Last Updated: 20 May 2026
The East Midlands Schools Collaborative (“we,” “our,” or “us”) operates https://eastmidlandsschoolscollaborative.org/ (the “Site”). We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of our users—primarily educators, school leaders, and educational professionals.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal data in full compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
1. The Data Controller
For the purposes of the UK GDPR, the East Midlands Schools Collaborative acts as the Data Controller for the personal data collected via this website.
If you have any questions regarding your data privacy, you can contact us at:
- Email:
rebecca.smith@sdsa.net - Postal Address:
Alliance House, 6 Bishop Street, Leicester. LE1 6AF
2. Information We Collect and Our Legal Basis
Under the UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process your data. Depending on how you interact with our platform, we process data based on Legitimate Interests (to run and improve the collaborative platform), Consent (for newsletters), or Legal Obligation.
- Account Registration: If you register an account to upload or download resources, we collect your name, professional email address, and job title/associated school.
- Uploaded Educational Documents: We host the educational resources, documents, and templates you choose to share. Please note that uploaded files often contain hidden metadata (such as the original author’s name or school network details), which may be visible to anyone downloading the file.
- Technical & Analytics Data: We automatically collect data via cookies and server logs, including your IP address, browser type, and details on which documents are downloaded. This helps us monitor the platform’s performance and understand which educational resources are most valuable.
3. Strict Rules on Safeguarding and Student Data
⚠️ Important Data Protection Rule for Users: The East Midlands Schools Collaborative is designed strictly for sharing professional teaching resources, planning documents, and educational strategies. You must not upload documents that contain “Special Category Data” or identifiable information relating to students (such as student names, grades, behavior records, or photos) without explicit, documented consent from the school and parent/guardian.
If we discover any document containing protected or sensitive student data, it will be permanently deleted immediately to ensure safeguarding compliance.
4. How We Share Your Information
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data. Your information is only shared with trusted third parties who help us run the platform:
- Cloud & Hosting Providers: Security-vetted third parties who store our website files and uploaded documents on secure UK/EEA servers.
- Platform Administrators: Authorized IT personnel or educators within the collaborative network who manage site moderation and copyright/DMCA notices.
- Legal Authorities: If required by law, or to protect the safety and security of schools within our network.
5. Data Retention and International Transfers
- Retention: We keep your account information for as long as your account is active. If you delete an uploaded document, it is removed from our live database, though it may persist temporarily in secure system backups.
- Data Location: Your data is stored on secure servers located within the UK or the European Economic Area (EEA). If any third-party tool processes data outside the UK/EEA, we ensure standard contractual clauses (SCCs) or International Data Transfer Agreements (IDTAs) are in place to safeguard your data.
6. Your Rights Under UK GDPR
As a UK data subject, you have strong legal rights regarding your personal information. You can exercise these at any time by contacting us:
- Right of Access: You can request a copy of all personal data we hold about you (a Subject Access Request).
- Right to Rectification: You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
- Right to Erasure (“Right to be Forgotten”): You can request that we delete your account and associated personal data.
- Right to Restrict or Object: You can object to us processing your data under certain circumstances.
If you believe we have not handled your data appropriately, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s supervisory authority for data protection (www.ico.org.uk).
7. Cookies and Tracking
We use essential cookies to keep you logged into the platform and performance cookies (such as Google Analytics) to generate anonymous download statistics. You can adjust your browser settings to refuse cookies, though some features of the document-sharing hub may stop functioning correctly.
8. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in local education guidelines or data laws. Any updates will be published on this page with a revised “Last Updated” date.