Our privacy notice 

Ottertots Ltd.

Privacy Notice (How we use your information)

Ottertots Day Nursery is the Data Controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018. Our setting collects information from you, and may receive information about your child from other agencies (if you have given parental consent). We are committed to protecting your information and will handle it in line with the General Data Protection Regulation 2016. We will not use your information for any other purpose unless we have your consent, or the law allows us to do so. For further information about how we handle the personal information you provide, how it will be used, and who this information may be shared with, please read on.

Data Protection Commitment Statement

Your Information – Our Commitment

Ottertots Ltd. would like to assure you that any information we hold about your child/ren and any contacts you have given will be processed fairly and lawfully.

We will be open with you about this personal information.

When processing personal information we will adhere to the following commitments:

When We Collect Personal Information

• We will tell you what we intend to do with the information
• We will be fair in the way we collect information about your child/ren, yourselves, and any relevant contacts
• We will only collect information that is necessary for what we do
• Where practical, we will collect information directly from you
• If we collect information about you or your child/ren from someone else, we will, wherever possible, make sure you know that we have done this

 

Whilst the majority of information you provide to us is mandatory, some of it is provided to us on a voluntary basis. In order to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, we will inform you whether you are required to provide certain information to us, or if you have a choice in this.

 

 

The lawful basis on which we use this information

We collect and use your information under the following lawful bases:

• Consent (C): you have given Ottertots Ltd. clear consent to process your child’s or your own personal data for a specific purpose.
• Contract (CT): the information you have provided Ottertots Ltd. with is necessary to meet contractual agreements.
• Legal obligation (L): the processing is necessary for Ottertots Ltd. to comply with the law. Where the processing of special category data or criminal offence data is necessary under Social Protection Law; Ottertots Ltd are duty bound to act in your child’s best interests and inform the Local Authority. For example if your child is considered to be at risk of harm, for Safeguarding purposes, we may share information without your consent; if gaining your consent could further endanger your child.
• Vital interests (V): the processing is necessary to protect your child’s life, e.g. supplying relevant medical information and/or religious beliefs to emergency responders. 
• Legitimate interests (LI): the processing is necessary for you or your child/ren’s legitimate interests, or the legitimate interests of a third party.

Examples of the categories of information that we collect, hold, and share with external agencies and professionals; and their lawful bases for doing so include:

• Personal information (such as name, address and contact details) – C, CT, L, V, LI
  • Completed Parent Declaration Form/s  – C, CT, L, V, LI
  • Invoices and billing information – C, CT, L, LI
  • Relevant funding information – C, CT,  L, LI
  • Characteristics (such as ethnicity, language, nationality, country of birth and funding eligibilities) – C, CT, L, V, LI
  • Photocopies taken by us of your child/ren’s original documentation, for example: Passports, Birth Certificates, Adoption Certificates, Relevant Court Orders, Asylum status, Fostering documentation, etc. – C, CT, L, V, LI
  • Any relevant information for children in care  – C, CT, L, V, LI
  • Religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature – V, LI
  • Attendance information (such as sessions attended, holidays taken, number of absences and absence reasons, funding attendance audits) – C, CT, L, LI
  • Accident and Incident data  – C, CT, L, V, LI
  • Safeguarding information, logs, records, court orders, professional involvement – C, CT, L, V, LI
  • Relevant medical records, dental health, and vaccination information  – C, CT, L, V, LI
  • Care Plans (details of specific health needs such as dietary requirements, allergy information, skin care, administration of medication, etc.) – C, CT, L, V, LI
  • Observation and assessment information –  C, L, LI
  • Forest School and outing permissions, rotas and attendance – C, L, LI
  • Special educational needs information and assessments – C, L, LI
  • Behavioural information - LI
  • Digital photographic, video images, and audio recordings – C, LI
  • CCTV – C, CT, LI
  • Records of your communications with us – C, CT, L, V, LI

There may be unforeseen additional data which you choose to provide us with not currently listed here. Therefore this list may not be exhaustive.

How We Use Personal Information

We will only use your, or your child/ren’s, information for legitimate purposes about which you have been informed, unless we are required to do otherwise.

Why we collect and use this information

We use this data:

• to contact parents, carers, and other contacts when necessary
• to keep children safe (food allergies, illnesses, or emergency contact details)
• to support teaching and learning
• to monitor and report on progress
• to provide appropriate care and support
• to gain consent for relevant permissions
• for contracts and billing purposes
• for Safeguarding purposes
• to ensure that appropriate funding is received, requirements met and appropriately administered
• to assess the quality of our services
• to comply with the law regarding data sharing
• supply Early Years settings with transition documentation after your child moves to another setting
• to enable the Local Authority to carry out other specific functions for which it is responsible, such as school admissions and Children's Centres. This will include providing the receiving school (Reception) with information about your child’s early years provision; to include the name of the setting, the level of funding received (Early Years Pupil Premium and Special Educational Needs) and any specialist agency involvement.

Security of Your Information

Ottertots Ltd. will protect your information against unauthorised use, inadvertent disclosure, damage, loss and theft. Information is managed confidentially and held securely. Access to information is conducted on a strictly need to know basis and shared by secure means. If you want to see a copy of any information held by the setting about you or your child, please contact us directly.

Ottertots Ltd. will only transfer personal data abroad when written parental instruction has been given, and in keeping with current data regulation which states, personal information must not be transferred to a country or territory outside the EEA (European Economic Area) unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal information.

If you require more information about how the Local Authority (LA) and/or DfE store and use your information, then please go to the following website:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/data-protection-how-we-collect-and-share-research-data

Accuracy of Personal Information

Ottertots Ltd. will ensure that information we hold about you or your child/ren is accurate and up to date when we collect or use it.  You can help us to achieve this by keeping us informed of any changes to the information we hold about you and your child/ren. Ottertots Ltd. Must be informed of all changes to Parent Responsibility immediately.

Retention of Personal Information

• Ottertots Ltd. will hold information about you and your child/ren only for as long as is necessary, in order to keep in line with any statutory retention periods, this information will be stored securely for up to 24 years.
• We will ensure that the information is disposed of in a secure manner when it is no longer needed.

Requesting access to your personal data

Under data protection legislation, you have the right to request access to the information we hold about you and your child. To make a request for your personal information, or be given access to your child’s educational record, contact the nursery owner for a mutually convenient appointment. If copies of records are required, an administration fee may be chargeable.

You also have the right to:

• object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing, damage or distress
• prevent processing for the purpose of direct marketing
• object to decisions being taken by automated means
• in certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed; and
• claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Data Protection Regulation

If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we request that you raise your concern with Ottertots Ltd., and ask to speak to the Nursery owner. Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Contact

If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact:

Ottertots Ltd.

Telephone: 01404 815854

Email: info@ottertots.org.uk