How we use your information
Aberdeen City Council collects, creates and records personal data and information about our pupils and their parents and carers in order to provide our pupils with a school education to enable them to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors. This information, as well as information generated throughout a pupil’s time in education, is used to assess, plan, coordinate, deliver, quality assure and improve the education services provided to our pupils, and to make sure that our pupils are safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, responsible, respected and included.
We use a variety of digital services in our schools to deliver all aspects of the Curriculum for Excellence to our pupils. Where it is appropriate, we will ask for the consent of our pupils, or their parents or carers, for our pupils to use these tools.
We share information with the Scottish Government, the Scottish Qualifications Agency, Skills Development Scotland (secondary schools only), the NHS and Social Security Scotland.
We may share information with social care, health and the police when we have a welfare concern about a child or young person. The information shared will always be proportionate and limited to our concerns. This sharing of information enables Aberdeen City Council to meet statutory obligations to keep children safe. There may be occasions where you do not have a choice about sharing. Unless there is a good reason not to, we will explain why we are sharing information about our pupils and/ or their parents or carers and who with. Where there are choices about sharing, we will clearly explain these to you and support you to make an informed choice.
We receive information from partners which is added to our records. In some cases, information will be added to our records using automated processing, to speed up the time it takes to deal with simple processes. Decisions about our pupils are not made using automated decision-making.
All information sharing will be done in accordance with national and local policy, procedure and practitioner guidance on information sharing.
Pupil information is also analysed internally to help us improve our services and improve outcomes for children and young people. We also work with partners on specific, targeted projects and initiatives to help us improve the education services we provide, and where this is relevant and appropriate, we will ask for pupil or parent/ carer consent for involvement. Where project partners will be analysing personal data on our behalf in order to improve the services they are delivering, we control the way that partners use and manage personal data through our arrangements and agreements with them.
How long we keep your information for
Throughout the time that our pupils are enrolled at one of our schools we will keep records about the progress they make, their achievements, their skills and abilities, any support they receive and school reports.
We will keep this information for a period of 5 years from the maximum school leaving age of each pupil, as required by The Pupils’ Educational Records (Scotland) Regulations 2003. If one of our pupils has been looked after by the local authority, we will keep this information for 100 years from the child becoming 18. This may be looked after at home, in a residential home, or through a kinship/foster carer placement.
Your rights
Our pupils have rights to their data, including the right to ask for a copy of it. See more information about the rights you have, how they work in practice, and the contact details of our Data Protection Officer. You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. They are the body responsible for making sure organisations like the Council handle your data lawfully. For data about pupils, the data protection rights belong to the pupil, but as a general rule we will work with the parents or carers of pupils under 12 years of age to exercise these rights on behalf of their child.
Parents also have certain rights to request education related information for children that they have parental responsibility for, under the Pupils’ Educational Records (Scotland) Regulations 2003.
Our legal basis
Aberdeen City Council is the Data Controller for the information you provide. Wherever the Council processes personal date, we need to make sure we have a legal basis for doing so in data protection law. The Council understands our legal basis for processing personal data in relation to you as follows:
| What we do | Why we do it | What our legal basis is | Where we get our legal basis from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Create, capture, record, maintain and use an educational record for our pupils, this includes information generated throughout a pupil’s time in education. |
To have an educational record of our pupils’ progress, achievements, skills and abilities. To assess, plan and coordinate, quality assure and improve services. |
Public task and Legal obligation Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980 Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009 |
| Record and keep up to date parent and emergency contact details for our pupils. |
To keep in touch with parents and carers about our pupils’ education and progress and to contact parents and carers, or someone else, in case of emergency, illness or school closure. |
Public task and Legal obligation Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980 |
| Record and keep up to date medical information, GP contact details and dietary requirements. |
To ensure the health and safety of our pupils and to contact a parent or carer or someone else in case of emergency or illness. |
Public task and Legal obligation Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980 |
| Record equal opportunities information on a voluntary basis. |
If a pupil or their parent or carer choose to supply this information, it will be used to monitor equal opportunities and provide statistical information. |
Public task Substantial public interest |
Equality Act 2010 |
| Collect information from parents and pupils in relation to compliance with school and local authority policies and procedures (e.g. Acceptable Use Policy, Anti-Weapon/Knife Crime Policy). | To ensure parents and pupils are aware of and understand roles and responsibilities. |
Public task Substantial public interest |
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 |
|
Collect Religious and Moral Education preference information from parents / carers. |
To provide education services and curriculum in line with parental preferences. |
Public task and Legal obligation
Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980 |
| Collect a copy of pupil photograph from school photography provider. | To validate the identity of pupils, ensure the health and safety of your child. |
Public task and Legal obligation Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980 |
| Collect pupil attendance, attainment, exclusion information. |
To monitor pupil attendance, attainment, exclusion information so that we can support pupils and work with parents/ carers to support wellbeing at the earliest opportunity and inform quality assurance arrangements. |
Public task and Legal obligation Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980
Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009
Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 |
| Providing cashless catering services |
To provide a school lunch to all pupils, either payable or free of charge, depending on eligibility and to access cashless catering facilities, and to administer (and where appropriate charge for) the provision of payable and free school meals. |
Public task and Legal obligation Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980
Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007 |
| Providing information to Integrated Children's and Family Services (e.g. Autism Outreach, Dyslexia Service), if additional support is required. This will only ever be done with agreement from parent and/or young person. | To provide additional education services or support, if required. |
Public task and Legal obligation Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 2016
Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009 Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 |
| Sharing with NHS. | To monitor and to safeguard the health and wellbeing of pupils, and to provide health education. |
Public task and Legal obligation Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980 Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007 Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009 Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 |
| Sharing with Scottish Government. | To monitor and quality assure educational progress locally and nationally. |
Public task and Legal obligation
Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980
Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009 Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 |
| Sharing with other local authorities. | To transfer the pupil progress record to your child’s new school if a pupil moves out of an Aberdeen City school. |
Public task and Legal obligation
Substantial public interest |
The Pupils’ Educational Records (Scotland) Regulations 2003 |
| Sharing with Skills Development Scotland (secondary schools only). | To provide information about further learning opportunities and career guidance to pupils. To monitor and contribute to national reporting and statistics and to inform policy development. |
Public task and Legal obligation
Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980
Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009 Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 |
| Sharing with Education Scotland. | To monitor and assess the quality of education services and to contribute to national reporting and statistics to inform policy development. |
Public task and Legal obligation
Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980
Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009 Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 |
| Sharing with Scottish Qualifications Authority. | To present pupils for national qualifications and assessments. |
Public task and Legal obligation
Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980
Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009 Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 |
| Sharing with the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music and/or the Trinity College London. | To present pupils who receive tuition from the Music Service for graded exams. |
Public task Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980
Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009 Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 |
| Sharing with Social Security Scotland | To help Social Security Scotland to administer Child Disability Payments |
Public task and legal obligation Substantial public interest |
Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 |
| Providing references for pupils for college, university, employment or other destinations. | To provide references for pupils about their school career to support their applications. |
Consent |
The pupil has asked us to provide a reference. |
| Retaining information about individuals in accordance with the Council’s Retention and Disposal Schedule. | To evidence completion of our education authority duties. |
Public task and Legal obligation Substantial public interest |
Education (Scotland) Act 1980
Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2009 Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 |
| Maintaining up to date and accurate records of names and contact details across the Council. | To make sure we are using up to date and accurate names, addresses and contact details across Council services. |
Public task |
Effective fulfilment of the Council’s statutory functions and powers General Data Protection Regulation & Data Protection Act 2018 |