Privacy, GDPR & Data Safety
Clear rules for the safe use of National Attendance Portal interactive tools, attendance analysis resources and Netlify-hosted applications.
Do not enter, upload or share information that identifies a child, young person or adult.
National Attendance Portal interactive tools are provided solely to assist with attendance analysis, reflection, professional learning and improvement planning.
No personally identifiable information about a child or young person should be entered into, uploaded to, copied into or transmitted through a National Attendance Portal interactive tool.
No safeguarding or child-protection information should ever be entered, uploaded, stored or shared through these tools.
No sensitive personal information relating to a pupil, learner, parent, carer, member of staff or other adult should be entered into these tools.
Anonymous attendance information only.
If the information identifies somebody, could reasonably be used to identify somebody, contains safeguarding material, or contains sensitive personal information, do not enter it into the tool.
Attendance support — not case-record storage.
National Attendance Portal tools are designed to help schools, trusts, colleges, local authorities, professionals, parents and carers understand and improve attendance.
The tools may support data analysis, strategic reflection, self-evaluation, professional development, planning and organisational improvement.
Never enter or upload:
- Pupil or learner names
- Child or learner initials where identification is possible
- Dates of birth
- Home addresses
- Personal email addresses
- Personal telephone numbers
- Parent or carer names
- Photographs
- NHS numbers
- National Insurance numbers
- Passwords or login credentials
- Identifiable MIS reference numbers
- Safeguarding concerns
- Child-protection information
- Safeguarding disclosures
- Social-care records
- Police information
- Criminal allegations
- Detailed SEND casework
- EHCP documents
- Detailed medical records
- Mental-health records
- Medication information
- Detailed family circumstances
- Confidential employment information
- Any special-category data not genuinely anonymous
- Any other information capable of identifying a person
Use anonymous information such as:
- Whole-school attendance percentages
- Whole-college attendance percentages
- Aggregated year-group information
- Anonymous cohort information
- Persistent-absence percentages
- Severe-absence percentages
- Anonymous trend information
- Anonymous comparison data
- Aggregated trust information
- Aggregated college information
- Non-identifiable professional scenarios
- Anonymous intervention trends
- Anonymous attendance categories
- Information from which no person can reasonably be identified
Five data-safety checks.
Remove identifiers
Strip out names and any other fields that could identify an individual.
Minimise information
Only use the minimum anonymous information needed for the task.
Remove sensitive material
Do not include safeguarding, health, SEND casework or confidential information.
Check authority
Make sure use of the data is authorised by your organisation.
Protect outputs
Store downloaded reports and analysis appropriately and securely.
Never upload a raw MIS export.
Before using an attendance-analysis tool, create a separate, genuinely anonymous dataset containing only the information needed for the analysis.
If a dataset cannot be made genuinely anonymous, it should not be uploaded to the National Attendance Portal.
Never enter safeguarding information.
National Attendance Portal tools must not be used to record, analyse, store or transmit safeguarding disclosures, child-protection information, allegations, social-care records, police information or other safeguarding case information.
Safeguarding information should only be recorded and managed through the approved safeguarding arrangements and secure systems of the relevant school, college, trust, local authority or responsible organisation.
Do not use the Portal as a repository for sensitive case information.
Attendance work can intersect with SEND, disability, physical health, mental health, family circumstances, social care and other sensitive matters.
The National Attendance Portal may provide general tools, guidance and professional frameworks relating to such barriers, but this does not mean that detailed identifiable case information should be entered into an interactive tool.
Browser-based processing.
Some National Attendance Portal tools perform calculations, scoring, analysis or report generation directly within the user's web browser.
Where an individual tool specifically states that information is processed locally within the browser, it has been designed so that information entered for that calculation is not intentionally submitted to the National Attendance Portal for storage.
This does not change the rule that only anonymous information should be used.
Some National Attendance Portal resources are hosted using Netlify.
Netlify is a web-hosting and application platform used to deliver some National Attendance Portal interactive resources.
Security
Review Netlify's published information regarding platform security and security controls.
Netlify Security ↗Privacy
Read Netlify's published Privacy Statement.
Netlify Privacy ↗GDPR
Read Netlify's published information concerning GDPR and privacy compliance.
GDPR information ↗Data processing
Review Netlify's information concerning data-processing arrangements.
Processing information ↗Schools, trusts, colleges, local authorities, employers and other organisations remain responsible for ensuring that their use of information complies with applicable data-protection requirements and their own policies.
Your organisation remains responsible for its information.
A school, trust, college, local authority, employer or other organisation using National Attendance Portal resources remains responsible for ensuring that staff and representatives use information lawfully, appropriately and securely.
Ensure there is an appropriate lawful basis for any personal-data processing undertaken separately by your organisation.
Be clear about why information is being processed.
Use only the information genuinely required.
Protect datasets, downloads and reports appropriately.
Do not retain information longer than necessary.
Ensure relevant processing is consistent with organisational privacy information.
Users must follow these data-safety instructions.
By choosing to use a National Attendance Portal interactive tool, the user is responsible for following the instructions displayed on this page and any additional warning displayed beside the individual tool.
Users must not knowingly, deliberately or negligently enter, copy, upload or transmit identifiable information, safeguarding information or sensitive personal information where the Portal has expressly instructed that this must not be done.
Organisations using the Portal should ensure that staff authorised to use interactive tools understand these conditions.
Responsibility where instructions are disregarded.
SENDsational Education Ltd provides clear instructions that identifiable personal information, safeguarding information and sensitive personal information must not be entered into National Attendance Portal interactive tools.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, SENDsational Education Ltd cannot accept responsibility for a data breach, unauthorised disclosure, loss, misuse or other data incident caused by a user's deliberate, wilful or negligent failure to follow these instructions.
This includes circumstances in which a user knowingly uploads, enters, copies or supplies identifiable, safeguarding, confidential or sensitive information contrary to warnings provided by the National Attendance Portal.
The school, trust, college, local authority, employer or other organisation responsible for the user remains responsible for its own information-governance arrangements and for ensuring appropriate staff practice.
Tools support professional thinking. They do not replace it.
National Attendance Portal tools can help users analyse, reflect, structure conversations and identify possible priorities.
They do not replace professional judgement, safeguarding procedures, statutory responsibilities, medical advice, legal advice, specialist assessment or individual case management.
Data protection is taken seriously.
The National Attendance Portal and Attendance Magazine are operated by SENDsational Education Ltd.
SENDsational Education Ltd is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office.
71–75 Shelton Street
Covent Garden
London
WC2H 9JQ
Questions or concerns about privacy?
If you have a question about privacy, data protection, personal information or use of National Attendance Portal interactive resources, please contact Kate.
Further guidance.
Official Information Commissioner's Office guidance on the data-protection principles.
Open guidance ↗ ICO Data minimisationGuidance about ensuring personal information is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary.
Open guidance ↗ ICO Lawfulness & transparencyOfficial guidance concerning lawful, fair and transparent processing.
Open guidance ↗ LEGISLATION Data Protection Act 2018Access the legislation through the official UK legislation website.
View legislation ↗Do not enter or upload information that identifies or could identify a child, young person or adult.
Do not enter safeguarding information, medical records, SEND casework, confidential family information or other sensitive personal information.
National Attendance Portal interactive tools are for attendance support only.