This privacy notice explains:
- how personal information is going to be used
- what it is used for
- who it might be shared with and why
- how long it is kept.
The information you provide helps us deliver our services effectively.
Personal and special category data
The types of personal data we hold may include:
- unique pupil number
- contact details
- parent/carer details
- National Insurance/National Asylum Seeker Service number
- date of birth
- attendance information
- ethnicity
- personal characteristics relating to family health and environment
- special educational needs and disabilities, including developmental progress.
Data Controller
West Sussex County Council (WSCC) complies with the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It is registered as a ‘Data Controller’ with the Information Commissioner’s Office (Reg. No. Z6413427).
You can find details for the WSCC Data Protection Officer (DPO) on our Privacy Policy.
We ensure that your personal data is accurate, processed fairly and lawfully, kept secure and retained for no longer than is necessary.
The legal basis for processing personal data
Processing is necessary:
- to help us administer education and family services
- for the wider purpose of planning and accessing services for children and families
- to comply with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) 2018.
The legal basis for processing special category data
- To comply with GDPR the data held about children must only be used for specific purposes allowed by law.
How we use your personal information
Our Privacy Policy determines how we use personal data. We use it specifically to:
- support a child's development
- monitor a child's progress
- apply for funding
- provide appropriate pastoral care
- self-evaluate care provision for the purposes of Ofsted inspections.
For example, we may use your information to:
- claim Free Entitlement (FE) for children aged 2, 3 and 4, including Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) and Disability Access Fund (DAF)
- identify the needs of children through Integrated Health Checks
- identify the needs of children and families through children’s learning and wellbeing audits
- safeguard children
- provide inclusion support
- inform Early Years Planning and Review meetings
- support effective transitions
- ensure public funds are administered and spent in line with any statutory guidance or code of practice
- produce statistics which inform various decisions without identifying individual children.
Who we share your information with
From time to time, early years and childcare settings are required to pass on some of this data to:
- local authorities
- the Department for Education (DfE)
- agencies that are prescribed by law
- Ofsted.
In particular, at age 5 an assessment (known as Early Years Foundation Stage Profile) is made of all children. This information is passed to the local authority and receiving schools to help meet the child’s needs. Any such organisation will have their own privacy notice.
Ofsted do not routinely process any information about individual children and hold no records of individual children’s progress. However, it does use information about the achievement of groups of children to help inform its judgements about the quality of education in early years providers.
See our Privacy Policy if you require more information about how we use this data.
How long we keep your personal data
Personal data will not be retained for longer than is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are collected.
The council is currently reviewing and updating its retention policies. See our records management page for published retention schedules.
Your rights
See our Privacy Policy for more information on your rights.
Children, as data subjects, have certain rights under the GDPR 2018, including a general right of access to personal data held about them, with parents exercising this right on their behalf if they are too young to do so themselves.
Complaints
See our Privacy Policy for information about making a complaint.