Your privacy is important

This policy outlines how Concordia College uses and manages personal information as required by the Australian Privacy Principles (“APPs”) contained in the Privacy Act (1988) (Privacy Act) and in accordance with relevant Australian legislation.

This policy is available on our website (www.concordia.sa.edu.au - view Privacy Policy). A person may also request that the College provide them with a copy of this privacy policy in a different form using the contact details set out below.

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.

Kinds of information the College collects and holds

The type of information the College collects and holds includes (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 College
Job applicants, staff members, volunteers, contractors and international agents who assist us with our activities and functions
Individuals who are involved with activities associated with the College (such as members of the Old Concordians’ Association)

Other people who come into contact with the College

Unless exemptions have been requested, images of students (without attributed family names) may be used in digital and print communications published in the public domain. From time to time, family names will be used in school publications. Every reasonable effort is made to meet parents’ requests for students’ names and/or images to be not published.

Personal information you provide

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.

Under the Privacy Act, the Australian 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.

Personal information provided by other people

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 College.

How the College uses personal information you provide

The College will use personal information collected from you primarily for the purpose it was collected. It may also be used for secondary purposes that are related to the primary purpose of collection and can be reasonably expected, or to which you have consented.

In approaching the issue of privacy, Concordia College considers that the underlying arrangement between the College and Parents is contractual. Parents are engaging the College to provide schooling for their child on the terms agreed by both parties. The College’s authority over the student derives from the enrolment contract with the Parents and its duties at law.

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:

To provide schooling and educational services to students
Looking after students’ educational, social, emotional and medical well-being
To keep parents informed about matters related to their child’s schooling, through correspondence, including reports, newsletters and magazines
For College marketing
Day-to-day administration
Seeking donations for the College
To satisfy the College’s legal obligations and allow it to discharge its duty of care

In some cases where the College reasonably requests personal or sensitive information about a student or parent, if the information requested is not provided, the College may not be able to enrol or continue the enrolment of the student or allow the student to participate in the related activity.

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 could include:

Administering the individual’s employment or contract, as the case may be
For insurance purposes
Seeking funds and marketing for the College
Satisfying the College’s legal obligations, for example, in relation to child protection legislation

Volunteers

The College may use personal information about volunteers who assist the College in its functions, operations or associated activities. This includes but is not limited to, the Parents & Friends Association, Friends of Music and the Old Concordians' Association.

Website Analytics and Cookies

To improve your experience on our website and to assist us with College marketing, we may use 'cookies'. Cookies are an industry standard and most major websites use them. A cookie is a small text file that our site may place on your computer as a tool to log how and when you visit and interact with our site, and to remember your preferences. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser; however, please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.

Our website may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the content and privacy practices of other websites. When you go to other websites from here, we advise you to be aware and read their privacy policy.

Our website uses Google Analytics, a service which transmits website traffic data to Google servers in the United States. Google Analytics does not identify individual users or associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. We use reports provided by Google Analytics to help us understand website traffic and webpage usage.

By using our website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner described in Google's Privacy Policy and for the purposes set out above. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google.

Fundraising

The College treats marketing and the seeking of donations as essential for the future growth and development of the College. Relevant personal information held by the College may be disclosed to an affiliated organisation that assists in the College’s fundraising.

Parents, staff, contractors and other members of the wider College community may from time to time receive fundraising information. An individual may request not to receive such direct marketing communications from the College by contacting us using the contact details below.

Who the College may disclose personal information to

Where appropriate the College may disclose relevant personal information as required by law, including sensitive information, held about an individual to:

Another school, or place of employment
Government departments
Organisations associated with the College e.g. Lutheran Education SA, NT and WA (LESNW), the Association of Independent Schools of South Australia (AISSA)
Medical practitioners
People providing services to the College, including specialist visiting teachers and sports coaches
People providing services on behalf of the College (such as members of the Old Concordians' Association)
Contracted International student agencies
Recipients of College publications, like newsletters and magazines
College’s legal representatives and/or financial collection agency in the event of payment default or legal proceedings
Third party service providers authorised to provide services on behalf of the College. This may include, but is not limited to school photographers and database service providers
Anyone to whom you authorise the College to disclose information

Overseas recipients

The College may from time to time disclose relevant personal information (including sensitive information) regarding international students and their parents/guardians to relevant recipients located in the country where the international student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) are based.

Otherwise, the College will not disclose any personal information about an individual to overseas recipients outside Australia without:

Obtaining the consent of the individual (in some cases this consent will be implied)
Otherwise complying with the APPs and the Privacy Act in relation to such information

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, 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 you agree otherwise, or the use or disclosure of the sensitive information is allowed by law.

Management and security of personal information

In accordance with Australian law, the College’s staff is required to respect the confidentiality of students’ and parents’ personal information and their privacy.

The College has in place steps to reasonably protect the personal information which it holds from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure by use of various methods including locked storage of paper records and password protected access rights to computerised records.

The APPs require the College not to store personal information longer than necessary.

Storage of information

The College may store personal information in the ‘cloud’ which may mean that it resides on servers which are situated outside Australia.

When the College no longer needs personal information it holds, reasonable steps will be taken to destroy the information or ensure that it is de-identified. Exceptions to this are where the personal information is part of a Commonwealth record, or Concordia is required by law or a court/tribunal order to retain the information.

How to obtain access to your personal information

A person may obtain access to their personal information held by the College by contacting the College at any time using the contact details below.

The College will require you to verify your identity and specify in writing what information you require. The College may charge a fee to cover the cost of verifying your 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. Depending on the nature and time of the request, it may take up to six (6) weeks for the information to be made available. Any exceptions will be notified in writing.

Access by students

As required by the law, the College may, in its absolute discretion, grant a student access to personal information (including sensitive 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.

Consent and rights of access to the personal information of students

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. 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.

How to seek variations and corrections to your personal information

The College endeavours to ensure that the personal information (including sensitive information) the College holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

An individual may request that the College update or correct such information held by the College using the contact details set out below. If required the College will update or correct personal information as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving such a request.

Contact us

If you would like further information about the way the College manages the personal information it holds, please contact us during business hours using the following contact details:

The Director of Community Relations
Concordia College Inc.
24 Winchester Street
HIGHGATE SA 5063
Phone: (08) 8272 0444
Email: mail@concordia.sa.edu.au

Adopted: May 2017
Review Date: October 2024