Who we are

This work is being carried out by RM Education Ltd on behalf of the Department for Education (DfE). For the purpose of data protection legislation, the DfE is the data controller for the personal data relating to pupils and students processed as part of the School and College Checking Website; RM Education is the data processor for the personal data relating to users of the Website.

How we will use the information

The DfE publish school and college performance measures each year. The publication of performance measures provides an easily accessible source of information on attainment and progress in schools and colleges.

The performance measures are published on the find school performance service. They report on the performance of primary (key stage 2),secondary (key stage 4) and 16 to 18-year-olds at the end of study in schools and colleges.

The background information we publish about a school or college is taken from the Get Information About Schools (GIAS) website.

For users of the School and College Checking Website, we receive your personal data directly from you or from the headteacher of your school or college.

We receive personal data for pupils and students from schools and colleges via Awarding Organisations, the School Census (key stages 2 and 4, and 16 to 18-year-olds), and the Individualised Learner Record (16 to 18-year-olds).

The aim of the School and College Checking Website is to ensure data held and published by DfE is accurate and of the highest possible quality.

Headteachers and other users representing schools and colleges check that the correct pupils and students are attributed to the school or college for the purpose of calculating performance measures and to propose amendment requests as required, where there is a clear reason and evidence to do so.

The nature of the personal data we will be using

For users of the Website, the categories of your personal data that we will be using for this project are:

• Forename and surname
• Username
• Email address
• Role

Personal data relating to pupils/students:

• name
• unique pupil number
• unique learner number
• candidate number
• pupil matching reference numbers
• Forvus ID (allows secure correspondence between RM and schools/colleges about individual pupils/students)
• characteristics (gender, ethnicity, first language, FSM eligibility)
• special educational needs (SEN provision)
• placement / enrolment details (e.g., establishment, start date, attendance pattern, reason for placement)
• absence and exclusions, including date of permanent exclusion; timing and outcome of any review process; the DfE number or name and postcode of the educational establishment pupil went on to
• attainment (KS1, KS2, KS4, KS5)
• children’s services interactions (children in need, looked after children, adopted from care)
• attendance registers
• pupil’s date of arrival in the country
• country in which pupil is now residing
• date pupil was added to the school roll
• details explaining why a pupil is continuing with the key stage if one or more end-of-key stage 2 assessments are to be deferred
• DFE Number and name of school to which a pupil has moved (if pupil left the registered school before the end of key-stage tests)
• date pupil was removed from school roll (if pupil left the registered school before the end of key-stage tests)
• a copy of the parental letter withdrawing the pupil from school (in relation to elective home education)
• evidence from the governing body, MAT or local authority giving the timing of the move and the reason why the pupil was placed in the school (in relation to safeguarding/fair access protocol arrangements)

in relation to a pupil/student ‘missing education’:

• efforts to locate pupil
• evidence from the local authority that a pupil is missing in education
• when a pupil was reported to the police as missing
• reason for pupil missing from education (if known)
• awareness of pupil sitting key stage 4 qualifications

in relation to an application to amend/add a student’s results:

• provisional examination results or vocational award slip
• examination or vocational award certificate
• written confirmation from examining board or awarding organisation of revised grade or withdrawal
• evidence of transmission of a withdrawal request if no confirmation available

Special category data relating to pupils/students:

• ethnicity
• first language
• characteristics (gender, ethnicity, first language, FSM eligibility)
• special educational needs (SEN provision)

in relation to a pupil/student’s long-term/terminal illness:

• letter or statement from a medical professional or Local Authority
• details of support provided to pupil by school
• % of time spent in attendance
• details of home or hospital tuition
• name of the hospital where the pupil was an inpatient and unable to study
• dates when the pupil was an inpatient, or held in a secure hospital under the Mental Health Act

in relation to criminal offences:

• date of incident
• crime reference number
• police report
• restrictions put in place which prevented pupil accessing education
• alternative education provided
• dates spent in prison/remand centre/secure unit
• details of prison/remand centre/secure unit

in relation to exceptional circumstances for a pupil/student with English as an Additional Language:

• details of any large gap between the pupil arriving from overseas and being placed in an English school, for example awaiting immigration status.
• name of interim school while awaiting immigration status
• confirmation of the pupil's immigration status
• name of interim school while awaiting refugee status
• confirmation of the pupil's refugee status
• date of arrival in England
• country of origin

Why our use of the personal data is lawful

In order for our use of the personal data to be lawful, we need to meet one (or more) conditions in the data protection legislation. For the purpose of this project, the relevant conditions are:

• Article 6(1)(e) UK GDPR, to perform a public task as part of our function as a department
• Article 9(2)(j): processing is necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes in accordance with Article 89(1) based on Union or Member State law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject

Who we will make your personal data available to

We sometimes need to make personal data available to other organisations. These might include contracted partners (who we have employed to process your personal data on our behalf) and/or other organisations (with whom we need to share your personal data for specific purposes).

For users of the Schools and Colleges Checking Website, where we need to share your personal data with others, we ensure that this data sharing complies with data protection legislation. For the purpose of this project, we will share your personal data with:

• RM Education Ltd
• Mailjet – who are contracted to carry out the work on behalf of DfE

Where we need to share the personal data for pupils and students with others, we ensure that this data sharing complies with data protection legislation. For the purpose of this project, we will share pupils’ and students’ personal data with:

• RM Education Ltd

How long we will keep your personal data

Website user accounts are reviewed on an annual basis. Where a user account has not been active for over a year these will be deleted. Where a head teacher account has not been active for over a year and the head teacher email address held for the checking website account no longer matches the head teacher email held in GIAS, these accounts will be deleted

Personal data for pupils and students is collected, and processed, for research and statistical purposes in the public interest to promote the education and well-being of children in England. Anonymised data is retained for an indefinite period subject to ongoing reviews determining that the data remains necessary for the purposes for which it was originally collected.

Your data protection rights

More information about how the DfE handles personal information is published here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/about/personal-information-charter

Under the Data Protection Act 2018, you are entitled to ask if we hold information relating to you and ask for a copy, by making a ‘subject access request’.

For further information and how to request your data, please use the ‘contact form’ in the Personal Information Charter at
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/about/personal-information-charter
under the ‘How to find out what personal information we hold about you’ section.

If you need to contact us regarding any of the above, please do so via the DfE site at:
https://www.gov.uk/contact-dfe
Further information about your data protection rights appears on the Information Commissioner’s website at:

Individual rights | ICO

Last updated

We may need to update this privacy notice periodically so we recommend that you revisit this information from time to time. This version was last updated on 15/12/2022.

Contact Info:

If you have any questions about how your personal information will be used, please contact us at https://www.gov.uk/contact-dfe and enter School and College Checking website as a reference. For the Data Protection Officer (DPO) please contact us via gov.uk and mark it for the attention of the ‘DPO’.

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