This website at www.acs-schools.com is operated by ACS. ACS is registered in England and Wales under company number 910010, and the registered office is located at Heywood, Portsmouth Road, Cobham, Surrey, KT11 1BL. ACS is registered charity number 1179820 in the United Kingdom.
ACS is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as ACS International Schools under registration number ZA483023.
Legal foundations
ACS complies with the relevant national data protection regulations. ACS is committed to keeping personal information accurate, up-to-date, safe, secure and will not keep personal information longer than necessary.
For the UK Data Protection Act 2018, as amended by Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA), ACS is the data controller.
Protection of personal data
ACS commits to ensuring that personal data is:
- processed fairly, lawfully and in a transparent manner
- collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes
- adequate, relevant and not excessive
- accurate and up to date
- not kept for longer than is necessary
- kept securely and protected from unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures.
Collecting personal and sensitive category information
ACS collects personal information and sensitive categories of personal information of
students, parents, staff and relevant third parties, to provide a safe and caring
environment for teaching, learning and general educational purposes in line with our philosophy and core values. ACS uses the information provided to it for purposes that are necessary by law and required to undertake the performance of the Parent Contract.
Retention and storing of personal data
Data retention is managed in line with legitimate business purposes and according to a schedule defined by our policy, which reflects UK legal requirements and recommended practice for record retention by the Information and Records Management Society and the NSPCC (for Safeguarding records).
Consent
ACS will inform data subjects when consent to process personal information is required, and consent may be withdrawn at any time. Under the Data Protection Act, in England a person is deemed capable of giving or removing consent from the age of thirteen. Parents or legal guardians can give consent for the processing of the personal data of children under the age of thirteen. Withdrawal of consent may be done by contacting the ACS Data Protection Officer at [email protected].
Sharing student information
ACS may share data with other organisations including:
- Schools, colleges or universities that students attend after leaving ACS
- Local Aducation Authorities in Surrey and in the London Borough of Hillingdon, including Child Protection and Social Services authorities police or other organisations, to perform their public tasks, and other recognised legitimate interests
- family nurses, doctors or social service organisations where sharing is in the public interest, or where not sharing could have a negative impact on the individual
- Department for Education (DfE)
providers of information systems that are necessary for ACS to deliver admissions, administration, teaching and learning, pastoral development, and child protection services - third parties for school trips/outings.
Sharing staff information
ACS is required to share information about school employees with the local authority (LA) and the Department of Education (DfE) under section 5 of the Education (Supply of Information about the School Workforce) (England) Regulations 2007 and amendments.
Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)
ACS collects information in the form of CCTV to ensure the safety and security of students and staff. Anyone whose image is captured on ACS CCTV cameras has the right to access the images of themselves. ACS retains CCTV images for 30 days after which they are deleted, in line with our CCTV Policy. Access to these images can be requested through the Data Protection Officer at [email protected].
Processing and Transfer of Data
Personal information may be transferred to organisations outside the UK and outside the EU for the purposes of student application for college or university. Various teaching and learning applications are also used that are based outside the UK. Information on transfers and the protections afforded by these data processors can be requested from the Data Protection Officer at [email protected].
Automated Profiling
ACS’s IT systems profile the use, access and content viewing of all users to assess child protection and safeguarding (pastoral) risks or concerns. ACS has a process in place to ensure only those with the relevant training and expertise have access to the data generated by this processing activity.
IT Systems
For the purposes of IT hosting and maintenance, all school information including personal data is located on servers within the school, or within hosted servers provided by our service providers. ACS ensures the third party maintains an equivalent level of protection of that data to that of ACS. ACS aspires to process the minimum amount of data necessary to deliver its services.
More information on technical protections can be requested via the ACS Data Protection Officer at [email protected].
Cookies
ACS uses cookies on our website.
Requesting access to personal data
Requests for personal information access should be made to the ACS Data Protection Officer at [email protected]. Data Subject Access Requests must be reasonable and proportionate, and large requests are subject to a production fee payable in advance.
Complaints
If you have concerns about the way ACS is collecting or using personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer ([email protected]). ACS will acknowledge complaints within 30 days and respond without undue delay.
Concerns and/or complaints may also be raised with the Information Commissioner’s Office (https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/data-protection-complaints/).
