Privacy Notice (How we use pupil information)

Although we have tried to make this Privacy Notice as straightforward as possible, some may find it difficult to understand. Please contact the school Data Protection Lead, details at the end of this notice, for further help if needed.

This notice explains how we use information about you and what we do with it. We call this information about you ‘personal data’ or personal information’.

 

The categories of pupil information that we process include:

• personal identifiers and contacts (such as name, unique pupil number, contact details and address)
• characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, and free school meal eligibility)
• safeguarding information (such as court orders and professional involvement)
• special educational needs (including the needs and ranking)
• medical and administration (such as doctor's information, child health, dental health, allergies, medication and dietary requirements)
• attendance (such as sessions attended, number of absences, absence reasons and any previous schools attended)

• assessment and attainment (such as phonics results, SATs results and any relevant results)

• behavioural information (such as exclusions and any relevant alternative provision put in place)
• eligibility for Free School Meals

Why we collect and use pupil information

We collect and use pupil information for the following purposes:

1. to support pupil learning
2. to monitor and report on pupil attainment progress
3. to provide appropriate pastoral care
4. to assess the quality of our services
5. to keep children safe (food allergies, or emergency contact details)
6. to meet the statutory duties placed upon us for the Department for Education (DfE) data collections

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing pupil information are: All data we process is in accordance with the rules as laid down in statute, including the General Data Protection Regulations, the Education Act 1996, the Education and Skills Act 2008 and the Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 and Children Act 2014.

We use personal data about pupils and parents to ensure that we fulfil our legal obligation to offer educational opportunities to our pupils, and are able to look after the needs and requirements of everyone in our learning community. We use personal data about our staff to ensure that we can support them in offering teaching and learning and in their personal development.

Where we rely on consent to process personal data about individuals in our school, we ensure that we obtain that consent freely and in a positive manner. Anyone whose personal data is processed on the basis of consent can withdraw that consent easily and quickly. See “Requesting access to personal data & individual rights” listed later in this notice”.

Please note that the main reasons for our processing of personal information is due to

1. We need to, to comply with the law
2. We need to, to carry out a task in the public interest
3. We need to, to protect someone’s interests
4. To communicate with you/parents/carers

A comprehensive list of data processing is kept in the school’s Record of Processing Activities. Within this register we will record the lawful reason for each instance of personal data being processed, along with special categories for sensitive information.

Collecting pupil information

We collect pupil information via registration forms at the start of the school year or Common Transfer File (CTF) or secure file transfer from a previous school.

Pupil data is essential for the schools’ operational use. Whilst the majority of pupil information you provide to us is mandatory, some of it is requested on a voluntary basis. In order to comply with the data protection legislation, we will inform you at the point of collection, whether you are required to provide certain pupil information to us or if you have a choice in this.

Storing pupil data

We hold pupil data securely for the set amount of time shown in our data retention schedule. For more information on our data retention schedule and how we keep your data safe, please visit

Who we share pupil information with

We routinely share pupil information with:

• schools that the pupils attend after leaving us
• our local authority
• the Department for Education (DfE)
• Law enforcement agencies for the purpose of legal proceedings

 

Third Party	Level of Information
London Borough of Redbridge	Official/Personal
SIMS	Official – Sensitive
Department for Education	Official – Sensitive
ISS (Schools Meals Provider)	Personal information
NHS	Personal/Sensitive
School Business Services	Official – Sensitive
CPOMS	Personal/Sensitive
IRIS (ParentMail)	Personal/Sensitive
Mathletics	Personal information
Google Classroom	Personal information
Discovery Education	Personal information
Times Tables Rockstars	Personal information
Applicaa	Personal/Sensitive

Why we regularly share pupil information

We do not share information about our pupils with anyone without consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so.

Photographs and images

Photographs

We collect consent from you to process images and videos of pupils. Please contact the school office with any queries around how we manage consent.

CCTV 

Our school uses Closed Circuit Television cameras for the purposes of monitoring our premises and to support any pupil behaviour policies. There are visible signs showing that CCTV is in operation and images from this system are securely stored where only a limited number of authorised persons may have access to them. We may be required to disclose CCTV images to authorised third parties such as the police to assist with crime prevention or at the behest of a court order.

Department for Education (DfE)

The Department for Education (DfE) collects personal data from educational settings and local authorities via various statutory data collections. We are required to share information about our pupils with the Department for Education (DfE) either directly or via our local authority for the purpose of those data collections, under various iterations of the Education Act and Education Regulations.

For school census we rely on The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.

All data is transferred securely and held by the Department for Education (DfE) under a combination of software and hardware controls, which meet the current government security policy framework.

For more information, please see ‘How Government uses your data’ section. For privacy information on the data the Department for Education collects and uses, please see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/privacy-information-early-years-foundation-stage-to-key-stage-3

And\or

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/privacy-information-key-stage-4-and-5-and-adult-education

Requesting access to your personal data

The UK-GDPR gives parents and pupils certain rights about how their information is collected and used. To make a request for your personal information, or be given access to your child’s educational record, contact the school office.

