• Who we are?

  George Watson’s College (“The School”) is managed by the Merchant Company Education Board, a registered Scottish Charity (SC009747). 

  The School’s address is George Watson’s College, Colinton Road, Edinburgh, EH10 5EG.

  George Watson’s College, as a Data Controller, is committed to protecting your personal information. In order to do this, it is important that we explain:

  • What information do we collect about you?
  • Why we collect this information?
  • What we need from you?
  • How do we collect that information?
  • What we do with that information?
  • Who do we share information with?
  • How long do we keep your information?
  • How can you access the information we hold on you?
  • Where do we process and store your information?
  • How do we protect your information?

  This Policy should be viewed in conjunction with, our Website Retention Policy and our Cookie Policy. Together they describe the manner in which we handle your personal information when you visit our website.

  Please note that this policy purely covers the technical interactions that happen to make your experience of the website as good as it can be. If you use the website as a parent, former pupil, member of staff or pupil, or you contact us, apply for a place at the School, ask to be kept in touch with the School, or interaction with us via the website in any other way, you should refer to our Privacy Policy and Data Storage and Retention Policy.

• What information do we collect about you?

  When you visit the website we collect the following types of information:

  • IP address

  If you login we collect:
  Data and time of last login
  Username
  If you contact us (by phone, email or contact form) with a problem about the website we will collect the information you share with us that is necessary to deal with the enquiry. We may need to collect information from other sources in order to provide you with the answer to your question.

• Why we collect this information?

  We gather information to enable us to analyse use of our website, diagnose problems with the website and login issues, personalise your experience on the website, manage your preferences, process financial transactions, and deal with any points you raise.

• What do we need from you?

  We only need the information that is required for the running of the website or to solve issues.

• How do we collect that information?

  Our webserver keeps a log of all requests, and our content management system logs all logins.

• What we do with that information?

  We use it for analysing website usage and solving problems.

• Who do we share information with?

  We never sell and will not share your personal information with any third-party. We may need to share information with our professional advisors.

• How long do we keep your information?

  We keep details submitted via the website for one year, although we may need to keep some information for longer due to legal or business requirements. Computer logs relating to the website will be kept for a year on a rolling basis.

  You can withdraw your consent to us collecting and/or storing your personal information at any time. If you withdraw your consent to us storing your personal information please be aware that we may have to retain a minimal amount of personal data for historical and statistical purposes.

• How you can access the information we hold on you?

  You have the right to access the personal information we hold on you. If you wish to receive a copy you may make a data subject access request to our Data Protection Officer, the Bursar.

  We must confirm your identity before we can release any personal information.

  If the personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, you can ask us to correct it. You can also ask for information to be deleted or removed if there is no compelling reason for George Watson’s College to continue to hold it.

• Where do we process and store your information?

  The personal information collected by the School will be held in electronic and/or physical format on secured systems within the European Economic Area. We will not knowingly transfer your personal information outside of the European Economic Area. We only store physical copies of documents containing your personal information on the School’s premises. Information that we store electronically is retained on systems owned and/or managed by the School.

  Details regarding how we store and manage data can be found in our Data Storage and Retention Policy.

• How do we protect your information?

  This can be found in our Information Security policy.

   

• How to Contact Us

  If you have any questions, comments or requests regarding this Privacy Policy please contact:

  The Bursar / Data Protection Officer
  George Watson’s College
  Colinton Road
  Edinburgh
  EH10 5EG
  or
  dataprotection@gwc.org.uk
  or
  0131 446 6000

• Complaints

  If you are not satisfied with the way that we have handled any of your requests or questions relating to our use of your personal data then you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk/concerns or phone 0303 123 1113.

  The Information Commissioner’s Office is the statutory body responsible for overseeing data protection legislation and law in the United Kingdom.

Privacy Policy