School admissions privacy notice

1. Council contact details

1.1. West Northamptonshire Council
Registered Office:
One Angel Square
Angel Street
Northampton
NN1 1ED

Tel: 0300 126 7000

This notice explains what personal data (information) we hold about you, how we collect it, how we use it and how we may share information that we hold about you in order to deliver our services. We are required to give you this information under data protection law. West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) is committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services. The Privacy Notice below explains how we use information about you and how we protect your privacy.

West Northamptonshire Council complies with data protection legislation (the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and is registered as a 'Data Controller').

1.2. Who We Are

West Northamptonshire Council provides services in the following areas:

• Early Education
• Schools and Education
• Special Educational Needs and Disability

WNC council is now a Unitary council.

School Admissions is a statutory service within West Northamptonshire Council which co-ordinates applications for primary, junior and secondary places. The service also provides Presenting Officers for School Admission Appeals.

2. Information that we hold

2.1. What personal information do we collect to deliver this service?

We will collect the following personal information to deliver this service (the list is not exhaustive):

• Personal information, for example, the child’s full name, preferred name, current address, new address, placement address, date of birth, age, year group
• The parent’s name, relationship to child, home address, contact telephone number, email address, whether the person making the application has parental responsibility
• Family contact details
• Name and date of birth of any sibling attending the school being applied for
• Special category information such as sex of the child
• Child in Care (LAC) status
• Current school or previous school
• EHC Plan status
• SEN status
• Details of any other agency involvement
• Refugee/Asylum status
• Details about exclusions
• School attendance information
• Schools applied for
• Date the application was submitted
• Date school place required
• Reasons for applying for the schools
• Waiting list requests
• Relevant documents – evidence to support application
• Declaration

What information might we collect from organisations/teams to assist in the delivery of our service?

• Police Involvement and Convictions
• Home to school transport details
• Information from the previous school
• Information from other agencies in regard to any safeguarding concerns

3. How the information is obtained

3.1. How do we collect this personal information?

We collect personal information in the following ways:

• Face to Face
• Reports
• Application form
• Telephone
• Email or in writing

3.2. There are a number of reasons why we need to collect and use your personal information.

For what purpose is this personal information collected?

We collect and use your personal information in order to:

• enable service delivery
• enable official reporting
• manage funding /grants

The legislations that govern and direct our service delivery are as follows:

• Education Act 1996
• School Standards and Framework Act 1998
• School Admissions Code
• Schools Admissions Appeals Code
• Equality Act 2010
• Human Rights Act 1998

4. What we do with the information

4.1 How do we use this personal information?

• To allocate school places in accordance with the requirements of the School Admissions Code
• Perform a Statutory duty
• To provide information for School Admission Appeals and to act in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code
• To assess and evaluate our services
•  To provide ongoing support and advice to schools and other admission authorities
• For in-year admissions, to ensure that the allocated school is aware of any safeguarding concerns, behaviour or attendance issues or other agency involvement so that appropriate support can be put in place when a child is admitted and to ascertain if the child meets the requirements of the Fair Access Protocol

The information will only be used for the purposes stated when it was collected. Information will not be sold, rented or provided to anyone else, or used for any other purpose than that for which it was originally collected unless required to by law

4.2. Who do we share your information with?

If and lawful to do so under the applicable legislation, we will share your information with other West Northamptonshire Council departments such as:

• The Northamptonshire Children’s Trust
• Other Education Services teams
• LGSS Legal

We may also share your information outside NNC with the following organisations including:

• North Northamptonshire Council - the School Admissions Team will be hosted by the North Northants Council but will deliver this service over each unitary council area for an unspecified amount of time
• Childcare providers
• Department for Education
• Education Skills and Funding Agency
• Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
• Independent Education providers
• The Schools Adjudicator
• Free Schools Network
• Schools
• Other admission authorities
• Other Local Authorities
• Alternative Education Providers
• Immigration (Home Office)

Why do we share this information?

In order for the service to carry out its legal duties and to deliver its service, it is a necessary requirement to share this information.

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities, only if required by applicable law and in accordance with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

4.3. The Capita ONE Admissions system allocates school places automatically each year for Reception, Year 3 (where an application for a Junior School place has been made and Year 7 places.

5. How long we keep your information for and how we securely dispose of it after use

5.1. How long will your personal information be held?

We keep your personal information for all aspects of processing by the School Admissions Team in line with the council’s retention schedules.

5.2 We will securely dispose of your information in line with the council's retention schedules.

6. How we store your information

6.1. Your information is securely stored on the council’s systems.

7. Your data protection rights

7.1. The law gives you a number of rights to control what personal information is used by us and how we can use it. Please see section 15 of the council’s Privacy Policy for further information.

7.2. Please be aware that your rights may differ depending on the lawful basis for processing your personal data.

8. Who to contact

8.1. If you would like further information about how we use your personal information, or you wish to exercise one of your data rights or you wish to complain about the use of your personal information please contact the Data Protection Officer.

8.2. If you are still dissatisfied with how we have used your data once you have made a complaint through the council’s internal complaints procedure you have the right to complain to the ICO.

The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

This privacy notice was completed on 15 March 2021
Last updated 15 March 2022
The privacy notice review date is March 2023

Last updated 06 July 2023