Schools First Privacy Policy

Respecting your privacy and the law

The privacy of your personal information is important to us at Schools First. We are committed to respecting your right to privacy and protecting your personal information. We are bound by the National Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) and any relevant Health Privacy Principles under State legislation1, as well as other applicable laws and codes affecting your personal information. Our staff are trained to respect your privacy in accordance with our standards, policies and procedures.

"Schools First" refers to a community initiative established by National Australia Bank Limited, AustraliaCares, The Foundation for Young Australians and the Australian Council for Educational Research Limited (ACER).

About this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy outlines how we manage your personal information. It also describes generally the sorts of personal information held and for what purposes, and how that information is collected, held, used and disclosed.

Our Privacy Policy applies to all your dealings with us whether, through a workshop or via our website. However, further privacy information may apply in addition to the matters discussed in this Privacy Policy (see, for example, Our Websites below).

We encourage you to check our website regularly for any updates to our Privacy Policy.

Collecting your personal information

If you are acquiring or have acquired a product or service from Schools First, it will collect and hold your personal information for the purposes of:

• providing you with the relevant product or service
• managing and administering the product or service
• protecting against fraud where it is a banking and finance, or insurance, product or service.

Schools First may also collect your personal information for the purpose of letting you know about products or services from its partners or promotions or other opportunities in which you may be interested.

The information collected may include your name, postal address or email address, or other information Schools First considers necessary.

We will, if it is reasonable or practicable to do so, collect your personal information from you. This may happen when you fill out a registration form or when you give us personal information through the Schools First website.

Using and disclosing your personal information

In line with modern business practices, we may disclose your personal information to the organisations described below. Where your personal information is disclosed we will seek to ensure that the information is held, used or disclosed consistently with the National Privacy Principles, any relevant Privacy Principles under State legislation and other applicable privacy laws and codes.

The relevant organisations are those

• involved in providing, managing or administering your product or service such as third party suppliers, printers, posting services, call centres,
• which established Schools First who wish to tell you about information pertaining ONLY to the Schools First initiative, except where you tell us not to
• involved in maintaining, reviewing and developing our business systems, procedures and infrastructure including testing or upgrading our computer systems
• involved in a corporate re-organisation
• involved in a transfer of all or part of the assets or business of a Schools First entity
• as required or authorised by law, for example, to government or regulatory bodies for purposes, the prevention or detection of unlawful activities or to protect public revenue
• where you have given your consent.

Protecting your personal information

We store information in different ways, including in paper and electronic form. The security of your personal information is important to us and we take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse and loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Some of the ways we do this are:

• confidentiality requirements for our employees
• document storage security policies
• security measures for systems access
• providing a discreet environment for confidential discussions
• only allowing access to personal information where the individual seeking access has satisfied our identification requirements
• access control for our buildings

Your privacy on the Internet

Our Website

We take care to ensure that the personal information you give us on our websites is protected. User identifiers, passwords or other access codes may also be used to control access to your personal information.

Links to Other Sites

You may be able to access external websites by clicking on links we have provided. Those other websites are not subject to our privacy standards, policies and procedures. You will need to contact or review those websites directly to ascertain their privacy standards, policies and procedures.

Gaining access to your personal information

You can gain access to your personal information. This is subject to some exceptions allowed by law. Factors affecting a right to access include:

• access would pose a serious threat to the life or health of any individual
• access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others
• a frivolous or vexatious request
• the information relates to a commercially sensitive decision making process
• access would be unlawful
• access would prejudice enforcement activities relating to criminal activities and other breaches of law, public revenue, a security function or negotiations with you keep
• legal dispute resolution proceedings keep
• denying access is required or authorised by or under law

We will give you reasons if we deny access.

Contact us to get a form requesting access (see Contacting Us below).

Your sensitive information

Without your consent we will not collect information about you that reveals your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs or affiliations, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, details of health, disability, sexual orientation, or criminal record.

This is subject to some exceptions including:

• the collection is required by law
• When the information is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim.

Resolving your privacy issues

If you have any issues you wish to raise with Schools First, or would like to discuss any issues about our Privacy Policy, then you are able to do so a number of ways:

• You are always welcome to speak directly to our staff and they will do their best to resolve your issue. If investigation is required we will keep you advised of progress. If staff are unable to resolve the matter, it will be escalated as appropriate to facilitate resolution.
• You can email your issue to info@schoolsfirst.edu.au

Contacting Us

For more information about our Privacy Policy, please email us at info@schoolsfirst.edu.au. For more information about privacy in general, you can visit the Federal Privacy Commissioner's website.