INFORMATION
PRIVACY AMENDMENT (PRIVATE SECTOR) ACT 2000
Australind Senior High School PRIVACY POLICY
This statement outlines Australind Senior High School’s policy concerning its management of personal information provided to, or collected by, the School.
The School is bound by the National Privacy Principles contained in the recent amendments to the Commonwealth Privacy Act.
The School may from time to time review and update this Privacy Policy to take account of new laws and technology, changes to the School’s operations and practices and to make sure it remains appropriate to the changing school environment.
a) Collection of Personal Information
The type of information the School collects and holds, embraces (but is not limited to) personal information, including sensitive information about:
• Students and parents and/or guardians (“Parents”) before, during and after the
course of a student’s enrolment at the School;
• Job applicants, staff members, volunteers and contractors; and
• Other people who come into contact with the School.
Personal Information provided by Parents and Students: The School 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, the School 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: The School is not bound by the National Privacy Principles, and this Privacy Policy does not apply, in relation to the School’s treatment of an employee record where the treatment is directly related to a current or former employment relationship between the School and the employee.
b) Use of the personal information provided
Students and Parents: In relation to personal information of students and Parents, the School’s primary purpose of collection is to enable the School to provide quality schooling for its pupils. This includes satisfying both the needs of Parents and the needs of the student throughout the whole period the student is enrolled at the School.
The purposes for which the School uses personal information of students and Parents include:
• Keeping Parents informed about matters related to their child’s schooling, through correspondence, newsletters and magazines; • Day-to-day administration; • Looking after students’ educational, social and medical well-being; • Seeking donations and marketing for the School; • Satisfying the School’s legal obligations and allowing the School to discharge its duty of care.
In some cases where the School 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.
Images of the School’s students, staff, alumni and visitors are used in many instances via the School’s Magazine, Newsletters, Website and other public relations material, for both internal and external promotion of the School and its activities. Parents opposed to having their son/daughter’s image used in external publications are asked to advise the School in writing. The School will not, however, use photographs of students in newspaper advertisements or promotional literature, brochures etc, without the express consent of parents.
Job Applicants, Staff Members and Contractors: In relation to personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors, the School’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 School uses personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors include:
• Administering the individual’s employment or contract, as the case may be;
• For insurance purposes;
• Seeking funds and marketing for the School;
• Satisfying the School’s legal requirements.
Volunteers: The School also obtains personal information about volunteers who assist the School in its functions or conduct associated activities such as (alumni associations), to enable the School and the volunteers to work together.
Marketing and Fundraising: The School regards marketing and fundraising for the future growth and development of the School as an important part of ensuring that the School continues to be a quality learning environment in which both pupils and staff thrive. Personal information held by the School may be disclosed to an organization that assists in the School’s fundraising, for example, the School’s Development or Alumni organisations.
Parents, staff, contractors and other members of the wider School community may from time to time receive fundraising information. School publications such as newsletters and magazines, which include personal information, may be used for marketing purposes.
c) Disclosure of personal information.
The School may disclose personal information, including sensitive information, held about an individual to:
• Another school;
• Government departments;
• Medical practitioners;
• People providing services to the School, including specialist visiting teachers and sports coaches;
• Recipients of School publications, including newsletters and magazines; • Parents; and
• Others who have been so authorized.
Sending information overseas: The 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 eg: International Baccalaureate Students); or
• Otherwise complying with the National Privacy Principles.
d) Sensitive information
In referring to “sensitive” personal information, the School means: information relating to a person’s racial or ethnic origins, political opinions, religion, trade union or other professional or trade association membership, sexual preferences or criminal record 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 agreed otherwise, or where the use or disclosure of that sensitive information is allowed by law.
e) Management and security of personal information
The School’s staff are required to respect the confidentiality of students’ and Parents’ personal information and the privacy of individuals.
The School has in place steps to protect the personal information the School 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.
f) Updating personal information
The School 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 School by contacting the School’s Privacy Officer at any time.
The National Privacy Principles require the School to store personal information no longer than necessary.
g) Checking personal information held by the School.
Under the Commonwealth Privacy Act, an individual has the right to obtain access to any personal information which the School holds about them and to advise the School of any perceived inaccuracy. There are some exceptions to this right, set out in the Act. Students will generally have access to their personal information through their Parents.
To make a request to access any information the School holds about you or your
child, please contact the School’s Privacy Officer in writing.
The School may require verification of identity and details of what information is required. The School may charge a fee to cover the cost of verifying the application and locating, retrieving, reviewing and copying any material requested. If the information sought is extensive, the School will advise the likely cost in advance.
h) Consent and rights of access to the personal information of students
The School respects every Parent’s right to make decisions concerning their child’s education.
Generally, the School will direct any request for consent and notices in relation to the personal information of a student, to the student’s Parents. The School 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 the School about them or their child by contacting the School’s Privacy Officer. However, there will be occasions when access is denied such as 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.
The School may, at its discretion on the request of a student, grant that student access to information held by the School about them, or allow a student to give or withhold consent to the use of their personal information, independently of their Parents. This would normally be done only when the student involved had reached 18 years of age, but the School could do so in other circumstances when the maturity of the student and/or the student’s personal circumstances so warranted.
