Privacy Policy

Policy Statement

Ceramics Academy and Ceramics Academy CIC are committed to protecting the privacy and security of personal data. This policy explains how we collect, use, retain, and protect personal data in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), Data Protection Act 2018. This policy applies to all data subjects, including employees, contractors, customers, students, members and volunteers.

Definitions for the purpose of the policy

We are Ceramics Academy and Ceramics Academy CIC. All references to “we” “our” “us” or “company” within this statement are deemed to refer to Ceramics Academy and Ceramics Academy CIC.

For your information, Ceramics Academy and Ceramics Academy CIC is the ‘Controller’ of the personal data you provide to us.

‘Experience’ refers to any activity organised by Ceramics Academy and Ceramics Academy CIC.

Data We Collect

The type and amount of personal information we collect depends on the service you are using and your relationship with Ceramics Academy or Ceramics Academy CIC. We only collect personal information that is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed.

Depending on the service provided, we may collect:

Name
Postal address
Email address
Telephone number
Emergency contact details (where provided)
Parent or carer details (where applicable)
Booking and attendance information
Payment information (please note that we do not store card details when processing payments)
Photography consent preferences
Marketing preferences

Depending on your interaction with us, we may also collect information relating to website enquiries, gift voucher purchases and other communications you send to us.

In some circumstances, you may choose to provide us with information about your health, disability or accessibility requirements. For certain Ceramics Academy CIC referral workshops, we may also receive limited health or wellbeing information and accessibility requirements from a referring professional, such as a social prescriber, where this is necessary to support your participation.

We will only collect and use this information where it is necessary to support your participation, provide a safe environment or make reasonable adjustments. We will only process this special category personal data where it is necessary and lawful to do so. It will be treated as confidential and shared only with authorised staff on a need-to-know basis.

How We Collect Data

We collect data from you whenever you contact us, enter it on our website or provide it to us in any other way. For example, if you:

book an experience with us

order goods from us
sign up to receive our email newsletters
contact us about any of our services
apply to work for us, including volunteer roles
take part in our events
enter a competition
post content onto our social media platforms
contact us in any way including, online, email, phone, SMS, social media or post or any other channel or communication available.

Website: when you conduct a transaction on www.ceramicsacademy.co.uk this is via a third party – BookingHound. BookingHound will only collect data that is necessary for the booking and payment process. When visiting the BookingHound server you have the choice to accept or decline cookies. For further information on BookingHound’s Privacy Policy please visit: https://bookinghound.com/privacy-policy/

Social media: depending on your settings or the privacy policies applying to social media and messaging services you use, such as Facebook and Instagram, and only within the context of the services we offer. You might give us permission to access information from those accounts or services by choosing to contact us through these channels. By doing so you give us permissions to access the information we need, via your messages to us only, to provide you with the service you are specifically requesting. We will not access information from these sites for any other reason.

Our website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience, provide essential website functionality and help us understand how our website is used. A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your device when you visit a website. Cookies allow websites to recognise your device and remember information about your visit. Types of Cookies We Use:

Essential Cookies - These cookies are necessary for the operation of our website and cannot be switched off. They enable core functionality such as security, identity verification and network management.

Functional Cookies - These cookies remember your preferences and choices to provide a more personalised experience. Functional cookies will only be used where you have given your consent.

Analytics Cookies - These cookies help us understand how visitors use our website so that we can improve its performance and user experience. The information collected is generally aggregated and does not directly identify you. We use this information solely to improve our website and services and not for advertising or remarketing purposes. Analytics cookies will only be used where you have given your consent.

Marketing Cookies - These cookies may be used to measure the effectiveness of advertising and provide content that may be more relevant to your interests. Marketing cookies will only be used where you have given your consent.

Managing Your Cookie Preferences:

When you first visit our website, you will be presented with a cookie banner allowing you to accept or manage your cookie preferences. Essential cookies are always active because they are necessary for the website to function correctly. Optional cookies will only be used if you choose to enable them

If you wish to change or withdraw your consent after making your initial choice, you can do so by clearing the cookies stored by our website in your web browser and revisiting the website. The cookie banner will then be displayed again, allowing you to update your preferences. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality and performance of our website.

