Privacy Policy / Cookies Policy / T&Cs


Privacy Policy

Star Academies is committed to protecting your privacy, and we take our responsibilities regarding the security of user information very seriously. This policy complies with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (Reg. No. Z3350256). This Privacy Policy sets out how we comply with both UK and European Union data protection requirements. We have structured our website so that you can visit without identifying yourself or revealing any personal information. Once you choose to provide us with any information by which you can be identified, it will be used only to process enquiries that you have raised.

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required to do so by law. You may ask that your details be removed from our system by writing to the address below. In instances where you have provided your consent to us to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw it at any time. Should you wish to exercise your right to withdraw your consent, please contact:

Head of Governance and Corporate Services
Data Protection Officer
Star Academies
Shadsworth Road
Blackburn, BB1 2HT

or email regulatory@staracademies.org

What if you think we have incorrect information or you would like a copy of the information we hold about you?

You may request details of personal information which we hold about you. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please contact the Data Protection Officer at the above address.

If you believe that any information we are holding about you is incorrect or incomplete, please contact the Data Protection Officer. Any incorrect information will be corrected promptly.

You also have the following statutory rights in certain circumstances in relation to the personal data that we are processing about you:

  • the right to object to processing when we are relying on a legitimate interest to process your information or are using it to directly market to you
  • the right to restrict processing when you have exercised your right to object or believe our records need correcting
  • the right to erasure when we hold your data but have no compelling reason to continue to do so
  • the right to rectification when the information about you is factually incorrect
  • the right to have your information packaged and transmitted to you or others. This right applies in limited circumstances when you have provided the information to us and we are processing it with your consent or under a contract. We must also be processing the requested information by automated means
  • the right to be informed about how we collect and use your information, along with the rights you have over your information.

Should you wish to exercise any of these rights in relation to the information that we are processing about you, please contact our Data Protection Officer using the details set out above.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure we have put in place suitable technical and organisational measures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online. Should we engage a third party to perform a processing activity on our behalf, we will ensure that equivalent security measures are in place and engage them under a contract that meets the requirements under data protection law.

We do not transfer your information outside of the European Union.

Other websites

This website may contain links to enable you to visit other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site you should note that we do not have any control over any other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting other sites and such sites are not governed by this Privacy Policy. You should exercise caution and read the Privacy Policy applicable to the website in question.

The basis of processing

By using this website you are actively engaging with us to provide us with information about enquiries you may have. As a publically funded multi-academy trust, we will use the information you provide us in the performance of a task in the public interest. We will also collect information about you through your use of our website in relation to your usage which is further described in our Cookies Policy. By accessing our website you are consenting to the collection and use of this information by us for the purposes described above. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies.

If we decide to change our Privacy Policy, we will post the changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and in what circumstances we disclose it.


Cookies Policy

Information about cookies

We are aware of our responsibility to protect your privacy. As part of this responsibility, we let you know what information we collect using cookies when you use our websites, why we collect it and how we use it to improve your experience. You should read this policy in conjunction with the Privacy Policy for our website.

What is a cookie?

Cookies are small files that allow a website to recognise and track users. They consist of simple text files of letters and numbers which are downloaded to your computer or mobile device when you visit our website.

Most cookies will not collect information that personally identifies you. They will collect more general information such as how users arrive at and use our website, or a user’s general location.

How we use cookies

We use cookies to provide you with a positive experience when you browse through our website. Cookies measure how many people use our website so that we can make it easier to use and ensure there’s enough capacity to make pages load quickly.

