PRIVACY POLICY & GUIDELINES

Policy

The purpose of the policy is to detail how Australian Christian College protects your privacy and how we comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act and the 13 Australian Privacy Principles.

Privacy Guidelines

What kind of information does the college collect?

Personal Information including names, addresses and other contact details; dates of birth; next of kin details; financial information, photographic images and attendance records.
Sensitive Information (particularly in relation to student and parent records) including religious beliefs, government identifiers, nationality, country of birth, languages spoken at home, professional memberships, family court orders and criminal records.
Health Information (particularly in relation to student and parent records) including medical records, disabilities, immunisation details, individual health care plans, counselling reports, nutrition and dietary requirements.
Personal information you provide- The college will generally collect personal information held about an individual by ways of forms filled out by parents or students, face-to-face meetings, interviews, telephone calls etc.
Personal information provided by others In some circumstances the college may be provided with personal information about an individual from a third party, e.g. a report provided by a medical professional or a reference from another college.

How will the college use the personal information you provide?
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. The purposes for which the college uses personal information of students and parents include:

To keep parents informed about matters related to their child's schooling, through correspondence, newsletters, magazines and reports
Day-to-day administration
Looking after student's educational, social and medical well-being
Seeking donations and marketing for the college
To satisfy the college's legal obligations and allow the college to discharge its duty of care

Storage & Security of Personal Information
We store personal information in a variety of formats including on databases, in hard copy files and on personal devices including laptop computers, mobile phones, cameras and other recording devices.
The security of your personal information is of importance to us and we take all reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold about you from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

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

Another college, as required;
Government departments;
Medical Practitioners;
People and/or companies providing services to the college
Recipients of college publications, like newsletters and magazines;
Parents and anyone you authorise the college to disclose information to.

How will the college treat sensitive information?
Sensitive information 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 a criminal record and health information.
Unless you agree otherwise, or is allowed by law, sensitive information will be used and disclosed only for the purpose for which it was provided or a directly related secondary purpose.

Disclosure of personal information to overseas recipients
We may disclose personal information about an individual to overseas recipients in certain circumstances, such as when we are organising an overseas excursion, facilitating a student exchange, or storing information with a “cloud computing service” which stores data outside of Australia.

How to update your 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 college administration at any time.

How to gain access to your personal information we hold
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. Requests to access any information the college holds about individuals are to be made in writing to the Principal.

The college may require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require. The college will charge an hourly fee to cover the cost of verifying your application and locating, retrieving, viewing and copying any material requested. If the information sought is extensive, the college will advise the likely cost in advance.

A Parent may seek access to personal information held by the college and about them or their child by contacting the Principal. However, there will be occasions when access is denied pursuant to exceptions under the Privacy Act. 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.

How to make a complaint
An individual whose personal information is/has been held by the college may lodge a complaint in writing to the Principal about an act or practice of the college which the individual believes to be inappropriate or unlawful.

The principal will investigate the complaint and a decision will be made concerning the complaint and the complainant will be advised in writing of the result of the investigation within 30 days of the complaint.

Should the complainant be dissatisfied with the college’s response, the complainant can make a complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Version
3.0

Review
2016 or as required