Privacy - Blackfriars Priory School, Prospect, South Australia

The following is an adaptation of a policy approved by the South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools (SACCS) to accommodate the Privacy Legislation and requirements associated with it. Blackfriars acknowledges that it is of variance from other policy documents but this is necessary in order to conform to the legalistic nature of the legislation.

Individuals’ privacy is important

This Privacy Policy applies to Blackfriars Priory School.

This Privacy Policy outlines how Blackfriars uses and manages personal information provided to or collected by it. Blackfriars is bound by the National Privacy Principles contained in the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988.

Blackfriars may, from time to time, review and update this Privacy Policy to take account of new laws and technologies, changes to its operations and practices and to make sure the policy remains appropriate to the changing school environment.

What kind of personal information does Blackfriars collect and how does it collect it?

The type of information which Blackfriars collects and holds includes (but is not limited to) personal information, included sensitive information, about:

students and their parents and/or guardians (‘parents’) before, during and after the course of a student’s
enrolment;
job applicants, staff members, volunteers and contractors; and
other people who come into contact with Blackfriars.

Personal Information provided by an individual: Blackfriars will generally collect personal information held about an individual by way of forms filled out by parents or students, face-to-face meetings and interviews, and telephone calls.

Personal Information provided by other people: In some circumstances, Blackfriars may be provided with personal information about an individual from a third party, for example, a report provided by a medical professional or a reference from another school.

Exception in relation to employee records: This Privacy Policy does not apply, and the National Privacy Principles do not bind Blackfriars in relation to its treatment of an employee record, where the treatment is directly related to the current or former employment relationship between Blackfriars and the employee.

How will Blackfriars use the personal information an individual provides?

Blackfriars will use personal information it collects from an individual for the primary purpose of collection, and for such other secondary purposes that are related to the primary purpose of collection and reasonably expected, or to which an individual has consented.

Students and Parents: For personal information about students and Parents, a Blackfriars’ primary purpose of collection is to enable the school to provide schooling for the student. This includes satisfying both the needs of Parents and the needs of the student throughout the whole period the student is enrolled at Blackfriars.

The purposes for which Blackfriars uses personal information of students and Parents include:

to keep Parents informed about matters related to their child’s schooling, through correspondence, newsletters and magazines;
day-to-day administration;
to look after students’ educational, social, spiritual and medical well-being;
to seek donations and marketing for the school;
to contribute to aggregated data that Catholic Education South Australia (‘CESA’) or the South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools Inc. [’SACCS’) may require from time to time to meet their reporting, planning, contract and funding responsibilities on behalf of schools;
to satisfy CCES/CESA’s and Blackfriars’ legal obligations and allow Blackfriars to discharge its duty of care.

In some cases where Blackfriars requests personal information about a student or parent, if the information requested is not obtained, the School may not be able to enrol or continue the enrolment of the student.

Job applicants, staff members and contractors: For personal information about job applicants, staff members and contractors, Blackfriars’ primary purpose of collection is to assess and (if successful) to engage the applicant, staff member or contractor, as the case may be.

The purposes for which Blackfriars uses personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors include:

to administer the individual’s employment or contract (as the case may be);
for insurance purposes;
to seek funds and marketing for the school;
to contribute to aggregated data that SACCS and CESA use to meet their reporting, planning, contract and funding responsibilities;
to enable SACCS and CESA to maintain necessary staff information for entitlements including long service leave, maternity leave, Workcover and other necessary industrial or employment purposes, and for accreditation and funding purposes;
to satisfy CCES/CESA’s and Blackfriars legal obligations (for example, in relation to child protection legislation).

Volunteers: A school also obtains personal information about volunteers who assist the school in its functions or conduct associated activities, such as Parents and Friends and Old Scholars Associations, to enable the school and the volunteers to work together.

Marketing and Fundraising: Blackfriars treats marketing and seeking donations for the future growth and development of the school as an important part of ensuring that Blackfriars continues to be a quality learning environment in which both students and staff thrive. Personal information held by Blackfriars may be disclosed to an organisation that assists in the school’s fundraising, for example, the school’s Parents and Friends Association.

Parents, staff, contractors and other members of the wider Blackfriars community may from time to time receive fundraising information. School publications, like newsletters and magazines, which include personal information, may be used for marketing purposes.

To whom might the CEO or a school disclose personal information?