You also have the following rights:

• the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data – this is called ’right to be informed’.
• the right to ask us for copies of your personal information we have about you – this is called ’right of access’. This is also known as a subject access request (SAR), data subject access request or right of access request.
• the right to ask us to change any information you think is not accurate or complete – this is called ‘right to rectification’.
• the right to ask us to delete your personal information – this is called ‘right to erasure’
• the right to ask us to stop using your information – this is called ‘right to restriction of processing’.
• the ‘right to object to processing’ of your information, in certain circumstances
• rights in relation to automated decision-making and profiling.
• the right to withdraw consent at any time (where relevant).
• the right to complain to the Information Commissioner if you feel we have not used your information in the right way.

There are legitimate reasons why we may refuse your information rights request, which depends on why we are processing it. For example, some rights will not apply:

• right to erasure does not apply when the lawful basis for processing is legal obligation or public task.
• right to portability does not apply when the lawful basis for processing is legal obligation, vital interests, public task or legitimate interests.
• right to object does not apply when the lawful basis for processing is contract, legal obligation or vital interests. And if the lawful basis is consent, you don’t have the right to object, but you have the right to withdraw consent.

If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, you should raise your concern with us in the first instance or directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office at raise a concern with ICO.

For further information on how to request access to personal information held centrally by the Department for Education (DfE), please see the ‘How Government uses your data’ section of this notice.

Withdrawal of consent and the right to lodge a complaint

Where we are processing your personal data with your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent. If you change your mind, or you are unhappy with our use of your personal data, please let us know by contacting the school office.

Last updated

We may need to update this privacy notice periodically, so we recommend that you revisit this information from time to time. This version was last updated on 1st May 2026.

Contact

If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact: Samantha Neal on admin@ourladyofloudes.redbridge.sch.uk / 0208 989 9521.

Our Data Protection Officer (DPO) is the DPO at the London Borough of Redbridge, and they can be contacted at dataprotection.schools@redbridge.gov.uk

How Government uses your data

The pupil data that we lawfully share with the Department for Education (DfE) through data collections:

• underpins school funding, which is calculated based upon the numbers of children and their characteristics in each school.
• informs ‘short term’ education policy monitoring and school accountability and intervention (for example, school GCSE results or Pupil Progress measures).
• supports ‘longer term’ research and monitoring of educational policy (for example, how certain subject choices go on to affect education or earnings beyond school)

Data collection requirements

To find out more about the data collection requirements placed on us by the Department for Education (DfE) (for example, via the school census) go to https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools

The National Pupil Database (NPD)

The NPD is owned and managed by the Department for Education (DfE) and contains information about pupils in schools in England. This information is securely collected from a range of sources, including schools, local authorities and awarding bodies.

The data in the NPD is provided as part of the operation of the education system and is used for research and statistical purposes to improve, and promote, the education and well-being of children in England.

The evidence and data provide DfE, education providers, Parliament and the wider public with a clear picture of how the education and children’s services sectors are working in order to better target, and evaluate, policy interventions to help ensure all children are kept safe from harm and receive the best possible education. 

To find out more about the NPD, go to https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupil-database-npd-privacy-notice/national-pupil-database-npd-privacy-notice

Sharing by the Department for Education (DfE)

DfE will only share pupils’ personal data where it is lawful, secure and ethical to do so. Where these conditions are met, the law allows the Department for Education (DfE) to share pupils’ personal data with certain third parties, including:

• schools and local authorities
• researchers
• organisations connected with promoting the education or wellbeing of children in England
• other government departments and agencies
• organisations fighting or identifying crime

For more information about the Department for Education’s (DfE) NPD data sharing process, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/data-protection-how-we-collect-and-share-research-data

Organisations fighting or identifying crime may use their legal powers to contact the Department for Education (DfE) to request access to individual level information relevant to detecting that crime.

For information about which organisations the Department for Education (DfE) has provided pupil information, (and for which project) or to access a monthly breakdown of data share volumes with the Home Office and the Police please visit the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dfe-external-data-shares

How to find out what personal information the Department for Education (DfE) holds about you

Under the terms of the UK GDPR, you are entitled to ask the Department for Education (DfE):

• if they are processing your personal data
• for a description of the data they hold about you
• the reasons they’re holding it and any recipient it may be disclosed to
• for a copy of your personal data and any details of its source

If you want to see the personal data held about you by the Department for Education (DfE), you should make a ‘subject access request’.  Further information on how to do this can be found within the Department for Education’s (DfE) personal information charter that is published at the address below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/about/personal-information-charter

or 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/requesting-your-personal-information/requesting-your-personal-information#your-rights 

To contact the Department for Education (DfE): https://www.gov.uk/contact-dfe