Privacy — The Thinking Academy

CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY

All staff, volunteers, and management members of The Thinking Academy Ltd. will strive to avoid any conflict of interest between the interests of the organisation on the one hand, and personal, professional, and business interests on the other. This includes avoiding actual conflicts of interest as well as the perception of conflicts of interest.

Examples of Conflict of Interests

1. A staff member with decision-making capacity who is related to one of the course delegates.

2. Any member of the assessment team who has an invested interest in any of the delegates.

3. The course tutor acting in the capacity of assignment assessor in addition to the internal verifier.

All members of the delivery team are provided with a copy of the conflict of interest’s policy prior to the commencement of the project, in order to highlight any potential causes of conflict. In the course of meetings or activities, staff members will disclose any interests in a transaction or decision where there may be a conflict between the organisations best interests and the staff member’s best interests or a conflict between the best interests of two organisations that the staff member is involved with. After disclosure, I understand that I may be asked to leave the room for the discussion and may not be able to take part in the decision depending on the judgment of the other committee members present at the time.

Any such disclosure and the subsequent actions taken will be noted in the minutes of the meeting.

This policy is meant to supplement good judgment, and staff, volunteers and management committee members should respect its spirit as well as its wording.

If a learner is dissatisfied with the service that they have received whilst working towards their qualification, then there is a formal complaints procedure that they can follow.

This is not to be confused with the appeals procedure, which is for an appeal against an assessment decision made by an assessor.
(1) detail the issues in writing to the Programme Manager.
(2) an acknowledgement of the complaint will be sent out within 5 working days of receipt and a formal response will be completed within 10 working days.

The Managing Director of The Thinking Academy Ltd will be informed of your issues to allow corrective and preventative actions to be taken. Actions are then reviewed at regular management meetings to analyse the effectiveness of the actions taken and decide whether further corrective action is required.

March 2020

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

If a learner is dissatisfied with the service that they have received whilst working towards their qualification, then there is a formal complaints procedure that they can follow. This is not to be confused with the appeals procedure, which is for an appeal against an assessment decision made by an assessor.
(1) detail the issues in writing to the Programme Manager.
(2) an acknowledgement of the complaint will be sent out within 5 working days of receipt and a formal response will be completed within 10 working days.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive to your complaint, please raise your concern by emailing customer@i-l-m.com and putting complaint in the title of your email. The ILM will respond to your complaint within 48 hours and aim to resolve it within 8 days. The ILM complaints procedure can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/ILMcomplaints

Safeguarding & Equality and Diversity Complaints against Staff

If a complaint is made against a member of staff with regard to an allegation of them undertaking any form of abuse, either through safeguarding or through equality and diversity, the member of staff will be suspended from their role and interviewed within 48 hours of receipt of the complaint, actions taken thereafter will be determined by a full review of each and every individual circumstance fairly and within safe recruitment guidelines and with referral with other agencies as necessary.

DATA PROTECTION POLICY

This data protection policy ensures that The Thinking Academy Ltd:

• Complies with data protection law and follow good practice
• Protects the rights of staff, customers and partners
• Is open about how it stores and processes individuals’ data
• Protects itself from the risks of a data breach

The Data Protection Act 1998 describes how organisations — including [company name]— must collect, handle and store personal information. These rules apply regardless of whether data is stored electronically, on paper or on other materials. To comply with the law, personal information must be collected and used fairly, stored safely and not disclosed unlawfully. The Data Protection Act is underpinned by eight important principles. These say that personal data must:

1. Be processed fairly and lawfully
2. Be obtained only for specific, lawful purposes
3. Be adequate, relevant and not excessive
4. Be accurate and kept up to date
5. Not be held for any longer than necessary
6. Processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects
7. Be protected in appropriate ways