Changes to Our Use of Cookies:

We may update our use of cookies from time to time to reflect changes to our website or legal requirements. Any updates will be published in this Privacy Policy.

How We Use Your Data

We use your data to provide you with the information related to the services you requested. We may use your data in the following ways:

Providing you with the information or services you have asked for.
Sending you communications with your consent that may be of interest, using data we have transferred to Mailchimp, including marketing information about the services and experiences we provide, subject to your consent.
When necessary for carrying out our obligations under any contract between us, including sale of goods.
Maintaining our organisational records and ensuring, where appropriate we have an emergency contact number for our weekly students and members.
Analysing the operation of our website. We may use software tools to measure and collect session information, including page response times, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information, and methods used to browse away from the page to improve the website and its usefulness.
Processing job applications.
Ensuring we are following our safeguarding policy and the procedures and processes necessary for keeping adults and children safe.
Ensuring we follow Health and Safety guidelines and keeping all our customers, staff and volunteers safe from injury or ill health.

Our Legal Basis for Processing Your Information

Personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner and only for specified purposes.

We process your personal information using one or more lawful bases under UK GDPR, depending on the purpose for which it is collected. These include:

Contract – where processing is necessary to provide the services you have requested or to take steps before entering into a contract with you.
Legal obligation – where processing is necessary to comply with our legal responsibilities, including those relating to safeguarding, health and safety, financial record keeping and other regulatory requirements.
Legitimate interests – where processing is necessary for the legitimate interests of Ceramics Academy or Ceramics Academy CIC, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include administering our services, responding to enquiries, investigating complaints or claims and improving our services.
Consent – where you have given us permission to process your personal information, for example to receive marketing communications or where you voluntarily provide certain types of information.

Where we process special category personal data, such as health or accessibility information, we will only do so where an appropriate lawful basis and an additional condition for processing under UK data protection legislation applies.

How We Keep Your Information Safe

We understand the importance of data security and we have taken appropriate steps to safeguard your personal information. We always ensure only authorised persons have access to your information and only if necessary to carrying out the service required.

We have a Data Protection regime in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of data. We have an appointed Data Protection Officer (DPO).

Third Parties

Any links on our website may take you to third party sites over which we have no control. When linking to another website, you should read the privacy policy stated on that website. This policy does not cover the use of your personal data on any third-party websites.

How Long We Keep Your Data For

We will only keep your personal data for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected or to meet our legal, regulatory or contractual obligations. Retention periods vary depending on the type of information held. For example, customer booking records are generally retained for up to three years after the last attendance, while financial records are retained for longer where required by law. Marketing information will be retained until you withdraw your consent or unsubscribe from our communications. We regularly review the personal data we hold and securely delete information that is no longer required.

Your Rights

If you have any concerns about how Ceramics Academy or Ceramics Academy CIC has collected, used or protected your personal data, we encourage you to contact us in the first instance so that we can investigate and try to resolve the matter. A data protection complaint may be made by email, telephone, post or in person. You do not need to use any specific wording.

Please contact our Data Protection Officer by email at info@ceramicsacademy.co.uk

or by writing to Ceramics Academy, Unit 4, Woodlands Enterprise Centre, Pathfields Business Park, South Molton, EX36 3BY.

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint as soon as reasonably practicable and, in any event, within 30 calendar days (including weekends and public holidays) of receiving it. We will investigate your concerns and keep you informed of the outcome.

You have the right to request access to the personal data we hold about you. This is known as a Subject Access Request (SAR). You also have the right to request that inaccurate personal data is corrected and, in certain circumstances, request that your personal data is erased or that its processing is restricted.

A SAR may be made verbally or in writing. To help us process your request as quickly as possible, we recommend that requests are made by email to info@ceramicsacademy.co.uk, although this is not a requirement.

We will respond to your request in accordance with the requirements of UK GDPR. Where necessary, we may ask for proof of identity or clarification of your request before providing the requested information.

If you are not satisfied with our response, or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent authority for data protection. Details of how to make a complaint can be found on the ICO website at www.ico.org.uk.

Review and Monitoring

This policy will be reviewed annually and updated as necessary to reflect any changes in legislation, guidance, or business operations. If we make any significant changes, we will advertise this on our website or via other means, such as email.