JOHN XXIII COLLEGE
Privacy Policy
September 2002
Drafted in accordance with the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000
1 YOUR PRIVACY IS IMPORTANT
1.1 This statement outlines the policy on how John XXIII College uses and manages personal information provided to or collected by the College.
1.2 The College is bound by the National Privacy Principles contained in the Commonwealth Privacy Act.
1.3 The College may, from time to time, review and update this Privacy Policy to take account of new laws and technology, changes to the College’s and the Catholic Education Office’s (CEO’s) operations and practices, and to ensure it remains appropriate to the ever-changing College environment.
2 WHAT KIND OF PERSONAL INFORMATION DOES JOHN XXIII COLLEGE COLLECT AND HOW DO WE COLLECT IT?
2.1 The type of information the College collects and holds includes personal information, including sensitive information, about:
• Students and parents/guardians before, during and after the course of a student’s enrolment at the College
• Job applicants, staff members, volunteers and contractors
• Other people who come into contact with the College.
2.2 Personal information provided by parents/guardians as well as students: The College will generally collect personal information held about an individual by way of forms completed by parents or students, face-to-face meetings, and notes of interviews and telephone calls.
2.3 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 or other professional or reference from another educational institution.
2.4 Exception in relation to employee records: Under the Privacy Act, the National Privacy Principles do not apply to an employee record. Consequently, the John XXIII College 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 the employee.
3 HOW DOES THE COLLEGE USE THE PERSONAL INFORMATION PROVIDED TO IT BY PARENTS/GUARDIANS, STUDENTS AND OTHERS ?
3.1 The College collects personal information, including sensitive information, for the primary purpose of enabling it to provide proper schooling for its students, and for such secondary purposes which are related to this primary purpose or to which you have consented.
3.2 The purposes for which the College uses personal information of students and parents include:
• keeping parents informed about matters related to their child’s schooling, through correspondence, weekly newsletters, the College Annual
• general day-to-day administration of the College
• caring for students’ educational, social, spiritual and medical well-being
• marketing, seeking donations for the College
• satisfying the CEO’s and the College’s legal obligations and allowing the College to discharge its duty of care.
3.3 Where personal information is requested by the College but not obtained, the College may not, therefore, be in a position to enrol a student or continue the enrolment of a student.
3.4 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, engage the applicant, staff member or contractor, as the case may be.
3.5 The purposes for which the College uses personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors include:
• administering the individual’s employment or contract as the case may be
• insurance
• seeking funds and marketing for the College
• satisfying the College’s legal obligations, for example, in relation to child protection legislation.
3.6 Volunteers: The College also obtains personal information about volunteers who assist it in its functions and in relation to associated activities, such as the Former Students Association, Parents Association, Friends of Music, College Sporting Associations, all of whom contribute to enable the College and such volunteers to work together.
• Marketing and fundraising: The College treats marketing and seeking donations for the future growth and development of the College as an important part of ensuring the College community continues to be a quality teaching and learning environment in which both students and staff thrive. Personal information held by the College may be disclosed to an organisation which assists in the College’s fundraising such as but not limited to, Parents Association, Former Students Association, Independent Fund Raising Companies.
3.7 Parents, staff, contractors and other members of the wider College community may, from time to time, receive fundraising information. College publications such as the weekly newsletter and College Magazine can include personal information which may be used for marketing purposes.
4. TO WHOM MIGHT THE COLLEGE DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION?
4.1 The College may disclose personal information, including sensitive information, held about an individual to:
• another educational institution
• Catholic Education Office
• government departments
• medical practitioners
• Police
• people providing services to the College, including specialist visiting teachers (for example, instrumental music tutors) and sports coaches
• recipients of College publications such as newsletters and the Magazine
• anyone who has received authorisation to have such information disclosed to them
• other parents such as class coordinators and convenors of special functions (class lists, names and contact phone numbers)
• volunteers (at camps, for example)
• bodies and clubs associated with the College.
4.2 The College will not send personal information about an individual outside Australia without:
• first obtaining the consent of the individual (in some instances, this consent will be implied)
• otherwise complying with the National Privacy Principles.
5 HOW DOES THE COLLEGE TREAT SENSITIVE INFORMATION ?
5.1 Sensitive information refers to information relating to a person’s
• Racial or ethnic origin
• Political opinions
• Religion
• Trade union or other professional or trade association membership
• Sexual preferences
• Criminal record
• Health.
5.2 Sensitive information will be used and disclosed only for the purposes for which it was provided or for a directly-related secondary purpose unless the individual directs otherwise or the use or disclosure of the sensitive information is allowed by law.
