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Privacy Notice

 

​Introduction

This notice is to help you understand why The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools (TBGS) collects your personal information and your child's personal information and what TBGS does with that information.  It also explains the decisions that you can make about your personal information. 

 

TBGS manages and administers secondary transfer testing for the thirteen grammar schools in Buckinghamshire.

 

This notice only relates to how TBGS uses information for the purpose of your child taking the Secondary Transfer Test.  It does not cover how information is used during the admissions process to a secondary school or when your child attends secondary school - for further information on this you would need to contact the school concerned.

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What do we mean by "personal information"?

Personal information is information about you or your child from which you or your child can be identified.  If information has been anonymised it is not personal information.    

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When we refer to your personal information in this notice, we mean information about you and/or your child. We obtain information from you, from your child's current school and from Buckinghamshire Council if your child attends a school in Buckinghamshire.

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Our legal bases for using your information

This section contains information about the legal bases that we are relying on when handling your information.

 

The two tables below contain a general description of the different legal bases. In some cases we will rely on more than one basis for a particular use of your information.

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Performance of a task carried out in the public interest

This applies where what we are doing is for the benefit of the public generally.  We rely on this basis for managing and administering the

secondary transfer testing.  For more details about how we use your personal information please see below.

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TBGS must also comply with an additional condition where it processes special categories of personal information.   These special categories include: personal information revealing racial or ethnic origin and health information. 

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​Substantial public interest

TBGS is allowed to use special categories of personal information where doing so is necessary in the substantial public interest.  This is

similar to "public interest" in the table above. For example, TBGS may use information about your ethnicity for equal opportunities

monitoring and about special educational needs for making decisions about the access arrangements your child may need in order to take

the test.  

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If there is special category personal data on the Fit for Testing and Identification Form which you may be asked to complete, we will rely on substantial public interest to use this information.

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Legal claims

We are allowed to use your information and your child's information if this is necessary in relation to legal claims.  For example, this allows

us to share information with our legal advisors and insurers.

 

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Consent

We may ask for your consent to use your information in certain ways as an alternative to relying on any of the bases in the table above.  If we ask for your consent to use your personal information you can take back this consent at any time. 

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Any use of your information before you withdraw your consent remains valid. Please speak to our Data Protection Officer (whose contact details are below) if you would like to withdraw any consent that you have given.

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What personal information is used by TBGS?

TBGS will use the following personal information:

  • your child's name, gender, ethnicity (if you have chosen to voluntarily provide this), date of birth, address, postcode and current school;

  • test date and venue;

  • a photograph of your child (if they do not go to a state sector school in the county);

  • your child's current school and your Local Education Authority;

  • whether your child was withdrawn during the testing process;

  • information about any special educational needs of your child;

  • information about medical issues if relevant to the testing procedure;

  • your relationship to the child being tested;

  • your contact details e.g. email address and mobile phone number; and

  • your child's test results.

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If you do not provide us with information when we ask for it then your child may not be able to take part in the Secondary Transfer Test.  

 

If you live outside Buckinghamshire and provide information via the registration form on the Buckinghamshire Council website, this information will be placed on a database and searched against information which the Council already holds. If there is no match with the existing information held about a pupil then a new entry is created on the database.   Although information may be held on a Buckinghamshire Council database, TBGS remains responsible for that data when it is being used for the purposes of the Secondary Transfer Test.

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Why does TBGS use your personal information?

TBGS use your personal information to manage and administer the secondary transfer testing.  This will involve:

  • issuing the familiarisation materials for your child to use at home;

  • preparing the test papers;

  • issuing the test papers to the venue where your child will sit the test;

  • arranging for your child to sit a practice test;

  • marking the test papers;

  • using information about ethnicity (if you voluntarily provide this) to analyse the test data to check that the test is not disadvantaging particular groups of children;

  • using information about any special educational needs which your child has to manage access arrangements e.g. your child may need additional time when taking the tests;

  • using medical information about your child if necessary e.g. if he/she has any medical conditions which are relevant to the testing procedure;

  • looking after your child when he or she is sitting the test e.g. if he or she has a medical condition;

  • using the results (on an anonymised basis) to set the pass mark;

  • arranging for your child's test result to be made available to you; and

  • using your contact details to reach you on testing days if needed.  

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If your child does not attend a Buckinghamshire primary school or Partner school, you will be asked to complete a Fit for Testing and Identification Form and to bring this with you on the secondary transfer testing day.  You will need to attach a photo of your child to the form and to give the form to the staff at the venue where your child sits their test .The photograph of your child is used for identification purposes.  

 

The Headteacher of your child's school may be asked to provide Buckinghamshire Council with information about whether your child may need access arrangements e.g. extra time to complete the tests.  This information will be passed to an access panel who will decide what access arrangements your child may require.   

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The test results will be published on an anonymised basis by TBGS or by Buckinghamshire Council on TBGS’s behalf.

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Sharing personal data with third parties

  • We will use contractors to help us with certain activities. For example:

    • to prepare the test papers by inserting your child's name and the test venue; and

    • marking the test papers.

  • Buckinghamshire Council assist TBGS with the secondary transfer testing.  This means that we will share your information with the Council so that they can use this on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions.  However, TBGS remains ultimately responsible for how your information is used in connection with the secondary transfer testing process.

  • We will share your personal information with the venue where your child will sit their test.  In some cases this will be one of the 13 grammar schools in Buckinghamshire or another central venue.  

  • The Fit for Testing and Identification Form and photograph (mentioned above) is passed to Buckinghamshire Council.  If your child joins one of the Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools this information will be given to the grammar school in advance of your child’s induction day.

  • Your child's test results will be sent to Buckinghamshire Council. 

  • If your child attends school within the county their test results will be sent to their primary school as well as to you as their parent or guardian.

  • We may need to share your personal information (including special category personal data) with our legal advisors or our insurers. For example, if you bring a claim against TBGS.  We may rely on any or all of the legal bases mentioned above to do this depending on the precise circumstances.

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For how long do we keep your information?

  • We keep your information for as long as we need to in order to manage and administer the Secondary Transfer Test.  In the vast majority of cases this is until the end of the autumn term following the September of the year of entry.

  • In exceptional circumstances we may keep your information for a longer time than usual but we would only do so if we had a good reason and if we are allowed to do so under data protection law.

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What decisions can you make about your information?

Your rights are as follows:

  • Rectification: if information is incorrect you can ask us to correct it.

  • Access: you can also ask what information we hold about you and be provided with a copy. This is commonly known as making a subject access request.  We will also give you extra information, such as why we use this information about you, where it came from and what types of people we have sent it to.

  • Deletion: you can ask us to delete the information that we hold about you in certain circumstances.  For example, where we no longer need the information.

  • Portability: you can request the transfer of your information to you or to a third party in a format that can be read by computer in certain circumstances.

  • Restriction: our use of information about you may be restricted to simply storing it in some cases.  For example, if you tell us that the information is inaccurate we can only use it for limited purposes while we check its accuracy.

  • Object: you may object to us using your information if:

    • we are using it for direct marketing purposes;

    • the legal basis on which we are relying is either legitimate interests or performance of a task carried out in the public interest.  Please see the section "Our legal bases for using your information" above; and

    • we are using it for historical or scientific research purposes or archiving purposes. 

Our Data Protection Officer, whose contact details are below, can give you more information about these rights. 

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Further information and guidance

This notice is to explain how we use your personal data and that of your child.  If you have any questions please contact our Data Protection Officer at chairman.tbgs@gmail.com

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If you consider that we have not acted properly when using your personal information you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office - ico.org.uk. 

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