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Mater Maria > Privacy

Privacy

These following links outline the College’s policy on how it uses and manages personal information provided to or collected by the College. The College is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act. If you would like further information about the way the College manages the personal information it holds, please contact the Business Manager

PRIVACY POLICY

Your Privacy is Important

This statement outlines the policy of Mater Maria Catholic College’s (the College) on how the College uses and manages personal information provided to or collected by it. The College is a part of the systemic schools of the Diocese of Broken Bay.

The College is bound by the National Privacy Principles contained in the Commonwealth Privacy Act.

The College may, from time to time, review and update the Privacy Policy to take account of new laws and technology, changes to the College’s operations and practices and to make sure it remains appropriate to the changing school environment.

What kind of personal information does the College collect and how does the College collect it?

The type of information the College collects and holds includes (but is not limited to) personal information, including sensitive information, about:

pupils and parents and/or guardians (‘Parents’) before, during and after the course of a pupil’s enrolment at the College;
job applicants, staff members, volunteers and contractors; and
other people who come into contact with the College.
Personal Information you provide the College will generally collect personal information held about an individual by way of forms filled out by Parents or pupils, face-to-face meetings and interviews, and telephone calls. On occasions people other than Parents and pupils provide personal information.

Personal Information provided by other people: In some circumstances the College 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: Under the Privacy Act the National Privacy Principles do not apply to an employee record. As a result, this Privacy Policy does not apply to the treatment of an employee record, where the treatment is directly related to a current or former employment relationship between the College and employee.

How will the College use the personal information you provide?

The College will use personal information it collects from you 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 you have consented.

Pupils and Parents: In relation to personal information of pupils and Parents, the College’s primary purpose of collection is to enable the College to provide schooling for the pupil. This includes satisfying both the needs of Parents and the needs of the pupil throughout the whole period the pupil is enrolled at the College.

The purposes for which the College uses personal information of pupils and Parents include:

to keep Parents informed about matters related to their child’s schooling, through correspondence, newsletters and magazines;
day-to-day administration;
looking after pupils’ educational, social and medical wellbeing;
seeking donations and marketing for the College;
to satisfy the College’s legal obligations and allow the College to discharge its duty of care.
In some cases where the College requests personal information about a pupil or Parent, if the information requested is not obtained, the College may not be able to enrol or continue the enrolment of the pupil.

Job applicants, staff members and contractors: In relation to personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors, the College’s 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 the College uses personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors include:

in administering the individual’s employment or contract, as the case may be;
for insurance purposes;
seeking funds and marketing for the College;
to satisfy the College’s legal obligations, for example, in relation to child protection legislation.
Volunteers: The College also obtains personal information about volunteers who assist the College in its functions or conduct associated activities, such as Support Groups, canteen volunteers, Alumni associations etc., to enable the College and the volunteers to work together.

Marketing and fundraising: The College treats marketing and seeking donations for the future growth and development of the College as an important part of ensuring that the College continues to be a quality-learning environment in which both pupils and staff thrive. Personal information held by the College may be disclosed to an organisation that assists in the College’s fundraising, for example, the College’s Foundation or past student organisation.

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

Exception in relation to related schools: The Privacy Act allows each school, being legally relation to each of the other schools conducted by the Catholic Schools Office, Broken Bay, to share personal (but not sensitive) information with other schools conducted by the Catholic Schools Office, Broken Bay. Other Catholic Schools Office, Broken Bay, schools may then only use this personal information for the purposes for which it was originally collected by the CEO. This allows schools to transfers information between them, for example, when a pupil transfers from a CSO school to another school conducted by the Catholic Schools Office, Broken Bay.

Who might the College disclose personal information to?
The College may disclose personal information, including sensitive information, held about an individual to:

another school;
government departments;
your local parish
medical practitioners;
people providing services to the College, including specialist visiting teachers and sports
coaches;
recipients of College publications, like newsletters and magazines;
Parents; and
anyone you authorise the College to disclose information to.
Sending information overseas: The College 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 does the College treat sensitive information?

In referring to ‘sensitive information’, the College means: information relating to a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion, trade union 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 you agree otherwise, or the use or disclosure of the sensitive information is allowed by law.

Management and security of personal information

The CSO’s and the College’s staff is required to respect the confidentiality of pupils’ and Parents’ personal information and the privacy of individuals.

The College has in place steps to protect the personal information the College holds 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

The College 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 the College by contacting the Principal’s Secretary at any time. Preferably this should be done in writing.

The National Privacy Principles require the College not to store personal information longer than necessary.