Not be transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA), unless that country or territory also ensures an adequate level of protection. The Data Protection Act 1998 (‘Act’) places obligations on those that control and process information relating to individuals. Whilst this is UK-based legislation, ILM believe it represents best practice and requires all centres to comply with these provisions. ILM requires that The Thinking Academy’s data protection notice allows centres to transfer data to ILM and City & Guilds in relation to personal data for the following purposes:

• to identify a living individual (‘personal data’)
• to undertake administration in relation to the qualification for which the learner is registered including providing to you a certificate on successful completion of the learner’s qualification or specified units of it
• to contact learners directly in relation to studying membership, ILM centre approval or qualification approval and/or quality control purposes undertaken by ILM for the qualifications for which the learner is registered;
• to inform learners of products or services offered by ILM or City & Guilds
• to disclose to its regulators where so required; and
• to disclose to relevant industry bodies where so required by law to; account for learners where there is a requirement to do so; and to contact a learner directly if there is a requirement for such bodies and the information is not readily accessible by other means.

ILM may have to transfer the Personal Data outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and if we do, ILM and City & Guilds make every reasonable effort to ensure that any data we transfer receives the same protection as if it would within the EEA.

Programme delegates may be required to give certain information relating to themselves in order that The Thinking Academy may properly carry out its duties, rights and obligations. The Thinking Academy will process and control such data principally for personnel, administrative and payroll purposes. The term ‘processing’ may include The Thinking Academy obtaining, recording or holding the information or data or carrying out any set of operation or operations on the information or data, including organising, altering, retrieving, consulting, using, disclosing, or destroying the information or data. The Thinking Academy will adopt appropriate technical and organisational measures to prevent the unauthorised or unlawful processing or disclosure of data.

Confidentiality Statement: The Thinking Academy are committed to ensuring confidentiality for all delegates at all stages of the programme. All individuals involved in the delivery team acknowledge that information (including assignments) provided by delegates is confidential; therefore, the team will not disclose any information without prior written consent from the delegate.

HEALTH & SAFETY POLICY

In this Statement the Company recognise that in addition to their responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of the people it directly employs, it has a responsibility and commitment for those other people who are under its supervision or control whilst on their premises or on training courses and/or training secondments which take place on premises not owned by the Company.

For convenience:
OTHER PERSONS - refer to people other than direct employees who are for a period of time under the supervision or control of Company personnel (e.g.Learners, Course Delegates of all ages, sub contractors etc.).
WORKPLACE - may be interpreted as being not only the employees' normal place or work, but also as the normal place of learning or place of work for other persons.

Introduction

Risk Assessments as undertaken and revised by a suitably qualified person on external sites leased or rented on a long-term day to day basis. TheThinking Academy recognises and accepts its responsibilities as an employer and subcontractor for ensuring so far as is reasonably practicable the Health, Safety and Welfare at work of all its employees and any other persons who may be affected by the Company activities - including sub contractors and learners under the Company supervision.It is the Company’s intention that the policies and systems described here should be implemented and the policy, organisation and systems be periodically reviewed and amended to ensure that they are appropriate and up to date.

The stated Policy of the Company is to provide and maintain for employees and other persons working conditions that are safe and without risk to health. This will be ensured as far as is reasonably practicable by:
1. Providing and maintaining safe materials, systems of work and workplaces.
2. Ensuring that the working environment is safe and without risk to health.
3. By implementing safe practices and procedures in connection with the use, handling, storage and transportation of articles and substances.
4. Providing appropriate information, instruction, training and supervision for new and existing employees and other persons to enable them to deal with any particular Health and Safety aspects and/or responsibilities associated with their job, place of work or place of learning.
5. Providing adequate facilities and arrangements for employees and other persons welfare at their place of work or learning.
6. Developing, implementing and reviewing policies, procedures and standards to achieve safe working conditions which are without risk to health and taking any other steps necessary to fulfil its statutory duties.
7. Involving all personnel in the setting, maintenance and improvement of these policies and procedures.

In pursuit of its Policy, the Company will comply strictly with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and any subsequent regulations or approved Code of Practice as a minimum standard to work to.

