Data Protection Act 1998: How we use pupil information

We collect and hold personal information relating to our learners and may also receive information about them from their previous school, local authority and/or the Department for Education (DfE).

We use this personal data to:

• support our learners’ learning
• monitor and report on their progress
• provide appropriate pastoral care; and
• assess the quality of our services

This information will include their contact details, national curriculum assessment results, attendance information, any exclusion information, where they go after they leave us and personal characteristics such as their ethnic group, any special educational needs they may have as well as relevant medical information.

We will not give information about our learners to anyone without your consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so. If you want to receive a copy of the information about your child that we hold, please contact the school office. Further information on how we use data can be found in our: 

We are required, by law, to pass certain information about our learners to our local authority (LA) and the Department for Education (DfE).

DfE may also share learner level personal data that we supply to them, with third parties. This will only take place where legislation allows it to do so and it is in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Decisions on whether DfE releases this personal data to third parties are subject to a robust approval process and are based on a detailed assessment of who is requesting the data, the purpose for which it is required, the level and sensitivity of data requested and the arrangements in place to store and handle the data. To be granted access to pupil level data, requestors must comply with strict terms and conditions covering the confidentiality and handling of data, security arrangements and retention and use of the data.

For more information on how this sharing process works, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-pupil-database-apply-for-a-data-extract

For information on which third party organisations (and for which project) pupil level data has been provided to, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pupil-database-requests-received

If you need more information about how our local authority and/or DfE collect and use information, please visit:

• our local authority at http://www.somerset.gov.uk/information-and-statistics/data-protection/data-protection-act/   or
• the DfE website at https://www.gov.uk/data-protection-how-we-collect-and-share-research-data