Privacy Policy

Your Privacy is Important
This statement outlines how Methodist Ladies’ College uses and manages personal information provided to, or collected by it. Like most schools and businesses, the College is bound by the National Privacy Principles included in the Commonwealth Privacy Act. This privacy Policy will be regularly reviewed and updated to take account of new laws and technology, changes to the College’s operations and practices, and to ensure the Policy is appropriate for the changing College environment.

What kind of personal information does the College collect and how does the College collect it?
The type of information the College collects and holds includes (but is not limited to) personal information, including sensitive information about:

• Students and parents and/or guardians (“Parents”) before, during and after the course of a student’s enrolment at the College;
• Job applicants, staff members, volunteers and contractors; and
• Other people who come into contact with the College.

Personal Information you provide: The College will generally collect personal information held about an individual by way of forms filled out by Parents or students, face-to-face meetings and interviews, and telephone calls.

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 professional or a reference from another School.

Exception in relation to employee records: The College is not bound by the National Privacy Principles, and this Privacy Policy does not apply, in relation 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. The privacy of employment records is dealt with by other specific legislation.

How will the College use the personal information you provide?
The College will use personal information it collects from you for the primary purpose of collection, and for such other secondary purposes that are related to the primary purpose of collection and reasonably expected, or to which you have consented.

Students and Parents: In relation to personal information of students and Parents, the College’s primary purpose of collection is to enable the College to provide Schooling for your child. This includes satisfying both the needs of Parents and the needs of the student throughout the whole period the student is enrolled at the College. The purposes for which the College uses personal information of students and Parents include:

• To keep Parents informed about matters related to their child’s Schooling, through correspondence, newsletters and magazines;
• Day-to-day administration;
• Looking after students’ educational, social and medical well being;
• Seeking donations and marketing for the College; and\
• To satisfy the College’s legal obligations and allow the College to discharge its duty of care.

In some cases where the College requests personal information about a student or Parent, if the information requested is not obtained, the College may not be able to enroll or continue the existing enrolment of the student. 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) to engage the applicant, staff member or contractor, as the case may be.

The purposes for which the College uses personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors include:
· In administering the individual’s employment or contract, as the case may be;
· For insurance purposes;
· Seeking funds and marketing the College; and
· To satisfy the College’s legal requirements.

Volunteers: the College also obtains personal information about volunteers who assist the
College in its functions or conduct associated activities, such as (alumni associations), to enable the College and the 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 continues to be a quality- learning environment in which both students and staff thrive. Personal information held by the College may be disclosed to an organisation that assists in the College’s fundraising, for example, the MLC Foundation or alumni organisations.
Parents, staff, contractors and other members of the wider College community may from time to time receive fundraising information. College publications, like The Star, general newsletters and other magazines, which include personal information, may be used for marketing purposes.

Who might the College disclose personal information to?
The College may disclose personal information, including sensitive information, held about an individual to:

• Another College;
• Government departments;
• Medical practitioners;
• People providing services to the College, including specialist visiting teachers and sports coaches;
• Recipients of College publications, like newsletters and magazines;
• Parents; and
• Anyone you authorise the College to disclose information to.

Sending information overseas: The College will not send personal information about an individual outside Australia without:

• Obtaining the consent of the individual (in some cases this consent will be implied); or
• Otherwise complying with the National Privacy Principles.

How does the College treat sensitive information?
In referring to “sensitive information”, the College means: information relating to a person’s racial or ethnic origins, political opinions, religion, trade union or other professional or trade association membership, sexual preferences or criminal record, that is also personal information; and health information about an individual. Sensitive information will be used and disclosed only for the purpose for which it was provided or a directly related secondary purpose, unless you agree otherwise, or the use or disclosure of that sensitive information is allowed by law.

Management and security of personal information
College staff are required to respect the confidentiality of students’ and Parents’ personal information and the privacy of individuals. The College has in place steps to protect the personal information the College holds from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure by use of various methods including locked storage of paper records and pass worded access rights to computerised records.

Updating personal information
The College endeavours to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date. A person may seek to update their personal information held by the College by contacting the Director of Corporate Services at any time. The National Privacy Principles require the College not to store personal information longer than necessary, as detailed in the College’s Records Disposal Authority procedure.

You have the right to check what personal information the College holds about you
Under the Commonwealth Privacy Act, an individual 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. There are some exceptions to this right set out in the Act. Students will generally have access to their personal information through their Parents. To make a request to access any information the College holds about you or your child, please contact the Director of Corporate Services in writing. The College may require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require. The College may charge a fee to cover the cost of verifying your application and locating, retrieving, reviewing and copying any material requested. If the information sought is extensive, the College will advise the likely cost in advance.

Consent and rights of access to the personal information of students
The College respects every Parent’s right to make decisions concerning their child’s education.

Generally, the College will refer any request for consent and notices in relation to the personal information of a student to the student’s Parents. The College will treat consent given by Parents as consent given on behalf of the student, and notice to Parents will act as notice given to the student. Parents may seek access to personal information held by the College about them or their child by contacting the Director of Corporate Services. However, there will be occasions when access is denied. Such occasions would include where release of the information would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others or where the release may result in a breach of the College’s duty of care to the student. The College may, at its discretion, on the request of a student grant that student access to information held by the College about them, or allow a student to give or withhold consent to the use of their personal information, independently of their Parents. This would normally be done only when the student involved has reached 18 years of age, but the College could do so in other circumstances when the maturity of the student and/or the student’s personal circumstances so warranted.

December 2001