Schools privacy notices

There are many different groups that are needed to collect personal data about pupils and staff. This includes schools, councils, the Department for Education (DfE), and other educational bodies. The Data Protection Act needs these groups to issue a privacy notice to parents/pupils and staff. This must explain why the data is collected, how it’s used, and who it’s shared with.

How we use information

Collecting details about you or your child helps us give you the help you need. For example, if your child has special educational needs, we need to know what those needs are. This is so we can tailor our support to those needs.

The data that we gather also helps us to fulfil our requirements, measure our performance, and make decisions based on these statistics.  We’ll never use statistics in a way that identifies you or your child.

We use the details about our school workforce for research and statistical purposes. We also use it to develop education policy and strategies. The statistics are used in such a way that individual staff cannot be identified from them. We may also use it to help and monitor schools regarding staff sickness and recruitment.

Who we share your information with

We’re required to pass on some of the details we collect to the Department for Education. This doesn't include the names of individual children. They use it to help them make policies, manage council performance, and to help build good practice. You can contact the Department for Education if you want to know more about the details they collect and how they process it. 

We often provide services in partnership with other agencies. Any data we collect may be shared with them for specific purposes allowed by law. These include, for example:

Issuing privacy notices

All Barnsley school and early years settings need to give a privacy notice to parents or carers of all new and current pupils. They normally give them to pupils themselves if they’re 12 years or older. This was previously called a Fair Processing Notice.

A privacy notice must also be available to all members of staff employed by the school. This includes all teaching and non-teaching staff.

Schools don’t have to provide a privacy notice to every individual.  It’s enough to display details of the notice on the school website or on the school notice board.

Schools can also issue privacy notices along with other communications, for example:

  • by sending them as part of the pupil induction pack or in the school brochure
  • by including them in staff induction packs or as part of their contracts
  • by including them with information about services they’re being offered for those children getting support from social care.

Privacy notice templates for use in schools

You can find suggested privacy notices on the DfE website.