The Company believes that this can only be achieved by a continuing commitment to the improvement of Health and Safety standards. They also recognise that the promotion of Health and Safety at work is an essential function of good management and all levels of management must bear in mind their responsibilities in this area. Accordingly, every manager of people should use their best endeavours to ensure compliance with the Company' Policy and Procedures.

However, the promotion of Health and Safety is not the exclusive responsibility of management. Every employee and other persons are under a legal duty to take reasonable care for the Health and Safety of themselves and their fellow workers. Compliance with the Company’s Policy and Procedures will ensure that appropriate safe methods of working are employed and help individuals fulfil their statutory duties.

It is the Company's intention to sustain a progressive and comprehensive Health and Safety strategy in respect of its employees, learners of all ages and other people who may be affected by its operations. Accordingly, this Statement will be periodically reviewed and revised in line with future needs and developments.

Responsibilities

The ultimate responsibility for the Safety, Health and Welfare of employees and other affected persons rests with the Director, Leonie Hurrell, who recognises that support must come from the highest level if systems are to be effective.

Implementation of the stated Policy and Procedures is the overseen by the Director for its implementation. In addition, individual directors, managers and supervisors within the organisation have a responsibility for the Health and Safety of those employees and others who come within their sphere of control or influence as part of their normal duties. Each individual employee has a responsibility for the health and safety of themselves and others who may be affected by their actions.

Organisation of Health and Safety Responsibilities

The Director is the person that retain ultimate responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of employees and other persons who may be affected by the Company’s activities. The Director is responsible for the day-to-day implementation of the health, safety and welfare policy and procedures throughout the company’s operations. All training Programme Managers have a responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of staff, learners and other persons using sites other than those owned by the Company and to learners on work placements that form a part of the courses they organise.

Duties of Employers, Learners and Other Persons

All employees and other persons have an individual responsibility to comply with all safety rules and procedures and in particular they should:
- take reasonable care of themselves and others who may be affected by their acts or omissions.
- co-operate with the Company's representative in carrying out their duties safely.
- not interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interests of Health and Safety.

To enable a safe working environment to be maintained, certain key areas have safe working practices or procedures that have been established and will be maintained. Below are the outlines of the main areas and the procedures to be adopted. Details of the procedures are to be made available and be communicated effectively to personnel effected and are available on site through the appropriate manager or from the offices.

Fire Procedures

A procedure exists for all personnel (employees and other people) to be made aware of the arrangements that exist for their protection in the event or fire or other similar hazards. The Company will ensure that all premises meet the minimum requirements regarding the provision of equipment, systems and information to meet the threat of fire or similar hazards.

Accident Recording Procedures

All personnel will be made aware of the need for the reporting of accidents or potential accidents and the procedure for doing so. The Company will ensure that an effective system exists for the recording and investigation of accidents. The results of these investigations, together with recommendations for any changes, will be presented to the Director for regular review and the Director undertake to act upon the findings where/when necessary.

First Aid

All personnel will be made aware of the procedure that exists for obtaining First Aid and medical treatment on the premises at which they are sited. The Company will ensure that effective First Aid facilities exist for each site, together with a facility or procedure for obtaining medical attention when required.

Notification of Known Hazards

All personnel will be made aware of the need for care and attention and not to use machines or equipment for which they are not qualified to use. They will also be made aware of the known hazards on the site.

Training and Supervision

All persons will receive adequate information and training on any processes, machines, plant or equipment on which they will be expected to work and will be properly supervised by an appropriately qualified person. Arrangements are also in place for the supervision for those under the age of 18 where a separate risk assessment is carried out.

Provision of Safety Equipment

All personnel will be made aware of the need for and the provision of equipment identified for the protection of their health and safety. The Company will ensure that any equipment required for the health and safety of personnel will be freely available and properly maintained. Personnel will be reminded of their duties to use and care for any such equipment.

