News

Many schools in Brighton may have received a Freedom of Information Request relating to the ‘Racial Literacy training 101’ as part of the Brighton & Hove Educators of Colour Collective (BHECC) and the councils Community Advisory Group (CAG).

The National Cyber Security Centre has today upgraded it's advice to schools relating to the prevalence of cybers attacks in the sector:

We've looked at the importance of an adequacy decision to allow the free-flow of data between the United Kingdom and Europe in our earlier articles on Brexit. Finally, although in reality quite quickly, we have a decision - with draft adequacy decisions from the European Commission.

These protocols aim to ensure that online lessons with pupils when working from home, are safe, secure and continue to provide high-quality education using a virtual platform. 

This is guidance for setting up and managing online lessons using the school’s chosen platform ie  Zoom; Google or Microsoft teams.

We've had some questions now that the privacy notice in the COVID-19 National Testing Programme: Schools & Colleges handbook has been published.

The link to the Handbook seems to be broken, but we have a copy here:

Purely from a data protection perspective!

There are various provisions around data in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Users of Class Dojo will recently have noticed that a requirement to provide consent for international data transfers was included to the login screen.

It is a requirement under the Freedom of Information Act and ICO to set out your commitment to making certain classes of information routinely available, such as policies and procedures, minutes of meetings, annual reports and financial information.

Updated 22 March 2021

The ICO gives the following advice when communicating privacy matters to children:

What information should we give to children?

Transparency is about being clear, open and honest with your users about what they can expect from you.

As we all know, on 31 December 2020, the Transition Period (sometimes also referred to as the “Implementation Period”) under the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement will come to an end. And one of the areas still in the mix is data protection, so what is the status now and what changes?

We've had a few questions recently about parents and students recording conversations with members of staff, both covertly or overtly without seeking permission. This article only covers recordings made by external individuals, not organisations or individuals acting on behalf of an organisation.

Download our latest flyer:

We know the jargon can be confusing. As can the timelines for responding to the various requests that you receive.

Is it a month? Or 30 days? Are those working days?

So here's a little chart to simplify everything:

The ‘Five Eyes’ is an alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Its purpose is to provide a multilateral agreement for military and security focussed intelligence.

UPDATE 08/10/20 11:00am

WisePay are sending emails to all affected customers with a secure download link containing the lists of affected users. 
These are customers who used a payment card between Friday 2nd and Monday 5th October.

Press Release:

GDPR in Schools and Data Protection Education join forces to provide enhanced data protection services to schools

We've recently had more than one breach reported where physical files have got lost in the post.

In such cases, the sender remains the data controller and is responsible for ensuring that the optimum data security measures are in place during transfer. Where possible, consider whether a physical drop-off (and get a receipt) is a more secure option.

The National Cyber Security Centre, a part of GCHQ, is supporting educational establishments to keep criminals out of their networks after a spike in ransomware attacks. The rise in attacks was recorded in August as cybercriminals turn their attention to a sector focused on the return of students.

According to the Government's scientific group Sage the risk of coronavirus to pupils in the classroom is "very, very small, but not zero” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52770355 and Sage have published documents about the safety and impact of reopening English schools,

{slider Department for Education}

Email:
DfE.coronavirushelpline @education.gov.uk

Telephone:

0800 046 8687

Open Mon-Fri from 8am to 6pm and weekends from 10am to 4pm

{slider Guidance for Parents and Carers}

Opening schools to more pupils from the 1 June 2020 (DfE update 11.5.20)

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