The Catholic school is a reflection of the Church’s commitment to the dignity of the individual (Mandate para 6). It is important for Orana Catholic Primary School to demonstrate this commitment in the manner in which they protect information that they hold about their school community. Orana Catholic Primary School requires information about students and their families in order to provide for the education of these students.
The Privacy Act 1988 directs the manner in which private sector organisations, including Catholic schools and systems, manage the personal and sensitive information of individuals.
The purpose of the legislation is to ensure that organisations, which hold information about individuals, handle that information responsibly. It aims to establish a nationally consistent approach to the management of personal information.
Personal Information – is information which identifies an individual.
Sensitive Information – is information about a person’s religious and political beliefs, sexual preferences, racial or ethnic origin, membership of political associations, philosophical beliefs, criminal record or health information.
Orana Catholic Primary School has a responsibility to use and manage personal and sensitive information collected by them in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988.
Orana Catholic Primary School has a responsibility to inform individuals of the purpose of collecting personal and sensitive information.
All information is collected for the primary purpose of the Catholic education of the student.
Orana Catholic Primary School Privacy Policy is consistent with the principles outlined above.
The Privacy Policy is publicly available.
The Privacy Compliance Manual, prepared for CECWA through the National Catholic Education Commission, shall be used in developing school based documents in order to maintain consistency between schools. The manual can be accessed at:
http://internet.ceo.wa.edu.au/AboutUs/Governance/Privacy/Pages/default.aspx
All forms used by Orana Catholic Primary School to collect personal and sensitive information shall reflect essential information required for the primary purpose of the school. The appropriate collection notice must be attached to each form.
All staff shall be appropriately informed in relation to the Privacy Act 1988.
The Principal shall ensure that all personal and sensitive information held by Orana Catholic Primary School is properly secured.
Principals should note that school based staff are entitled to view and access records on their personnel file.
Any concerns held by an individual regarding possible preaches of privacy rights and/or School’s responsibilities in upholding the Privacy Act should be addressed to the School Principal who will investigate the matter(s). Should the individual not be satisfied with the outcome of the investigation, the School Principal will inform the individual of how to pursue the matter(s) in line with the Dispute & Complaint Resolution Policy of the Catholic Education Commission of WA. The Code of Conduct shall be referred to in addressing all matters.
- Bishops’ Mandate for the Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia, 2009-2015
- National Catholic Education Commission Privacy Compliance Manual
- Privacy Act 1988
- School Education Act 1999
- Children & Community Services Act 2004
- 2- D1 Dispute & Complaint Resolution Policy
- Orana Catholic Primary School collects personal information, including sensitive information about pupils, parents or guardians before and during the course of a pupil’s enrolment at the school. This may be in writing or in the course of conversations. The primary purpose of collecting this information is to enable the School to provide schooling to the student and to enable them to take part in all the activities of the school. Some of the information we collect is to satisfy the School’s obligations, particularly to enable the School to discharge its duty of care.
- Certain laws governing or relating to the operation of schools require that certain information is collected. These include Public Health, School Education Act 1999 and Child Protection laws, including The Children and Community Services Act 2004.
- Health information about students is sensitive information within the terms of the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act. We may ask parents/carers to provide medical reports or assessments about students from time to time.
- If Orana Catholic Primary School does not obtain the information referred to above we may not be able to enrol or continue the enrolment of your son/daughter.
- The school from time to time discloses personal and sensitive information to others for administrative and educational purposes. This includes to other schools, government departments, government agencies, the Catholic Education WA, the Catholic Education Commission, your local Diocese and the Parish and/or schools within other Catholic Dioceses. Information is also disclosed to government authorities such as Schools Curriculum and Standards Authority, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), medical practitioners, people providing services to Orana Catholic Primary School, including specialist visiting teachers, sports coaches, volunteers and counsellors.
- In addition to the agencies and purposes cited above personal information relating to students and parents may also be made available, in accordance with Australian Government requirements, to ACARA for the purpose of publishing certain aggregated school information relating to the circumstances of parents and students on the MySchool website.
- Orana Catholic Primary School may store personal information in the 'cloud' which may mean that it resides on servers which are situated outside Australia.
- Parents may seek access to personal information collected about them and their son/daughter by contacting the School. Pupils may also seek access to personal information about them. However, there will be occasions when access is denied. Such occasions would include where access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others, where access may result in a breach of the School’s duty of care to the pupil, or where pupils have provided information in confidence.
- If you provide the School with the personal information of others, such as doctors or emergency contacts, we encourage you to inform them that you are disclosing that information to the School and why and that they can access that information if they wish and that the School does not usually disclose the information to third parties.
- On occasions information such as academic and sporting achievements, student activities and similar news is published on our School App and on our website.
- Photographs of student activities such as sporting events, school camps and school excursions may be taken for publication in our School App or on our website. Parents have the option for their children to fully opt out of any published photographs or images – this form is sent out at the beginning of the year.