Safe Working Practices

The Company will ensure that as far as is reasonably practicable, safe working procedures are adopted and used on sites used by its personnel. Particular attention will be paid to the need for any lifting and where appropriate personnel will receive training in correct lifting techniques.

Application to Other Sites

These requirements apply not only to Company sites, but to other sites used as training venues and at work placements and secondments. Amongst the duty of managers is that of ensuring that other sites meet the required standards of Health, Safety and Welfare.

MALPRACTICE & MALADMINISTRATION POLICY

This policy is aimed at our customers, including learners, who are delivering/registered on The Thinking Academy programmes or courses, approved qualifications or units within or outside the UK and who are involved in suspected or actual malpractice/maladministration. It is also for use by our staff to ensure they deal with all malpractice and maladministration investigations in a consistent manner.

It sets out the steps we, and our learners or other personnel must follow when reporting suspected or actual cases of malpractice/maladministration and our responsibilities in dealing with such cases. It also sets out the procedural steps we will follow when reviewing the cases.

Our responsibility

It is important that all staff involved in the management, assessment and quality assurance of our courses, and learners, are fully aware of the contents of the policy and we have arrangements in place to prevent and investigate instances of malpractice and maladministration.

Definition of Malpractice

Malpractice is essentially any act, default or practice which is a breach of the Regulations or which:

· Gives rise to prejudice to learners; and/or

· Compromises public confidence in qualifications; and/or

· Compromises, attempts to compromise or may compromise the process of assessment, the integrity of any qualification or the validity of a result or certificate; and/or

· Damages the authority, reputation or credibility of any awarding body or centre or any officer, employee or agent of any awarding body or centre

Malpractice includes maladministration and instances of non-compliance with the regulations.

Examples of malpractice:

· Failure to meet The Thinking Academy and qualification approval requirements

· Influencing the assessment or certification process

· Failure to meet the requirements for the conduct of examinations

· Breach of examination or assessment rules, regulations and requirements

· Inappropriate conduct during an examination/assessment session

· Plagiarism

· Collusion, eg. where two or more learners collaborate on a piece of work beyond the level that is permitted.

Definition of Maladministration

Maladministration is essentially any activity, practice or omission which results in non-compliance with administrative regulations and requirements and includes the application of persistent mistakes or poor administration resulting in the failure to keep appropriate learner assessment records.

Examples of maladministration

· Persistent failure to adhere to our learner registration and certification procedures.

· Persistent failure to adhere to our centre recognition and/or qualification requirements and/or associated actions assigned to the centre

· Late learner registrations (both infrequent and persistent)

· Unreasonable delays in responding to requests and/or communications from The Thinking Academy

· Inaccurate claim for certificates

· Failure to maintain appropriate auditable records, e.g. certification claims and/or

forgery of evidence

· Withholding of information, by deliberate act or omission, from us which is required to assure certification

Process for making an allegation of malpractice or maladministration

Anybody who discovers or suspects malpractice or maladministration must immediately notify the Director of The Thinking Academy Ltd. In doing so they should put their concerns in writing/email and enclose appropriate supporting evidence.

All allegations must include (where possible):

• Learner’s name and The Thinking Academy registration number

• The Thinking Academy’s staff members name and job role - if they are involved in the case

• Details of the course/qualification affected or nature of the service affected

• Nature of the suspected or actual malpractice and associated dates details and outcome of any initial investigation carried out by the centre or anybody else involved in the case, including any mitigating circumstances

The Director will notify the awarding body of all allegations or incidents of malpractice, actual or suspected within 10 working days of it being reported to them and prior to the commencement of an investigation.

If required, the Director will then conduct an investigation which all staff must comply with. The investigation will seek to establish the full facts, circumstances and scale of the irregularities. The investigation will be concuded within 15 days and a report of all relevant evidence will be provided to the awarding body. Final decisions, warnings or notification of penalties will be passed on to the individuals involved in the investigation.