You have the right to check what personal information the College holds about you

Under the Commonwealth Privacy Act, an individual has the right to obtain access to any personal information that the CSO or College holds about them and to advise the CSO or College of any perceived inaccuracy. There are some exceptions to this right set out in the Act. Pupils will generally have access to their personal information through their Parents.

To make a request to access any information the College holds about you or your child, please contact the College’s Principal in writing. The College may require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require. The College may charge a fee to cover the cost of verifying your application and locating, retrieving, reviewing and copying any material requested. If the information sought is extensive, the College will advise the likely cost in advance.

Consent and rights of access to the personal information of pupils

The CSO and College respects every Parent’s right to make decisions concerning their child’s education.

Generally, the College will refer any requests for consent and notices in relation to the personal information of a pupil to the pupil’s Parents. The College will treat consent given by Parents as consent given on behalf of the pupil, and notice to Parents will act as notice given to the pupil.

Parents may seek access to personal information held by the College about them or their child by contacting the College 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 College’s duty of care to the pupil.

The College may, at its discretion, on the request of a pupil grant that pupil access to information held by the College about them, or allow a pupil to give or withhold consent to the use of their personal information, independently of their Parents. This would normally be done only when the maturity of the pupil and/or the pupil’s personal circumstances so warranted.

Enquiries

If you would like further information about the way the CSO or College manages the personal information it holds, please contact the Business Manager.

STANDARD COLLECTION NOTICE

1. The school and the Diocese both independently and through its schools collects personal information, including sensitive information about students and parents or guardians before and during the course of a student’s enrolment at the school. This may be in writing or in the course of conversations. The primary purpose of collecting this information is to enable the school to provide schooling to students enrolled at the school, exercise its duty of care, and perform necessary associated administrative
activities, which will enable students to take part in all the activities of the school.

2. Some of the information we collect is to satisfy the school’s legal obligations, particularly to enable the school to discharge its duty of care.

3. Laws governing or relating to the operation of schools require certain information to be collected and disclosed. These include education, public health and child protection laws.

4. Health information about students is sensitive information within the terms of the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act. We may ask you to provide medical reports about your child from time to time.

5. If we do not obtain the information referred to above, we may not be able to enrol or continue the enrolment of your son/daughter.

6. The school may disclose personal and sensitive information for educational, administrative and support purposes. This may include:

Other schools and teachers at those schools
government departments and agencies
the Catholic Schools Office
Catholic Schools NSW
the Diocese of Broken Bay and its parishes
medical practitioners
people providing educational, support and health services to the school, including specialist visiting teachers, sports coaches, volunteers, counsellors and providers of learning and assessment tools
providers of specialist advisory services and assistance to the school, including in the area of human resources, child protection and students with additional needs
assessment and educational authorities, including the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and NAPLAN Test Administration Authorities (who will disclose it to the entity that manages the online platform for NAPLAN)
people providing administrative and financial services to the school
recipients of school publications, such as newletters and magazines
anyone you authorise the school to disclose information to
anyone to whom the school is required or authorised to disclose the information to by law, including child protection laws
7. Personal information collected from students is regularly disclosed to their parents or guardians. On occasions information such as academic and sporting achievements, student activities and similar news is published in school newsletters, magazines and on our website. This may include photographs and videos of pupil activities such as sporting events, school camps and school excursions. The school will obtain permissions annually from the pupil’s parent or guardian (and from the student if appropriate) if we would like to include such photographs or videos (or other identifying material) in our promotional material
or otherwise make this material available to the public such as on the internet.

8. Parents may seek access to personal information collected about them and their son/daughter by contacting the school. Older students may also seek access to personal information about themselves. However, access may be refused in certain circumstances such as where access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others, where access may result in a breach of the school’s duty of care to the student, or where students have provided information in confidence. Any refusal will be notified in writing with reasons, if appropriate.

9. The school from time to time engages in fundraising activities. Information received from you may be used to make an appeal to you. It may also be disclosed to organisations that assist in the school’s fundraising activities solely for that purpose. We will not disclose your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes without your consent.

10. If you provide the school with the personal information of others, such as doctors or emergency contacts, we encourage you to inform them that you are disclosing that information to the school and why.

11. The school may use online or ‘cloud’ service providers to store personal information and to provide services to the school that involve the use of personal information, such as services relating to email, instant messaging and education and assessment applications. Some limited personal information may also be provided to these service providers to enable them to authenticate users that access their services. This personal information may reside on a cloud service provider’s servers which may be situated outside Australia. Further information about the school’s use of online or ‘cloud’ service providers is contained in the school’s Privacy Policy.

12. The Diocesan Schools System Privacy Policy sets out how to make a complaint about a breach of privacy and how the school will deal with such a complaint.