Generally, our cookies perform up to three different functions:

  • Strictly Essential Cookies – These are cookies that are required for our website to operate properly. They enhance the site’s functionality and provide you with an optimal experience as a website user. They also allow you to make use of our online systems, for example, our online “Contact” form. Without essential cookies, our site won’t function properly, and if you set your internet browser to reject all cookies, then some elements of the site may not work for you.
  • Third Party Cookies – These are cookies found in other companies’ internet tools which we are using to enhance our site. For example, we have the school’s Twitter feed on our home page, and use Google Maps to show where our school is located. We have no control over the cookies set by Twitter or Google. You can visit https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-cookies to find out more about how Twitter uses cookies, or https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies to find out more about how Google uses cookies.
  • Analytical/Performance Cookies – These are cookies that allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to the website and see how visitors move around the website when they are using it. We use Google Analytics cookies to track anonymous usage statistics and do not collect any personal information that can be used to identify you. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

Concerns about cookies

While there are many legitimate uses for cookies to improve convenience and efficiency, some uses of cookies can lead to privacy concerns. These concerns typically emerge when a cookie holding personal information identifying you (e.g. name, email address, postal address etc.) is used across multiple sites to track users and internet usage. Star Academies does not use cookies to hold any personal information or track users across multiple sites.

How you can withdraw your consent to the use of cookies

If you do not consent to the use of cookies on our website, you can exit our site now, or you can choose to disable/block cookies through your browser’s settings and continue to use our site without cookies. You can learn how to disable cookies, or how to remove cookies that have already been set on your computer/mobile device, via the following link: https://www.allaboutcookies.org/verify

Disabling cookies will, however, impact on the functionality of our website and you may find that some pages fail to display correctly or some of our interactive features do not work for you.

For any queries relating to the use of cookies, please contact our Data Protection Officer:

Head of Governance and Corporate Services
Data Protection Officer
Star Academies
Shadsworth Road
Blackburn, BB1 2HT

or email regulatory@staracademies.org

Hotjar

We use Hotjar to understand how you use our website through Hotjar services such as heatmaps and recordings.  Hotjar allow us to record mouse clicks, mouse movements, and page usage (including page scrolling) and pages visited.  The Hotjar privacy policy explains more about how data is collected and kept safe.

Through the Hotjar tracking code embedded on our website, the information collected includes device-specific data and log data.

The following information may be collected as part of a Hotjar recording:

  • your device’s IP address (collected and stored in an anonymised form)
  • device screen size
  • device type (unique device identifiers) and browser information (including operating system)
  • the country you are in
  • referring URL and domain
  • pages visited, page scrolling, mouse clicks, and mouse movements
  • date and time when web pages were accessed

 

Name Description Expiry
_hjSessionUser{site_id} Hotjar cookie that is set when a user first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the Hotjar User ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behaviour in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID. 365 days
_hjSession{site_id} A cookie that holds the current session data. This ensures that subsequent requests within the session window will be attributed to the same Hotjar session. 30 minutes
_hjSessionTooLarge Causes Hotjar to stop collecting data if a session becomes too large. This is determined automatically by a signal from the WebSocket server if the session size exceeds the limit. Session
_hjSessionRejected If present, this cookie will be set to ‘1’ for the duration of a user’s session, if Hotjar rejected the session from connecting to our WebSocket due to server overload. This cookie is only applied in extremely rare situations to prevent severe performance issues. Session
_hjSessionResumed A cookie that is set when a session/recording is reconnected to Hotjar servers after a break in connection. 365 days
_hjTLDTest When the Hotjar script executes we try to determine the most generic cookie path we should use, instead of the page hostname. This is done so that cookies can be shared across subdomains (where applicable). To determine this, we try to store the _hjTLDTest cookie for different URL substring alternatives until it fails. After this check, the cookie is removed. Session
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample This cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that user is included in the data sampling defined by our site’s pageview limit. 30 minutes
_hjIncludedInSessionSample This cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that user is included in the data sampling defined by our site’s daily session limit. 30 Minutes
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress This cookie is used to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a true/false flag set by the cookie. 30 Minutes
_hjFirstSeen This is set to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether this was the first time Hotjar saw this user. It is used by recording filters to identify new user sessions. Session
_hjViewportId This stores information about the user viewport such as size and dimensions. Session
_hjRecordingEnabled This is added when a recording starts and is read when the recording module is initialized to see if the user is already in a recording in a particular session. Session

The information is never used to identify individual users or match it with other data.