Investigations into malpractice will not be delegated to the Manager of the section, team, department involved in the suspected malpractice.

The Director will notify individuals acused of malpractice in writing with details of the allegations made, evidence that supports the allegation and possible consequences if malpractice is proven.

Confidentiality and whistle blowing

Sometimes a person making an allegation of malpractice or maladministration may wish to remain anonymous and we will endeavour to keep an individual’s identity confidential when asked to do so. Although it is always preferable to reveal your identity and contact details to us; however, if you are concerned about possible adverse consequences you may request that the Director does not divulge your identity. While we are prepared to investigate issues which are reported to us anonymously we shall always try to confirm an allegation by means of a separate investigation before taking up the matter with those the allegation relates.

Responsibility for the investigation

In accordance with regulatory requirements all suspected cases of maladministration and malpractice will be examined promptly by The Thinking Academy to establish if malpractice or maladministration has occurred and will take all reasonable steps to prevent any adverse effect from the occurrence as defined by Ofqual. We will acknowledge receipt, as appropriate, to external parties within 48 hours. Our Director will be responsible for ensuring the investigation is carried out in a prompt and effective manner and in accordance with the procedures in this policy and will allocate a relevant member of staff to lead the investigation and establish whether or not the malpractice or maladministration has occurred, and review any supporting evidence received or gathered by The Thinking Academy Ltd.

Notifying relevant parties

The Thinking Academy Director will inform the appropriate regulatory authorities if there has been an incident of malpractice or maladministration which could either invalidate the award of a qualification or if it could affect another awarding organisation. Where the allegation may affect another awarding organisation and their provision we will also inform them in accordance with the regulatory requirements and obligations imposed by the regulator Ofqual. If we do not know the details of organisations that might be affected we will ask Ofqual to help us identify relevant parties that should be informed. Any incidents identified will be reported to ILM and/or other awarding bodies within 10 days of identification.

Investigation timelines and summary process

We aim to action and resolve all stages of the investigation within 15 working days of receipt of the allegation. The fundamental principle of all investigations is to conduct them in a fair, reasonable and legal manner, ensuring that all relevant evidence is considered without bias. In doing so investigations will be based around the following broad objectives:

• To establish the facts relating to allegations/complaints in order to determine whether any irregularities have occurred.

• To identify the cause of the irregularities and those involved.

• To establish the scale of the irregularities.

• To evaluate any action already taken

• To determine whether remedial action is required to reduce the risk to current registered learners and to preserve the integrity of The Thinking Academy Ltd. and the qualification.

• To identify any adverse patterns or trends.

The investigation may involve a request for further information from relevant parties and/or interviews with personnel involved in the investigation. Therefore, we will:

• Ensure all material collected as part of an investigation must be kept secure.

• If an investigation leads to invalidation of certificates, or criminal or civil prosecution, all records and original documentation relating to the case will be retained until the case and any appeals have been heard and for five years thereafter.

• Expect all parties, who are either directly or indirectly involved in the investigation, to fully co-operate with us.

Either at notification of a suspected or actual case of malpractice or maladministration and/or at any time during the investigation, we reserve the right to withhold a learner’s, and/or cohort’s, results.

Where a member of The Thinking Academy staff or a Thinking Academy Associate is under investigation we may suspend them or move them to other duties until the investigation is complete.

Throughout the investigation our Director will be responsible for overseeing the work of the investigation team to ensure that due process is being followed, appropriate evidence has been gathered and reviewed and for liaising with and keeping informed relevant external parties.

Investigation report

After an investigation, we’ll produce a draft report for the parties concerned to check the factual accuracy. Any subsequent amendments will be agreed between the parties concerned and ourselves. The report will:

• Identify the alleged malpractice and provide details of the investigation carried out.

• Include signed and dated written statement(s) or transcript(s) of interviews from invigilator(s), Assessor(s), Internal Quality Assurer(s) or other staff involved.

