ST MONICA'S COLLEGE,
EPPING
PRIVACY
1. RATIONALE
This statement outlines St Monica’s College, Epping, policy on how the College
uses and manages personal information provided to or collected by it.
St Monica’s College is bound by the National Privacy Principles contained in the
Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 and the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act
2000.
The College may, from time to time, review and update this Privacy Policy to
take account of new laws and technology, changes to College’s operations and
practices and to make sure it remains appropriate to the changing College
environment.
2. TYPES OF INFORMATION AND COLLECTION:
The type of information the College collects and holds includes (but is not
limited to) personal information, including sensitive information, about:
2.1 Students and parents and/or guardians before, during and after the course of
a student’s enrolment at the College
2.2 Job applicants, staff members, volunteers and contractors, and
2.3 Other people who come into contact with the College.
Personal Information provided by parents and students:
The College 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. On occasions people other than parents and
students provide personal information.
Personal Information provided by other sources:
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
College's treatment of an employee record, where the treatment is directly
related to a current or former employment relationship between the College and
employee. Privacy Policy - 2 - Approved 19 February, 2012
3. USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
The College will use personal information it collects 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 the
informants have consented.
Students and Parents:
In relation to personal information of students and parents, the College's
primary purpose of collection is to enable the College to provide schooling for
the student. This includes satisfying both the needs of parents and the needs of
the student throughout the whole period the student is enrolled at the College.
The purposes for which the College uses personal information of students and
parents include:
3.1 to keep parents informed about matters related to their child's schooling,
through correspondence, newsletters and magazines;.
3.2 day-to-day administration;
3.3 looking after students' educational, social and medical wellbeing;
3.4 seeking donations and marketing for the College;
3.5 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 student or
parent, if the information requested is not obtained, the College may not be
able to enrol or continue the enrolment of the student.
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:
3.6 in administering the individual's employment or contract, as the case may
be;
3.7 for insurance purposes;
3.8 seeking funds and marketing for the College;
3.9 to satisfy the College's legal obligations, for example, in relation to
child protection legislation.
Privacy Policy - 3 - Approved 19 February, 2012
Volunteers
The College also obtains personal information about volunteers who assist the
College in its functions or conduct associated activities, such as the alumni
association, 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 students 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 alumni 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.
4. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION
The College may disclose personal information, including sensitive information,
held about an individual to:
4.1 another College;
4.2 government departments;
4.3 Diocesan authorities;
4.4 medical practitioners;
4.5 counsellors
4.6 people providing services to the College, including specialist visiting
teachers and sports coaches;
4.7 recipients of College publications, like newsletters and magazines;
4.8 parents; and
4.9 anyone the informant authorises the College to disclose information to.
Sending information overseas:
The College will not send personal information about an individual outside
Australia without:
4.10 obtaining the consent of the individual (in some cases this consent will be
implied); or
4.11 otherwise complying with the National Privacy Principles.
Privacy Policy - 4 - Approved 19 February, 2012
5. TREATMENT OF 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 the informant
states otherwise, or the use or disclosure of the sensitive information is
allowed by law.
6 MANAGEMENT AND SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
The College's staff are required to respect the confidentiality of students' 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.
7. 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 of the College at
any time.
The National Privacy Principles require the College not to store personal
information longer than necessary.
8. ACCESS TO INFORMATION
Under the Commonwealth Privacy Act, an individual has the right to obtain access
to any personal information which the College holds about them and to advise the
College 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, but older students may seek access
themselves. To make a request to access any information the College holds, the
Principal should be contacted in writing.
The College may require the person making the access request to verify their
identity and specify what information is required. The College 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 College will advise the likely cost in advance. Privacy Policy -
5 - Approved 19 February, 2012
9. CONSENT AND RIGHTS OF ACCESS TO THE PERSONAL INFORMATION OF STUDENTS
The 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 student to the student's
parents/guardians. The College 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 College about them
or their child by contacting the 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 student.
The College may, at its discretion, on the request of a student grant that
student access to information held by the College 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
maturity of the student and/or the student's personal circumstances so
warranted.
10. ENQUIRIES:
All enquiries and applications for access should be directed in writing to the
Principal.
11. REVIEW
This policy was approved by the College Board in February 2012 and will be
reviewed in 2015.
No portion of this material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form by any means whatsoever without the prior permission of
the Principal of St Monica’ s College Epping.