School Admissions privacy notice
Your Personal Information and how we use it
Sunderland City Council needs to collect information about your child and you to help us to process your child's application for a school place.
We will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK Data Protection Act 2018.
We will not use any information we hold about you for any purpose other than that for which it was collected, unless we have obtained your consent beforehand.
What information do we collect?
We collect information about you when a concern is raised. This enables us to investigate and provide the appropriate support required, and to ensure your safety and wellbeing. This information may be recorded in writing, or electronically on a computer, or a mixture of both.
The type of personal information we will collect:
- Personal information (such as name, date of birth and gender)
- Address at the time of application
- Any relevant health conditions, including medical and additional needs
- Parent/carer and sibling details
- Current or previous school setting
- Where applicable, a child's Looked After status
- Where applicable, whether a child has an Education, Health & Care plan
- Additional evidence or certification if applying for a faith school
How is the information we collect used to help you?
The information we collect may be used to help you in the following ways:
- Process your application
- Ensure the efficient co-ordination and fair allocation of school places in accordance with the School Admissions Code and local fair access protocols
- Consider Admission Appeals
- Populate our education database which runs our admissions and transfers allocation system
Do we share information about you with anyone?
In order to deliver services to you, it may be necessary for us to share your personal data with the following organisations/partners:
- The local authority where your child lives.
- The local authority to which the school you are seeking admission is located.
- Any school you name on an application form.
- Other departments within this local authority (and Together for Children) as deemed necessary for safeguarding purposes and to support your child's education.
- Any school to which your child is allocated a place under the Fair Access Protocol.
- Any church or other faith organisation you name on a school supplementary information form.
- An independent admissions appeal panel where you subsequently submit an appeal against a decision to refuse admission.
- Any government department with a statutory interest in the information.
There are times when it will be appropriate for us to share relevant information with other agencies to help us work together for your benefit. We may share your information with the following main partners, and they may share it with us to investigate and address your concerns:
- Schools
- Other Local Authorities
- Department for Education
- Other teams within the Local Authority to verify the information provided
- The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
- Together for Children
- Health
- Police
We do not share information about you with anyone without your consent unless the law requires or allows us to do so. We will always seek your positive consent to share information if there is no legal basis to share.
In all cases where we must pass on information, we will only share the minimum amount of information required and will use the most secure method to transfer; wherever possible data will be pseudonymised (i.e. does not identify you personally) or encrypted.
The lawful basis on which we use this information
We need to collect and use your personal data in order to comply with the relevant legislation for processing applications for school places, primarily the Schools Admissions Code 2014, which is supported by the:
- Equality Act 2010
- Human Rights Act 1998
- Education Act 1998
- School Standards and Framework Act 1998
Our lawful basis for processing is therefore as we have a statutory obligation as defined by Article 6(1)(c) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Some of the information we need to hold is classed as special category information - primarily ethnicity and any health conditions. Our lawful basis for processing this data is provided by Article 9(2)(h) of GDPR - to support the provision of health or social care.
How we look after your information
All information is held securely with physical, organisational and electronic access controls to ensure it is secure both at rest and when in transit.
How long we will look after your information
We will keep information in line with Sunderland City Council's Retention Schedule for School Admissions and Appeals, and we will only keep it as long as we need it. When we no longer need your information it will be destroyed securely by deletion of electronic records and shredding of paper files.
Requesting access to your personal data
You can find out if we hold any personal information about you by making a 'subject access request' under the General Data Protection Regulation.
In addition, you have the right to request the rectification or erasure of your personal data, and to object to, or request restriction of, processing your data.
If you have any concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal information, we request that you raise your concern with us in the first instance.
Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at
Further information
https://www.sunderland.gov.uk/data-protection
Contact Us
Data Protection Officer, Sunderland City Council, City Hall, Plater Way, Sunderland, SR1 3AA
Email: Data.Protection@sunderland.gov.uk or Tel: 0191 520 5555
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