You can opt out of Hotjar tracking by turning on the Do Not Track header in your web browser.

Information will be retained by Star Academies for three months before being securely deleted.

 

Further information on cookies

For more information about how to manage cookies and their uses visit About Cookies.

For information regarding the updated law on cookies visit the ICO.


Terms and Conditions

1. Website operator

1.1 This website is operated by Star Academies (“Operator”). Our company is registered in England – registration number is 07353849. Our registered office is at Shadsworth Road, Blackburn BB1 2HT UK. You can telephone us on 0330 313 9800 or email us at info@staracademies.org. The Operator is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (Reg. No. Z3350256)

2. Licence

2.1 Star Academies grants you a non-exclusive licence to use this website solely upon the following terms and conditions.

2.2 We may terminate this licence at any time without notice.

2.3 We amend these terms from time to time. Every time you wish to use our site, please check these terms to ensure you understand the terms that apply at that time.

3. Materials in website

3.1 This website contains material which is owned by or licensed to the Operator. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance and graphics. It is protected by intellectual property laws including, but not limited to, copyright.

3.2 You may view, use, download and store the material on this website for personal use or for the purpose of conducting business with us and only in strict compliance with these terms. Commercial use is not permitted. The re-distribution, re-publication, or otherwise making available of the material on this website to third parties, without our prior written consent is prohibited.

3.3 If you print off, copy or download any part of our site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

3.4 Unauthorised use of this website may give rise to a claim for damages and/or be a criminal offence.

4. Accuracy of information

4.1 The information contained within this website is given in good faith and for general information and interest only. It is subject to change without notice. We are not responsible for any inaccuracies and (except as set out in clause 6.3) make no representation and give no warranty as to its accuracy.

4.2 The information contained within this website should not be relied on and does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation. By using this website you confirm that you have not relied on any such information. Any arrangements made between you and any third party named or referred to on the website are entirely at your sole risk and responsibility.

5. Linking

5.1 This website may contain links to other websites. We accept no responsibility or liability for the content of other websites or any personal data which they obtain from you. These third party websites are not under our strict control. Any link is not intended to be, nor should be construed as, an endorsement of any kind by us of that other website.

5.2 You may not create a link to this website from another website or document without our prior written consent.

6. Liability

6.1 We do not guarantee that use of this website will be compatible with all hardware and software which may be used by visitors to the site.

6.2 Except as set out in clause 6.3, we will be under no liability to you whatsoever whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, restitution or otherwise for any injury, death, damage or direct, indirect or consequential loss (all three of which terms include, without limitation, pure economic loss, loss of profits, loss of business, depletion of goodwill and like loss) howsoever caused arising out of or in connection with the use of this website or the use, accessing, downloading or relying on any information or other materials contained in this website, including, without limitation, as a result of any computer virus.

6.3 These terms and conditions do not exclude our liability (if any) to you for personal injury or death resulting from our negligence, for fraud or for any matter which it would be illegal for us to exclude or to attempt to exclude our liability.

7. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy forms part of these terms and conditions.

8. Complete agreement

These terms and conditions (including the Privacy Policy referred to in clause 7) contain all the terms which you and the operator have agreed in relation to the use of the website.

9. Jurisdiction and acceptance of these terms and conditions

9.1 This website is controlled and operated by the Operator, from our offices in England.

9.2 The formation, existence, construction, performance, validity in all aspects whatsoever of these terms and conditions or of any term of these terms and conditions or any dispute in relation to the materials contained in this website shall be governed by English law.

9.3 The English courts shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any disputes which may arise out of or in connection with these terms and conditions or use of the website.

9.4 Your continued use of this website indicates and evidences your acceptance of these terms and conditions. If you do not agree to these terms you must not use our website. We recommend that you print a copy of these terms for future reference.


Copyright Statement

Our logo, together with our other product and brand names and logos are the intellectual property of Star Academies and may not be reproduced without its prior written permission. All designs, text and graphics are owned by or licensed to us or our content and technology providers.

ALL RIGHTS IN THE SAME ARE RESERVED.

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