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Seaham High School

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Privacy Notice for School Workforce

Privacy Notices: 

The school workforce: those employed to teach, or otherwise engaged to work at, a school or a local authority

This privacy notice explains how we collect, store and use personal data about staff members. We, Seaham High School, are the ‘data controller’ for the purposes of data protection law.

Our data protection officer is David Langlands (Assistant Head Teacher)

Who we are and what we do

We are Seaham High School. We are a maintained secondary school for children ages 11 – 16 years old. Our local authority is Durham County Council.

  

The personal data we collect and hold

We hold personal data about staff to support their employment and professional development, and to assess how the school is performing. We may also receive data about staff from previous employers, HR and occupational health workers.

Personal data that we may collect, use, store and share (when appropriate) about staff includes, but is not restricted to:

  • Contact details, contact preferences, date of birth, identification documents
  • Professional development records
  • Bank details
  • Maternity/paternity pay information
  • Health information
  • Performance management documentation
  • Characteristics, such as ethnic background, disability etc
  • Sickness absence records
  • Details of any professional support received
  • Photographs/videos

Why we use this data

We use this data to:

  • Support you in your professional roles
  • Monitor and report on school improvement and self-evaluation
  • Provide appropriate pastoral care
  • Protect pupil welfare
  • Ensure that the information we hold about you is kept up to date
  • To share with agencies such as payroll and pensions

Our legal basis for using this data

We collect and use personal data on the basis of performing a public task (educating children).

On some occasions we may ask for consent to process data when its use is optional. On those occasions consent can be withdrawn at any time. We will make this clear when we ask for consent, and explain how consent can be withdrawn.

Collecting this information

We collect data from application forms, paper forms, online information, communication with yourself, information received from a third party (eg. referees, colleagues, agencies)

How we store this data

We keep personal information about staff while they are working at our school. We may also keep it beyond their time at our school if this is necessary in order to comply with our legal obligations.

We will only retain the data we collect for as long as is necessary. This would be to satisfy the purpose for which it has been collected in accordance with our data retention policy. Please contact us if you would like further details on this policy.

The security of data and information is important to us. This is why we follow a range of security policies and procedures to control and safeguard access to and use of your personal information. This includes both physical and technical security and integrity of all data.

Examples of our security include:

    • Encryption, meaning that information is hidden so that it cannot be read without access knowledge (such as a password). This is done with a secret code or what’s called a ‘cypher’. The hidden information is said to then be ‘encrypted’;
    • Controlling access to systems and networks allows us to stop people who are not allowed to view your personal information from getting access to it;
    • Training for our staff allows us to make them aware of how to handle information and how and when to report when something goes wrong;
    • Regular testing of our technology and ways of working including keeping up to date on the latest security updates (commonly called patches);

How long we keep your data for

This ranges from months for some records to decades for more sensitive records.

For example

  • applications for recruitment will be kept for 1 year,
  • your personnel record will be maintained for 25 years after you leave employment

Data sharing

We may share your personal information where we have a statutory obligation to do so, such as for the purposes of the prevention or detection of crime, for legal proceedings, or where you have requested us to share information, such as childcare vouchers, pensions, mortgage applications etc.

Some examples of who we share information with include:-

  • HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs)
  • DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service)
  • Pensions schemes

If you would like confirmation of who we do share information with please contact us.

We do not process your personal information outside the EEC.

At no time will your information be passed to organisations external to us, or our partners for marketing or sales purposes, or for any other commercial use without your prior express consent.

Your information rights

Your Information Rights are set out in the law. Subject to some legal exceptions, you have the right to:

  • Have any inaccuracies corrected;
  • Have your personal data erased;
  • Place a restriction on our processing of your data;
  • Object to processing; and
  • Request your data to be ported (data portability).

To learn more about these rights please see the ICO website.

To exercise any of these rights please contact the relevant service in the first instance.

You also have the right to request a copy of the personal information that the school holds about you. To do this, please ask the DPO (Mr David Langlands)

If something goes wrong with your personal information, or you have questions about how we use it, please contact Mr David Langlands (the Data Protection Officer)

If we have not been able to deal with your complaint, you can also contact the  Information Commissioner’s Office

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane

Wilmslow,

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Other rights

Individuals have rights regarding how their personal data is used and kept safe, including the right to:

  • Object to the use of personal data if it would cause, or is causing, damage or distress
  • Prevent it being used to send direct marketing
  • Object to decisions being taken by automated means (by a computer or machine, rather than by a person)
  • In certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data corrected, deleted or destroyed, or restrict processing
  • Claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the data protection regulations
  • To exercise any of these rights, please contact our data protection officer.

Complaints

We take any complaints about our collection and use of personal information very seriously.

If you think that our collection or use of personal information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate, or have any other concern about our data processing, please raise this with us in the first instance.

To make a complaint, please contact our data protection officer.

Alternatively, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

  • Report a concern online at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/
  • Call 0303 123 1113
  • Or write to: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Contact us

  • If you have any questions, concerns or would like more information about anything mentioned in this privacy notice, please contact our data protection officer:

Mr D. Langlands

Data Protection Officer

Seaham High School

Seaham

County Durham

SR7 0BH

Tel: 01915161600

Email: dataprotection@seahamhighschool.com