GDPR 

In 2018, GDPR regulation came into effect in the UK, replacing the Data Protection Act. At Swing Gate we take child's safety, including their personal data, very seriously. When your child starts with us you will be asked to complete a permissions form that gives you the opportunity to decide exactly what data and images you are happy for us to share. Recent times have caused more exceptional events that fall outside of these consents. When this happens we will contact all the families of the children involved to seek individual consent for their child to take part, an example of this might be allowing your child to be filmed as part of the school nativity and this video then being shared with other parents in their class. For anyone who does not want their child to be included we make arrangements to enable the child to not feel they are missing out.

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer (DPO) who oversees our GDPR compliance. The DPO has commended our school for its good practice with data protection. Our DPO has also held annual Data Protection training for all staff.

We have a dedicated GDPR email address at gdpr@swinggate.herts.sch.uk.

Use of Images

We regularly take photographs of the children at our school. We may use these images in our school prospectus or in other printed publications that we produce, as well as on our website. Photographs of children are used in their day-to-day learning and may sometimes be displayed in the classroom. We may also make video or webcam recordings for school-to-school conferences, monitoring or other educational use.

From time to time, our school may be visited by the media who will take photographs or film footage of a visiting dignitary or high profile event.  Pupils will often appear in these images, which may appear in local or national newspapers, or on televised news programmes.

As a school we are aware that it is essential that photographs are taken and stored appropriately to safeguard the children in our care. Photos are taken only on school cameras or iPads by school staff and will be downloaded onto our password protected network and PCs. These images will remain in school.

To comply with the Data Protection Act 1998, we need your permission before we can photograph or make any recordings of your child. Parents or carers of every child will be asked to sign a permission form when they begin school (available from the school office) and consent may be withdrawn at any time by contacting the school.

If permission is withheld for use of images on our website and the child concerned is photographed within a class or large group, their image will be blurred, so that the child will not be recognisable.

We never use any personal details or full names of any child or adult in a photographic image on video, on our website, or in any printed publications. We will only use images of pupils who are suitably dressed, to reduce the risk of such images being used inappropriately.

At school events we understand that parents like to take photographs of their own children. We ask that taking pictures of other children is always avoided if possible and that you undertake the same agreement as the school and do not share images of other children electronically.