Privacy Policy

What is a privacy policy?

A privacy policy simply summarises everything we do to keep the data we collect from you safe. It’s important to us that we safeguard your privacy so we only collect the minimum information needed to provide you with a professional service. This privacy policy explains what information the information is that we collect, how it's collected and how we use it.

To protect your data we have to meet the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018. This has strict rules on what information we have to provide you with and the things we can do. You can find out more about this further down the page, as well as on the Information Commisioner’s Office website.

We've tried to explain our privacy policy in a simple way but the GDPR rules mean there’s quite a lot we have to tell you about. If there’s anything that confuses you, or if you have any questions, just contact us. We’re keen to treat the privacy of our customers in the way we would want to be treated and if there’s something you think we can do better just let us know.

Who are we?

We’re just a small company of two people, Paul and Julie Boyd, and together we use the brand names of Boyd Education and BoydCreate. We are what is known as a ‘controller’ of the personal data you provide us with.

Our websites are Boyd Education and BoydCreate (this website).

What information do we collect when you send a general query?

If you contact us with a query you won’t automatically be added to our mailing list.
Your original email may be kept but only as a way of recording the communication between us.

What information do we collect when you book a course or buy a resource?

If you book a course or buy a resource we collect your name, address and email address in order to process your order. This information is retained for our tax and legal reasons. If you've paid for a resource or course yourself your home address will also be kept for the same reasons.
If you book and pay online your payment information is processed via PayPal. We don’t receive any financial details and PayPal don’t pass your information onto anyone. You can see PayPal's privacy policy here.
Your name & address details will never be passed onto anyone (note that some Boyd Education courses are co-branded with The Design and Technology Association and for these courses information may be shared with them).
You're never added to our mailing list just because you purchased something from us (unless you request this) and any communication will only be about the booking or purchase you made or other areas of legitimate interest.
We keep a database of who attended courses as this helps us review and evaluate our work (this only includes your name, school and the course you attended). This also enables us to contact you, if for example there’s is an updated version of a course resource, or an error in a course resource that we weren’t previously aware of.
When you book a course a course you can choose to give us a telephone contact number. This isn’t compulsory but allows us to contact you in an emergency if there's a problem outside of school hours e.g. trainer illness, bad weather. Your phone number is never logged anywhere apart from on the original course booking form you send us and it is never added to our database.
When you attend a course you will be given the option to sign up to our mailing list and you will complete a consent form giving us permission to add you. A record of this has to be kept by us to comply with GDPR.

What information do we collect when you sign up to our newsletter mailing list?

You are only added to our newsletter mailing list if you signed up for it using the sign up form or if you attended a course and signed a paper consent form.
If you sign up to our mailing list we collect your name and email address so that we can send you information on products, courses, resources and other updates. We also collect the name of your school and the postcode as this helps us identify updates that might be relevant to your particular area of the country. This also helps us avoid sending out unnecessary notifications.
This information is collected via a company called Mailchimp and we also use them to send out our newsletter updates. Mailchimp allows you to subscribe and unsubscribe quickly and easily from our mailing list which means you are in control at all times.
Your information is held by Mailchimp securely and they don't sell your details to anyone. We also keep the details that Mailchimp collects on own encrypted database because it's a legal requirement that we log your agreement to be on our mailing list.
Mailchimp enables us to look at statistics, for example, which newsletters are the most popular, and this helps us monitor the quality and relevance of what we send out. You can see Mailchimps privacy policy here.
We carefully monitor emails we send to our mailing list as we know it's irritating to have a full inbox especially when it’s the same email over and over again. Some companies send the same email several times as a ‘reminder’ (apparently it’s a standard marketing tool to send the same thing 3 times, as that’s the average time it takes for someone to take a follow up action). We don’t do that as we like to treat others as we want to be treated and we find repeat emails a nuisance. Each email we send is therefore different, and we only send it once, and then we don’t bother you again unless we have something different to say.
You can unsubscribe to our mailing list at any time. Just click on the ‘unsubscribe’ link in one of our update emails and all of the details you registered when you signed up are immediately deleted. You can also email us at any time to request to be removed from our mailing list.

What information do we collect when you enter a competition?

If you're a teacher who participates in our competitions we collect your name, school name and phone number, as well as your email address on the application form. This enables us to organise the competition e.g. to contact you if a student wins a prize or if we need verification of a competition entry. Your details are not used to contact you for any other reason and they're not added to our mailing list (unless you tick the box that asks us to do this). The details on the application form are kept securely in case we need to contact you, for example, if the work features in a magazine.
If one of your students wins a prize we like to include your name and school in the announcements, and on the website as well as in publicity material but you would always be asked your consent for this first.
If you're the parent of a young person who enters one of our competitions we collect your name, your child’s name, their school name and your phone number, as well as your email address. This enables us to organise the competition e.g. to contact you if your child wins a prize. Your details will not be used to contact you for any other reason and they are not added to our mailing list. The consent forms and details are kept securely in case we need to contact you, for example, if the work features in a magazine.
When a young person enters one of our competitions we collect their name so their entry can be identified, as well as their year group so we can check they qualify for the competition. We never enter into any communication with any student and this is always done via the parent or school.
If a young person wins a prize their first name, school and their work will be featured in announcements about the competition, on the website, as well as in publicity material. A parent will always be asked for consent first for this information to be used. The consent forms and details are kept securely in case we need to contact you, for example, if the work features in a magazine.
Any prize a young person wins is sent to the school via the teacher who entered the student into the competition.

What information do we collect when you visit the website?

Our website uses cookies to collect information, for example the types of pages people are viewing. This helps us improve the website and your experience. We don’t use cookies to target advertising or marketing at individuals. You can easily disable cookies although this might impact on how you can view some pages.

To disable cookies change your browser settings to reject cookies. This will depend on the browser you’re using and instructions for some popular browsers are included below.

Google Chrome

Click on Settings then Advanced
Under "Privacy and Security" click “Content Settings”.
Click “Cookies”

Safari

Choose Preferences then Privacy
Click on “Remove all Website Data”

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Choose the “tools” menu then “Internet Options”
Click on “privacy”
Select the appropriate setting

How can you access your information?

You have the right to request details about the personal information we hold on you and you can also request your information be changed or deleted at any time.

If you feel your data has not been handled appropriately, or if you want anything changing, we're keen to rectify the problem as soon as possible. If you aren’t satisfied with our response you can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office

To contact us about any of these things email info@boydcreate.com

Changes to our privacy policy

We regularly review our privacy policy to ensure you're given the best service. If there are significant changes made that might impact on individuals you will be contacted.

More about GDPR

GDPR is a good thing as it gives everyone more rights to control the data that companies collect, along with how they can use our data. In a nutshell it covers 8 rights for individuals and this is what our privacy policy is based on:

The right of access – Individuals can request access to their personal data free of charge as well as asking how it’s used.
The right to be forgotten – Individuals can ask to be deleted.
The right to data portability – Individuals can transfer or move their personal data between service providers.
The right to be informed – Individuals must know how their data is collected, and be able to consent to it being used.
The right to rectification – Individuals are entitled to have personal data rectified if it inaccurate or incomplete.
The right to restrict processing – Individuals can restrict how their personal data is used.
The right to object – Individuals have the right to object to how data is used.
Rights related to automated decision making and profiling - Individuals have the right to know when a decision has been taken about them without human intervention.

Find out more about GDPR on the Information Commisioner’s Office website.