights below) and will endeavour to ensure that all personal data is processed in compliance with this policy and Data Protection Law.

They may be contacted through the school at:

Durham High School
Farewell Hall
South Road
Durham
DH1 3TB

0191 384 3226
[email protected]

In order to carry out its ordinary duties to staff, pupils and parents, the School 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 School 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 School’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 School expects that the following uses will 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 provide education services, including musical education, physical training or spiritual development, career services, and extra-curricular activities to pupils, and monitoring pupils’ progress and educational needs;
• Maintaining relationships with alumni and the School community, including direct marketing or fundraising activity;
• For the purposes of donor due diligence, and to confirm the identity of prospective donors and their background;
• For the purposes of management planning and forecasting, research and statistical analysis, including that imposed or provided for by law (such as tax or diversity analysis);
• To enable relevant authorities to monitor the School’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 the School;
• To safeguard pupils’ welfare and provide appropriate pastoral care;
• To monitor (as appropriate) use of the School’s IT and communications systems in accordance with the School’s ICT policies;
• To make use of photographic images of pupils in School publications, on the School website and (where appropriate) on the School’s social media channels in accordance with the School’s policy on taking, storing and using images of children;
• For security purposes, including CCTV in accordance with the School’s CCTV policy;
• To carry out or cooperate with any School or external complaints, disciplinary or investigation process; and
• Where otherwise reasonably necessary for the School’s purposes, including to obtain appropriate professional advice and insurance for the School.

In addition, the School will on occasion 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 will 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 or other relevant information where it is in the individual’s interests to do so: for example for medical advice, for social protection, safeguarding, and cooperation with police or social services, for insurance purposes or to caterers or organisers of school trips who need to be made aware of dietary or medical needs;
• 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, union membership or pension plans;
• As part of any School or external complaints, disciplinary or investigation process that involves such data, for example if there are SEN, health or safeguarding elements; or
• For legal and regulatory purposes (for example child protection, diversity
  monitoring and health & safety) and to comply with its legal obligations and duties of care.

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); 
•  bank details and other financial information, e.g. about parents who pay fees to  the School; 
• past, present and prospective pupils’ academic, disciplinary, admissions and  attendance records (including information about any special needs), and  examination scripts and marks; 
• personnel files, including in connection with academics, employment or  safeguarding; 
• where appropriate, information about individuals’ health and welfare, and contact  details for their next of kin; 
• references given or received by the School about pupils, and relevant information  provided by previous educational establishments and/or other professionals or  organisations working with pupils;  
• correspondence with and concerning staff, pupils and parents past and present;  and 
• images of pupils (and occasionally other individuals) engaging in school activities,  and images captured by the School’s CCTV system (in accordance with the School’s  policy on taking, storing and using images of children). 

Generally, the School 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 email or written assessments).

However in some cases personal data will be supplied by third parties (for example another school, or other professionals or authorities working with that individual); or collected from publicly available resources.

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

• professional advisers (e.g. lawyers, insurers, PR advisers, accountants and  software providers); 
• government authorities (e.g. HMRC, DfE, police, the local authority or local health  authorities); 
• appropriate regulatory bodies e.g. the Independent Schools Inspectorate, the  Charity Commission, the Pensions Regulator or the Information Commissioner; 
• examination boards (e.g. AQA, Edexcel, OCR and JCQ); and 
• the Durham High School’s support staff pension scheme.  

For the most part, personal data collected by the School will remain within the School, 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; 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 School 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 is likely to 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 School’s Safeguarding Policy.  

Finally, in accordance with Data Protection Law, some of the School’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 School’s specific directions. 

The School will retain personal data securely and only in line with how long it is necessary  to keep for a legitimate and lawful reason. Typically, the legal recommendation for how  long to keep ordinary staff and pupil personnel files is up to 7 years following departure  from the School. However, incident reports and safeguarding files will need to be kept  much longer, in accordance with specific legal requirements. Details of the School’s  Records Retention Policy is available on request. 

If you have any specific queries about how our records retention policy is applied, or wish  to request that personal data that you no longer believe to be relevant is considered for  erasure, please contact the Bursar. However, please bear in mind that the School will  often have lawful and necessary reasons to hold on to some personal data even following  such a request. 

A limited and reasonable amount of information will be kept for archiving purposes for  example; and even where you have requested we no longer keep in touch with you, we  will need to keep a record of the fact in order to fulfil your wishes (this is called a  “suppression record”).