6 MANAGEMENT AND SECURITY OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
6.1 John XXIII College respects the confidentiality of students’ and parents’/guardians’ personal information and the privacy of individuals. The College will act to protect the personal information it holds from misuse, loss, unauthorised access or disclosure.
6.2 Computerised records: access to computerised records is restricted through the use of a password entry and levels of access.
6.3 Files: student files are housed in vertical filing cabinets in the main office. Files are locked at all times other than during normal office hours.
6.4 Internal modifications may not be made to personal information held either in computerised records or in the vertical file unless authorised specifically by the Principal or the person to whom the Principal has formally delegated such authority.
7 UPDATING PERSONAL INFORMATION
7.1 The College endeavours to ensure the personal information it holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date.
7.2 Personal information held by the College may be updated at any time by the person who provided that information. This is done directly and in writing through the Principal’s secretary during business hours or by email: jtc@johnxxiii.edu.au.
7.3 All personal information is deleted from the College database when that information is no longer necessary. Information will be kept until such time as a former student would have reached the age of twenty-five years. As a general rule, the seven-years statutory limit applies.
7.4 The College may hold records for archival purposes.
8 YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHECK WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION THE COLLEGE HOLDS ABOUT YOU
8.1 Under the Commonwealth Privacy Act, any person – staff, contractor, student, parent/guardian – 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.
8.2 Students have access to any information the College holds about them through their parents/guardians. Older students (16years or above) may access the information themselves (ref 9.4 below).
8.3 Requests for access to all personal information held by the College are to be made in writing to the Principal. You may be required to verify your identity and specify what information you require. The College reserves the right to charge a fee for retrieval of such information if this involves more than the standard procedure. Such a fee would cover the cost of locating, retrieving, reviewing, verifying and copying any material requested.
9 CONSENT AND RIGHTS OF ACCESS TO THE PERSONAL INFORMATION OF STUDENTS
9.1 John XXIII College respects every parents’/guardians’ right to make decisions concerning their child’s education.
9.2 As a general rule, the College will refer any requests for consent and notices in relation to the personal information of a student to that student’s parent/guardian. The College will treat consent given by parents/guardians as consent given on behalf of the student and notice to parents/guardians will act as notice given to the student.
9.3 Parents/Guardians may seek access to personal information held by the College about them or their child by contacting the Principal in writing. However, there will be occasions when access to information will be denied. Such occasions would include where release of information would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others or where the release of such information may result in a breach of the College’s duty of care to the student.
9.4 On the request of a student, the College may, in exceptional circumstances and at the discretion of the Principal, grant that student access to information held by the College about him/her independent of his/her parents/guardians. This would be done only after the College had assessed the relative maturity of the student and/or if the student’s personal circumstances so warranted.
10 ENQUIRIES
10.1 The Principal should be contacted directly should there be any queries about the way the College manages the personal information it holds.
11 Employment Collection Notice
11.1 In applying for this position, you will be providing John XXIII College with personal information. We can be contacted at John XXIII College, PO Box 226, Claremont WA 6910, Tel: (08) 9383 0400; Fax: (08) 9385 2173; email: jtc@johnxxiii.edu.au
11.2 If you provide us with personal information, for example your name and address or information contained on your resume, we will collect the information in order to assess your application.
11.3 You agree that we may store this information for three (3) months (or for a period of time required to make a decision).
11.4 You may seek access to your personal information which we hold about you if you are unsuccessful for the position. However, there will be occasions when access is denied. Such occasions would include where access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others.
11.5 We will not disclose this information to a third party without your consent. We usually disclose this kind of information to any organisation, company or individual which we deem important at the time who are assisting us in our decision-making process.
11.6 We are required to conduct a criminal record check, collect information regarding whether you are or have been the subject of an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) and certain criminal offences under Child Protection law.
11.7 If you provide us with the personal information of others, we encourage you to inform them you are disclosing that information to the College and why, that they can access that information if they wish, that the College does not usually disclose the information to third parties and that we may store their information for three (3) months.
12 Alumni Collection Notice
12.1 The College Alumni may collect personal information about you from time to time. The primary purpose of collecting this information is to enable us to inform you about our activities and the activities of John XXIII College and to keep Alumni members informed about other members and to assist with fundraising activities.
12.2 We must have the information referred to above to enable us to continue your membership of John XXIII College Alumni.
12.3 As you know, from time to time, we engage in fundraising activities. The information received from you may be used to make an appeal to you. It may also be used by John XXIII College to assist in its fundraising activities. If you do not agree to this, please advise us now.
12.4 The College Alumni may publish details about you in our newsletter, magazines and the College's website. If you do not agree to this you must advise us now.
12.5 You may seek access to personal information collected about you by contacting the Principal of the College.
12.6 If you provide personal information to us about other people, we encourage you to inform them of the above matters.