Privacy Policy

Who we are and contact details

  • my-GCSEscience.com (the ‘Site’) is owned by Educational Resources Online Limited (‘EROL’).
  • EROL is registered in England and Wales under company number 09070386.
  • Our registered office address is New Derwent House, 69-73 Theobalds Road, London, England, WC1X 8TA.
  • Our VAT number is 194954456.
  • If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our treatment of your personal information, please do not hesitate to email us at support@my-GCSEscience.com.

 

GDPR compliance

This Privacy Policy has been updated as of 23 May 2018 to ensure compliance with GDPR. It should be read in conjunction with our Terms of Use.

EROL is committed to safeguarding the privacy of visitors to the Site and is committed to keeping your personal information secure. This Privacy Policy sets out how we will treat your personal information and how we ensure the security of that personal information.

We will not provide your personal information to any third parties for the purpose of direct marketing.

We do not store any financial information. All financial transactions on the Site are handled via our payment services provider, PayPal. You can review the PayPal Privacy Policy here. We share information with PayPal only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing payments you make via the Site, refunding such payments and dealing with enquiries relating to such payments and refunds.

By using the Site, you confirm that you accept and agree to comply with this Privacy Policy.

 

What information do we collect?

We may collect, store and use the following personal information: Email address, username, school, whether you are a student, parent or teacher, and (if a student) whether you are in Year 9, 10 or 11. We also collect information relating to any subscription transactions carried out on the Site.

We do not collect first name, family name, date of birth, gender, mobile phone number or address.

We collect activity data about you, including how often you log in to the Site, which videos you watch and whether you have labelled those videos red/amber/green.

 

Cookies

A cookie is a small file sent by a web server to a web browser and then stored by the browser. This enables us to distinguish you from other users of the Site. Cookies help us to provide you with a smooth browsing experience.

We use cookies which, for example, allow you to log into password-protected areas of the Site and remember your preferences.  We also use cookies which allow us to monitor the number of visitors to the Site.

We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of this website. Using cookies, Google Analytics generates statistical, anonymised data (not identifiable to a specific person) about use of the Site. This includes country and city, browser type and version, operating system, length of visit, page views, website navigation. This information is stored by Google and is used to create reports about use of the website. This helps us identify how to resolve any errors and identify in advance when large numbers of students will be using the website. In turn, this means we can provide a smooth browsing experience and sufficient server power to cover spikes in demand.  Google’s privacy policy is available here.

 

How do we use your personal information?

Personal information submitted to us via the Site will be used to:

  • administer the Site,
  • improve your browsing experience by personalising the website,
  • facilitate your use of the resources available on the website,
  • provide you with access to a subscription purchased via the website,
  • send you educational information, including blogs, relating to GCSE Science,
  • send you marketing communications (from which you can unsubscribe at any time),
  • provide third parties with anonymised statistical information: this information will not be used to identify any individual user,
  • deal with enquiries made by or about you relating to the Site,
  • keep the Site secure and stable and prevent fraud or cyber attacks,
  • verify compliance with the terms and conditions governing the use of the website,
  • assess compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, and
  • manage and administer EROL.

 

Disclosure of personal information to third parties

We will not disclose your personal information to third parties, except:

  • to the extent that we are required to do so by law,
  • in connection with any ongoing or prospective legal proceedings,
  • in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention),
  • to the purchaser (or prospective purchaser) of any business or asset that we are (or are contemplating) selling, and
  • to an individual or organisation that is obliged to comply with relevant privacy and confidentiality legislation. For example student usage data may be supplied to a teacher or school, or to a parent.

Where you submit personal information for publication on our website (for use as a testimonial, for example) we will publish and otherwise use that information in accordance with the licence you grant to us.

 

Email addresses provided as part of school subscriptions

Email addresses provided by users who have signed up via a school subscription are stored on the Site and used as follows:

  • for the password recovery system (which will be only be initiated by the user),
  • to deliver educational information, notably blogs, relating to GCSE Science, and
  • to inform users of important notices regarding the website.

Email addresses provided via a school subscription will not be used for marketing communications or for gathering personal information.

Security and safeguarding of your personal information

As a condition of employment/engagement, EROL’s employees/consultants are required to follow all applicable laws and regulations, including in relation to data protection law. Access to personal information is limited to those employees/consultants who require access.

When you contact My GCSE Science, you may be asked for personal information, typically your username. This safeguard is designed to ensure that only you, or someone authorised by you, has access to your personal information.

EROL’s web hosting provider is The Positive Internet Company Ltd (‘Positive’). EROL’s web development and design agency is Redwire Design Ltd (‘Redwire’).

 

Information sharing

SSL certificates encrypt all communications between Positive’s web servers and the user’s browser. This safeguards data communication between the Site and the user. The Site’s web servers can only be accessed by nominated engineers at Positive and nominated web developers at Redwire using SSH keys. Protections are in place to ensure third parties are unable to gain access to Positive’s servers.

Information storage

Positive’s hosting environment is based in the EEA. Personal data is stored in a separate database server that can only be accessed via the web servers or web interface and is protected with two separate passwords. The website Content Management System (CMS) is continuously updated with security releases by Redwire. The web servers and database servers are kept up-to-date with security patches by Positive.

Information backup

Positive’s data backup environment is based in the EEA. The database server is backed up nightly and saved on a dedicated drive which sits on the same box as the web servers. Backups are kept for 7 days and then automatically destroyed by deleting the backup data from the relevant databases.

 

How long is the information kept?

My GCSE Science resources are suitable for students in Year 9, Year 10 and Year 11. Student users can maintain the same user accounts through Year 9, Year 10 and Year 11 covering their entire GCSE course. Unless expressly requested by the student, all student user data is deleted at the end of a student’s Year 11. Consequently, data is kept for a maximum of three years before being destroyed.

 

Your rights

You have the right to obtain the personal information we store on your behalf and, in addition, the following rights which you can exercise free of charge:

  • The right to request that we delete your personal information from our database, unless we need to retain that information to comply with a legal obligation,
  • The right to request that we amend your personal information if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
  • The right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection regulator if you think that any of your rights have been infringed.

You can exercise your rights by contacting us at support@my-GSCEscience.com. In the UK, the data protection regulator is the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”)

 

Designated representative

EROL has appointed a designated representative as Data Protection Officer (DPO). If you have any questions or concerns about EROL’s handling of your personal information, our DPO can be contacted via support@my-GCSEscience.com.