The CEO or a school may disclose personal information (including sensitive information) held about an individual to:

another school operated by CCES/CESA;
a Catholic school within the Dioceses of Port Pirie or Adelaide;
a Catholic Education Office in South Australia;
SACCS;
a Congregational School;
Catholic Church Insurance;
Government departments;
the local parish;
people providing services to the school (including specialist visiting teachers, consultants and sports coaches);
recipients of school publications like newsletters and magazines;
parents; and
anyone to whom the individual authorises the school to disclose information.

Sometimes a school or CESA may ask individuals to consent to some disclosures or uses of personal information for certain purposes, either in writing or verbally. In other cases, consent may be implied.

Sending information overseas: CESA or a school will not send personal information about an individual outside Australia without:

obtaining the consent of the individual (in some cases this consent will be implied); or
otherwise complying with the National Privacy Principles.

How will sensitive information be treated?

‘Sensitive information’ means information relating to a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion, trade unions or other professional or trade association membership, sexual preferences or criminal record, that is also personal information; and health information about an individual.

Sensitive information will be used and disclosed only for the purpose for which it was provided or a directly related secondary purpose, unless the individual agrees otherwise, or the use or disclosure of the sensitive information is allowed by law.

Management and security of personal information

CESA’s and the school’s staff are required to respect the confidentiality of students’ and parents’ personal information and the privacy of individuals.

Blackfriars has in place steps to protect the personal information held from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure by use of various methods including locked storage of paper records and pass-worded access rights to computerised records.

Updating personal information

Blackfriars endeavours to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date. A person may seek to update their personal information held by contacting the Principal at any time. The National Privacy Principles require Blackfriars not to store personal information longer than necessary.

Individuals have the right to check what personal information a School or CEO holds about them

Under the Privacy Act 1988, individuals may seek access to any personal information that Blackfriars holds about them and to advise of any perceived inaccuracy. There are some exceptions to this right set out in the Privacy Act 1988. Students will generally have access to their personal information through their parents.

For individuals to make a request to access any information that Blackfriars holds about them, they should contact the Principal respectively, in writing.

Blackfriars may require individuals to verify their identity and specify what information they require. A fee may be charged to cover the cost of verifying the individual’s application and locating, retrieving, reviewing and copying any material requested. If the information sought is extensive, the individual will be advised of the likely cost in advance.

Consent and rights of access to the personal information of students

Blackfriars respects every parent’s right to make decisions concerning their child’s education. Generally, Blackfriars will refer any requests for consent and notices in relation to the personal information of a student to the student’s parents. Blackfriars will treat consent given by Parents as consent given on behalf of the student, and notice to Parents will act as notice given to the student.

Parents may seek access to personal information held by Blackfriars about them or their child by contacting the Principal. However, there will be occasions when access is denied. Such occasions would include where release of the information would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others, or where the release may result in a breach of the school’s duty of care to the student.

Blackfriars may, at its discretion, on the request of a student grant that student access to information held by the school about him, or allow a student to give or withhold consent to the use of his personal information, independently of their parents. This would normally be done only when the student involved had reached 18 years of age, but Blackfriars could do so in other circumstances when the maturity of the student and/or the student’s personal circumstances so warranted.

Consent for photographs and publication of student work

From time to time, photographs or videotapes of students and their learning are taken in school or at places where the children are involved in an excursion or activity. These photos/images/videos may be used in class activities or could be published by the School and CESA in documents, school magazines, newsletters, displays, journals, professional development materials for teachers, or on a school’s or Catholic Education’s web site. In addition, student work is also published from time to time.

The school and/or CESA may also like to make publications containing the photos/images/student work available free of charge to government and/or non-government schools and education institutions and sectors around Australia for their educational purposes under the National Education Access Licence for Schools (“NEALS”). NEALS is a licence between government and non-government education institutions and sectors of the various states and territories, which allows schools to share material.

Consent will be obtained before including children in school publications or displays. In most circumstances the images will not include any personal information regarding the student’s identity or may include the student’s first name only. However, in the school magazine and in the school newsletter, because of the limited circulation of these documents, it is usual for the student’s full name to appear under photographs or to record student achievement in various activities or beneath examples of student work.

Parents will be asked to indicate consent to use photographs of children and student work for the following:

Publications

Photos/images/videos taken during class activities to be published by the school and CESA in documents, school magazines, newsletters, displays, journals, professional development materials for teachers. In addition, parents will need to consent to their child’s work being published from time to time in these publications.

Websites

Photos/images/videos taken during class activities to be published on the school’s or CESA website. In addition, parents will need to consent to their child’s work being published from time to time on these websites.

NEALS

Photos/images/videos taken during class activities to be made available to government and/or non-government schools and education institutions and sectors around Australia as part of NEALS. In addition, parents will need to consent to their child’s work being published from time to time in these publications.

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