The School will use the contact details of parents, alumni and other members of the School  community to keep them updated about the activities of the School, or alumni and parent  events of interest, including by sending updates and newsletters, by email and by post.  Unless the relevant individual objects, the School will 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 the Durham High School Old Girls’ Association and the  Friends of Durham High School; 
• Contact parents and/or alumni (including via the organisations above) by post and  email in order to promote and raise funds for the School and, where appropriate,  other worthy causes; and
• Should you wish to limit or object to any such use, or would like further information  about them, please contact the Director of Finance in writing. You always have the right to  withdraw consent, where given, or otherwise object to direct marketing or  fundraising. However, the School is nonetheless likely to retain some of your  details (not least to ensure that no more communications are sent to that particular  address, email or telephone number).  

Rights of access 

Individuals have various rights under Data Protection Law to access and understand  personal data about them held by the School, and in some cases ask for it to be erased or  amended or for the School to stop processing it, but these rights are 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 as to how  their personal data is used, should put their request in writing to the Bursar. 

The School 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 School will be better able to respond quickly to smaller, targeted requests for  information. If the request for information is manifestly excessive or similar to previous  requests, the School may ask you to reconsider, or require a proportionate fee (but only  where Data Protection Law allows it). 

Requests that cannot be fulfilled 

You should be aware that the right of access is limited to your own personal data, and  certain data is exempt from the right of access. This will include information which  identifies other individuals (and parents need to be aware this may include their own  children, in certain limited situations – please see further below), or information which is  subject to legal privilege (for example legal advice given to or sought by the School, or  documents prepared in connection with a legal action).  

The School is also not required to disclose any pupil examination scripts (or other  information consisting solely of pupil test answers), provide examination or other test  marks ahead of any ordinary publication, nor share any confidential reference given by  the School itself for the purposes of the education, training or employment of any  individual.  

You may have heard of the “right to be forgotten”. However, we will sometimes have  compelling reasons to refuse specific requests to amend, delete or stop processing your  (or your child’s) personal data: for example, a legal requirement, or where it falls within  a legitimate interest identified in this Privacy Notice. All such requests will be considered  on their own merits.

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). A pupil of any age may ask a parent  or other representative to make a subject access request on her behalf. 

Indeed, while a person with parental responsibility will generally be entitled to make a  subject access request on behalf of younger pupils, the law still considers the information  in question to be the child’s; and for older pupils, the parent making the request may need  to evidence their child’s authority for the specific request. 

Girls aged 12 and above are generally assumed to have this level of maturity, although  this will depend on both the girl and the personal data requested, including any relevant  circumstances at home. Younger girls may however be sufficiently mature to have a say  in this decision, depending on the child and the circumstances.  

Parental requests 

It should be clearly understood that the rules on subject access are not the sole basis on  which information requests are handled. Parents may not have a statutory right to  information, but they and others will often have a legitimate interest or expectation in  receiving certain information about pupils without their consent. The School may consider  there are lawful grounds for sharing with or without reference to that pupil.  

Parents will in general receive educational and pastoral updates about their children in  accordance with the Parent Contract. 

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

Consent 

Where the School 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).  Examples where we do rely on consent include the use of certain images and where visas  are required for certain oversea trips. Please be aware however that the School may not  be relying on consent but 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 School will often rely on parental authority or notice for the necessary ways  it processes personal data relating to pupils – for example, under the parent contract, or  via a form. Parents and pupils should be aware that this is not necessarily the same as 

the School relying on strict consent (see section on Consent above). 

Where consent is required, it may in some cases be necessary or appropriate – given the  nature of the processing in question, and the pupil’s age and understanding – to seek 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, the 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. That is 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 ICT Code of Conduct (Senior Department), Acceptable Use Policy (Pre-Prep and Prep)  and the School rules. 

The school 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 School via  the School Administration Office 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 School  may need to process your data and who you may contact if you disagree.  

The School will take appropriate technical and organisational steps to ensure the security  of personal data about individuals, including policies around use of technology and devices, and access to School systems. All staff and governors will be made aware of this policy  and their duties under Data Protection Law and receive relevant training. 

The School 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.

Any comments or queries on this policy should be directed to the Director of Finance using the following contact details:

Durham High School
Farewell Hall
South Road
Durham
DH1 3TB
0191 384 3226

[email protected]

If an individual believes that the School has not complied with this policy or acted  otherwise than in accordance with Data Protection Law, they should utilise the School  complaints procedure and should also notify the Director of Finance. 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 School before  involving the regulator. If required the ICO can be contacted as follows: 

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF 

0303 123 113 

ico.org.uk