As you may already know, on 25^th May 2018 the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force. This will replace the Data Protection Act 1998 and is intended to improve the safety and security of personal data held by organisations, and make sure that people understand what information is held about them and why.

We have always taken great care of the personal information we hold about pupils and parents, but the new law means that we are taking some further steps, and we want to tell you about these. 

Firstly, you should be aware that you have a number of rights under the GDPR.

You have the right to: 

• Be informed about how we use your personal data 
• Request access to the personal data that we hold 
• Request that your personal data is amended if it is inaccurate or incomplete
• Ask us to erase your personal data if there is no compelling reason for its continued processing
• Request that the processing of your data is restricted 
• Object to your personal data being processed 

On our school website, www.parkgate-coventry.org.uk, you will find our new privacy notice for pupils and parents.This can be found under the Parents tab.It details what personal data we hold, why we hold it and who we share it with.  This also provides details of our Data Protection Officer (DPO), schoolDPO@warwickshire.gov.uk, who provides us with advice on compliance with GDPR and our data protection obligations, and can be contacted if you wish to make a request or complaint about your personal data. The privacy notice also explains about your rights to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

We are currently reviewing our policies and procedures.  A new Data Protection and Freedom of Information Policy will be published on the school’s website and can be found under the Policies section.

If anyone’s personal data is likely to be significantly involved or affected when we develop new systems or introduce new technology, we will carry out a data protection impact assessment to ensure that privacy issues are addressed. 

We have made some changes to our data collection sheet and a general consent forms to bring us in line with the new law. As a result of this, we will carry out a data collection in September 2018.

If you would like any more information about GDPR, you can visit the Information Commissioner’s website and in particular the Guide to the General Data Protection Regulation webpage.