Please access our Privacy Notice here

Regents Park Community Primary School

Privacy Notice for Parents and Carers: How We Use Your Child's Information

Who we are

Regents Park Community Primary School is the 'data controller' for the purposes of data protection law. This means we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about your child.

Our Data Protection Officer is [insert name and contact details]. You can contact them if you have any questions about how we use your child's information.

What information do we collect about your child?

We collect and hold different types of information about your child, including:

• Personal details - name, date of birth, address, emergency contacts, photographs
• Attendance information - such as sessions attended, number of absences and reasons for absence
• Assessment and attainment data - such as test results, progress data, and teacher assessments
• Characteristics - such as ethnicity, language, nationality, free school meal eligibility
• Special educational needs and disability (SEND) information
• Medical information - such as medical conditions, allergies, medication requirements
• Behaviour and exclusions information
• Safeguarding information - where we have concerns about your child's welfare

We may also collect information from other sources, such as your child's previous school, local authority, or healthcare professionals.

Why do we use this information?

We use your child's personal information to:

• Support your child's learning and educational progress
• Monitor and report on their progress and attainment
• Provide appropriate pastoral and medical care
• Keep your child safe and meet our safeguarding duties
• Assess the quality of our services
• Comply with legal obligations, such as the Education Act 1996 and Keeping Children Safe in Education
• Meet statutory duties for reporting to the Department for Education (DfE) and local authority

Our legal basis for using this information

We only collect and use your child's information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we process it where:

• We need to comply with a legal obligation - for example, reporting attendance to the local authority
• We need to perform an official task in the public interest - for example, providing education and safeguarding children
• We have obtained your consent - for example, to use photographs of your child on our website or in promotional materials (you can withdraw consent at any time)

Where we need to process special category data (such as information about health, ethnicity, or safeguarding concerns), we will do so under the following conditions:

• We need to carry out our legal obligations or exercise rights in employment, social security or social protection law
• We need to protect your child's vital interests (or someone else's) where you are physically or legally incapable of giving consent
• The data has been made public by you
• We need to establish, exercise or defend legal claims
• We need to safeguard children or individuals at risk - this allows us to share information without consent where there is good reason to do so, and sharing the information will enhance the safeguarding of a child in a timely manner

The Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR do not prevent the sharing of information for the purposes of keeping children safe. We can share information without consent where it is not possible to gain consent, it cannot be reasonably expected that we gain consent, or if gaining consent would place a child at risk.

Who do we share your child's information with?

We routinely share pupil information with:

• Schools that your child attends after leaving us
• Our local authority - Birmingham City Council
• The Department for Education (DfE) - for statutory reporting purposes
• NHS health professionals - such as school nurses
• Educational support services - such as educational psychologists or speech and language therapists
• Examination boards - if your child takes external examinations
• Ofsted - during inspections

We only share information with individuals, agencies or organisations that have a role in safeguarding the child and/or providing their family with support. We only provide the information needed to support the provision of these services. 

Sharing safeguarding information

Where we have concerns about your child's safety or welfare, we can share information with the appropriate people if we believe that doing so is likely to support the safeguarding and protection of your child. For example, we can share information with children's social care, the police, or other agencies involved in your child's care. 

If it's safe and practicable to do so, we will try to tell you who we intend to share information with, what information we will be sharing and why. However, it's not always safe or appropriate to notify you that we intend to share information. For example, if we have reason to believe that doing so might put your child at increased risk of harm.How long do we keep your child's information?

We keep information about your child in line with our data retention schedule. This is based on guidance from the Information and Records Management Society (IRMS).

Generally:

• Educational records are kept until your child reaches 25 years of age
• Safeguarding records are kept until your child reaches 25 years of age (or longer in some cases)
• Accident and incident records are kept for 25 years from the date of the incident
• Routine correspondence is usually destroyed after 1 year

When your child leaves our school, we will securely transfer their educational records and safeguarding file (if applicable) to their new school.

Your rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

• Your right of access - you can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about your child
• Your right to rectification - you can ask us to correct inaccurate information we hold
• Your right to erasure - you can ask us to delete information in certain circumstances
• Your right to restrict processing - you can ask us to stop using information in certain circumstances
• Your right to object - you can object to our processing of information in certain circumstances

If you ask to see information about your child that relates to child abuse, we can refuse if it wouldn't be in the best interests of the child. If you ask to see education data or social work data, we can refuse if we believe that sharing it would be likely to cause serious harm to the physical or mental health of any individual. 

To exercise any of these rights, please contact our school office or our Data Protection Officer.

Requesting access to your child's information

If you would like to see the information we hold about your child, please contact the school office to make a request. This is called a 'subject access request'.

We will respond to your request within one month. There is usually no charge for this service.

Please note that we may need to verify your identity before providing information, and we cannot share information if it would identify other children or staff members, or if one of the exemptions mentioned above applies.

Photographs and videos

We may take photographs or videos of your child during school activities. We will only use these images:

• Within school for educational purposes
• On our website, social media, or in promotional materials (only with your consent)

You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting the school office.

Keeping your child's information secure

We take the security of your child's information seriously. We have appropriate safeguards in place to prevent accidental loss, unauthorised access, or disclosure of information. These include:

• Secure IT systems with password protection and encryption
• Staff training on data protection and confidentiality
• Clear policies and procedures for handling information
• Secure storage of paper records in locked cabinets
• Controlled access to information on a 'need to know' basis

All staff who have access to your child's records are properly trained in confidentiality and are governed by a legal duty to keep information secure, accurate and up to date.

Changes to this notice

We may update this privacy notice from time to time.  When we do, we will inform you via our school newsletter and website.

How to contact us or make a complaint

If you have any questions about how we use your child's information, or if you wish to exercise your rights, please contact:

School Office
Regents Park Community Primary School, Arthur Street, Small Heath, Birmingham, B10 0NJ
0121 464 6746
enquiry@rgntpark.bham.sch.uk

Data Protection Officer
Pauline Kelly, School Business Manager
enquiry@rgntpark.bham.sch.uk

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your child's information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline: 0303 123 1113
Website: www.ico.org.uk

Where we send your child's data

Department for Education (DfE)

We are required to share information about your child with the DfE under section 3 of The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013.

The DfE uses this data to:

• Monitor and report on school performance
• Produce statistics about education
• Share data with other organisations for research and statistical purposes (where the law allows)

The DfE has robust processes to ensure the confidentiality of data is maintained. For more information about how the DfE collects and shares data, see their privacy notice at: https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools

Local authority

We are required to share information about your child with Birmingham City Council under the Education Act 1996. The local authority uses this data to:

• Fulfil its statutory duties
• Monitor and support school performance
• Plan educational services
• Support vulnerable children

Last updated: March 2026
Next review date: Spring term 2027