DATA PROTECTION ACT 1998
The following organisations:
Gads Hill School
Local authorities,
The Secretary of State for Children, School and Families
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), the government department which deals with education and children services,
the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA),
Her majesty’s Chief Inspector for schools and the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted)
and the National Assessment Agency (NAA)
all process information on children and pupils in order to help administer education and children’s services and in doing so have to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998. This means, among other things, that the data held about children must only be used for specific purposes allowed by the law. We are therefore writing to tell you about the types of data held, why that data is held, and to whom it may be passed on.
Gads Hill School holds information on children in order to support their development, to monitor their progress, to provide appropriate pastoral care, and to assess how well we are doing. This information includes contact details, attendance information, characteristics such as ethnic group, special educational needs and any relevant medical information. From time to time Gads Hill School is required to pass on some of this data to Local Authorities, the DCSF and to agencies that are prescribed by law, such as QCA and Ofsted. In particular, at age 5 an assessment is made of all children (the Foundation Stage Profile) and this information is passed on to the Local Authority and any school to which the child transfers.
The Local Authority uses information about children for whom it provides services to carry out specific functions for which it is responsible. For example, the Local Authority will make an assessment of any special educational needs the child may have. It also uses the information to derive statistics to inform various decisions. The statistics are used in such a way that individual children cannot be identified from them.
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority uses information about children to administer national assessments such as the Foundation Stage Profile. Any results passed on to the DCSF are used to compile statistics on trends and patterns in levels of development. The QCA can use the information to evaluate the effectiveness of the National Curriculum and the associated assessment arrangements, and to ensure that these are continually improved.
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector for Schools and Ofsted use information about the progress and performance of children to help inspectors to evaluate the work of Gads Hill School, to assist them in their self evaluation, and as part of Ofsted’s assessment of the effectiveness of education initiatives and policy. Inspection reports do not identify individual children.
The National Assessment Agency uses information for those Settings undertaking the Foundation Stage Profile. The resulting data is passed on to the NAA which also uses information in working with schools, the QCA and Awarding Bodies, for ensuring an efficient and effective assessment system covering all age ranges is delivered nationally.
The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Children, Schools and Families use information about children and pupils for research and statistical purposes, to allocate funds, to inform, influence and improve education policy and to monitor the performance of the education and children’s services as a whole. The DCFS will feed back to Local Authorities information about children for a variety of purposes that will include data checking exercises, and use in self evaluation analyses.
Information about children may be held to provide comprehensive information back to Local Authorities to support their day to day business. The DCSF may also use contact details from these sources to obtain samples for statistical surveys: these surveys may be carried out by research agencies working under contract to the Department and participation in such surveys is usually voluntary. The Department may also match data from these sources to data obtained from statistical surveys.
The DCSF may also disclose individual child and pupil information to independent researchers into the educational achievements of pupils who have a legitimate need for it in their research, but each case will be determined on its merits and subject to the approval of the Department’s Chief Statistician.
Children, as data subjects, have certain rights under the Data Protection Act 1998, including a general right of access to personal data held on them, with parents exercising this right on their behalf if they are too young to do so themselves. If you wish to access the personal data held about your child, then please contact the relevant department in writing:
Gads Hill School at the address at the top of this letter
Kent County Council at: Access to Information Co-ordinator, Room 2.35, Session House, County Hall, Maidstone, ME14 1QX.
The QCA Data Protection Officer at : QCA, 83 Picadilly, London, W1J 8QA
Ofsted’s Data Protection Officer at: Alexandra House, 33, Kingsway, London WC2 6SE
The National Assessment Agency Data Protection Officer at: NAA, 29 Bolton Street, London, W1J 8BT
The DCSF Data Protection Officer, Caxton House, Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA
In order to fulfil their responsibilities under the Act the organisation may, before responding to this request, seek proof of the requestor’s identity and any further information required to locate the personal data requested. There may be a charge levied for retrieving this data.
Gad’s Hill School is a registered CCTV data controller. Parents should be aware that CCTV operates throughout the site and the images may be viewed by staff within the school, the Police or emergency services. CCTV recordings are not made available to the wider community.
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