Privacy Notice - Data Protection Act 1998

Denbigh High School processes personal data about its pupils and is a data controller in respect of this for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998. It processes this data to:

• support its pupils' teaching and learning;
• monitor and report on their progress;
• provide appropriate pastoral care, and
• assess how well the school as a whole is doing.

This data includes contact details, national curriculum assessment results, attendance information, characteristics such as ethnic group, special educational needs and any relevant medical information. Recently the inclusion of names, addresses and telephone numbers for all parents and carers is included in this data.

This data may only be used or passed on for specific purposes allowed by law. From time to time the school is required to pass on some of this data to local authorities, the Department for Education (DfE), and to agencies that are prescribed by law, such as the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), Ofsted, the Skills Funding Agency, the Department of Health (DH), and Connexions (see below). All these are data controllers in respect of the data they receive, and are subject to the same legal constraints in how they deal with the data.

Pupils, as data subjects, have certain rights under the Data Protection Act, including a general right to be given access to personal data held about them by any data controller. The presumption is that by the age of 12 a child has sufficient maturity to understand their rights and to make an access request themselves if they wish. A parent would normally be expected to make a request on a child's behalf if the child is younger.

If you wish to access your personal data, or that of your child, then please contact the relevant organisation in writing. Details of these organisations can be found on our website at www.denbighhigh.luton.sch.uk or for those pupils/parents where this is not practical, a hard copy can be obtained from the school at the above address.

For pupils of 13 years and over, the school is legally required to pass on certain information to Connexions services providers on request. Connexions is the government's support service for all young people aged 13 to 19 in England. This information includes the name and address of the pupil and parent, and any further information relevant to the Connexions services' role. However parents, or the pupils themselves if aged 16 or over, can ask that no information beyond name and address (for pupil and parent) be passed on to Connexions. If as a parent, or as a pupil aged 16 or over, you wish to opt-out and do not want Connexions to receive from the school information beyond name and address, then please contact the school.

What the Department for Education does with pupils' and children's data

The Department for Education (DfE) uses information about pupils for research and statistical purposes in order to inform, influence and improve education policy and to monitor the performance of the education service as a whole.

Pupil information may be matched with other data sources that DfE holds in order to model and monitor their educational progression and to provide comprehensive information back to local authorities (LAs) and learning institutions to support their day-to-day business. DfE may also use contact details from these sources to obtain samples for statistical surveys which may be carried out by research agencies working under contract to DfE. Participation in such surveys is usually voluntary. DfE may also match data from these sources to data obtained from statistical surveys.

Pupil data may also be shared with other Government departments and agencies (including the Office for National Statistics) for statistical or research purposes only. In all these cases, the matching will require that individualised data is used in the processing operation but that data will not be processed in such a way that it supports measures or decisions relating to particular individuals or identifies individuals in any results. This data sharing will be approved and controlled by the Department's Chief Statistician.

DfE may also disclose individual pupil information to independent researchers into the educational achievements of pupils who have a legitimate need for it for their research, but each case will be determined on its merits and subject to the approval of the Department's Chief Statistician. DfE's powers to pass data to researchers are derived from The Education (Individual Pupil Information) (Prescribed Persons) (England) Regulations. These regulations restrict the researchers who may receive data to 'persons conducting research into the educational achievements of pupils and who require individual pupil information for that purpose'.

Pupil information will no longer be used for ContactPoint. ContactPoint is the national database which holds the name and contact details for all children in England (up to their 18th birthday), their parents or carers, and the practitioners working with them. In line with a longstanding policy intention, and a commitment in the Coalition Agreement, the Government has confirmed that ContactPoint will be switched off at noon on 6 August 2010. From that date no users will be able to access the system. The database will be destroyed using Government-approved security standards and processes. Further information is available on the DfE website.

DfE is the Data Controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act. Further information is available about the third party organisations to which DfE also passes pupil data, as the law allows.

Pupils, as data subjects, have certain rights under the Data Protection Act, including a general right of access to personal data held on them. Their parents exercise this right on their behalf if they are too young (under 12) to do so themselves. If you wish to access the personal data which DfE holds about your child, then please contact the Department:

Public Communications Unit
Department for Education
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BT

Website: www.education.gov.uk

Telephone: 0370 000 2288
Typetalk: 18001 0370 000 2288
Fax: 01928 738248