Data Protection Policy

At Kea Academy, we respect the privacy of the children attending the Summer School and the privacy of their parents or carers, as well as the privacy of our staff. We aim to ensure that all those using and working at Kea Academy can do so with confidence that their data is being kept secure.

We have a nominated lead person for data protection. The lead person ensures that the Summer School meets the requirements of the GDPR, liaises with statutory bodies when necessary, and responds to any subject access requests.

Confidentiality

Within the Summer School, we respect confidentiality in the following ways:

  • We will only ever share information with a parent about their child.
  • Information given by parents to Summer School staff about their child will not be passed on to third parties without permission unless there is a safeguarding issue (as covered in our Safeguarding Policy).
  • Concerns or evidence relating to a child’s safety will be kept in a confidential file and will not be shared within the Summer School, except with the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
  • Staff only discuss individual children for purposes of planning and group management.
  • Staff are made aware of the importance of confidentiality during their induction process.
  • Issues relating to the employment of staff, whether paid or voluntary, will remain confidential to those making personnel decisions.
  • All personal data is stored securely either in a password-protected account on JotForm.com or in a password-protected Excel document or other document. Only Kea Academy staff who are working on the Summer School will have access to the data.

Information that we keep about children and parents

We hold only the information necessary to provide a childcare service for each child. This includes child registration information, medical information, parent contact information, attendance records, incident and accident records and so forth. Our lawful basis for processing this data is fulfilment of our contract with the child’s parents. Our legal condition for processing any health-related information about a child is so that we can provide appropriate care to the child. Once a child leaves our care we retain only the data required by statutory legislation and industry best practice, and for the prescribed periods of time. Electronic data that is no longer required is deleted and any paper records are disposed of securely.

Sharing information with third parties

We will only share child information with outside agencies on a need-to-know basis and with consent from parents, except in cases relating to safeguarding children, criminal activity, or if required by legally authorised bodies (e.g. Police, HMRC, etc). If we decide to share information without parental consent, we will record this in the child’s file, clearly stating our reasons.
We will only share relevant information that is accurate and up-to-date. Our primary commitment is to the safety and well-being of the children in our care.

Subject access requests

  • Parents/carers can ask to see the information and records relating to their child, and/or any information that we keep about themselves.
  • Staff and volunteers can ask to see any information that we keep about them.
  • We will make the requested information available as soon as practicable and will respond to the request within one month at the latest.
  • If our information is found to be incorrect or out of date, we will update it promptly.
  • Parents /carers can ask us to delete data, but this may mean that we can no longer provide care to the child as we have a legal obligation to keep certain data. In addition, even after a child has left our care we have to keep some data for specific periods so won’t be able to delete all data immediately.
  • If any individual about whom we hold data has a complaint about how we have kept their information secure, or how we have responded to a subject access request, they may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

GDPR

We comply with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), regarding obtaining, storing and using personal data.