• Include any work of the learner(s) involved and any associated material and, if relevant, any mitigating factors

• Provide a detailed conclusion

We’ll make the final report available to the parties concerned and to the regulatory authorities and other external agencies as required within 15 working days. If it was an independent/third party that notified us of the suspected or actual case of malpractice, we’ll also inform them of the outcome – normally within 10 working days of making our decision - in doing so we may withhold some details if to disclose such information would breach a duty of confidentiality or any other legal duty.

If it’s an internal investigation against a member of our staff the report will be agreed by the Managing Director, along with the relevant internal managers and appropriate internal disciplinary procedures will be implemented in line with awarding body recommendations.

Investigation outcomes

If the investigation confirms that malpractice or maladministration has taken place we will consider what action to take in order to:

• Minimise the risk to the integrity of certification now and in the future.

• Maintain public confidence in the delivery and awarding of qualifications.

• Discourage others from carrying out similar instances of malpractice or maladministration.

• Ensure there has been no gain from compromising our standards.

The action we take may include:

• Imposing actions in order to address the instance of malpractice/maladministration and to prevent it from reoccurring

• In cases where certificates are deemed to be invalid, inform the Awarding Organisation concerned and the regulatory authorities why they’re invalid and any action to be taken for reassessment and/or for the withdrawal of the certificates. We’ll also let the affected learners know the action we’re taking and that their original certificates are invalid and ask – where possible – to return the invalid certificates to The Thinking Academy

• Informing relevant third parties (e.g. funding bodies) of our findings in case they need to take relevant action in relation to the centre.

In addition, to the above the Director will record any lessons learnt from the investigation and pass these onto relevant internal colleagues to help prevent the same instance of maladministration or malpractice from reoccurring. If the relevant party (ies) wishes to appeal against our decision to impose sanctions, please refer to our Complaints Procedure.

For more information please refer to ‘managing cases of suspected malpractice in examinations and assessments’ at the city & guilds website

PRIVACY POLICY

The The Thinking Academy Ltd ("us", "we", or "our") operates the www.thethinkingacademy.co.uk website, coaching and training (the "Service")

This page informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data when you use our Service and the choices you have associated with that data.

We use your data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy. Unless otherwise defined in this Privacy Policy, terms used in this Privacy Policy have the same meanings as in our Terms and Conditions, accessible from www.thethinkingacademy.co.uk

Definitions

Service

Service is the www.thethinkingacademy.co.uk website operated by The Thinking Academy Ltd, coaching and training services.

Personal Data

Personal Data means data about a living individual who can be identified from those data (or from those and other information either in our possession or likely to come into our possession).

Usage Data

Usage Data is data collected automatically either generated by the use of the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit).

Data Controller

Data Controller means the natural or legal person who (either alone or jointly or in common with other persons) determines the purposes for which and the manner in which any personal information are, or are to be, processed.For the purpose of this Privacy Policy, we are a Data Controller of your Personal Data.

Data Processors (or Service Providers)

Data Processor (or Service Provider) means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Data Controller.We may use the services of various Service Providers in order to process your data more effectively.

Data Subject (or User)

Data Subject is any living individual who is using our Service and is the subject of Personal Data.

Information Collection and Use

We collect several different types of information for various purposes to provide and improve our Service to you.

Types of Data Collected

Personal Data

While using our Service, we may ask you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you ("Personal Data"). Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

Email address

First name and last name

Phone number

Address, Postal code, City

Cookies and Usage Data

We may use your Personal Data to contact you with newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information that may be of interest to you. You may opt out of receiving any, or all, of these communications from us by following the unsubscribe link or instructions provided in any email we send or by contacting us by email at leonie@thethinkingacademy.co.uk

Usage Data

We may also collect information how the Service is accessed and used ("Usage Data"). This Usage Data may include information such as your computer's Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

Tracking & Cookies Data

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service and hold certain information.

Cookies are files with small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier.

Use of Data

The Thinking Academy Ltd uses the collected data for various purposes:

To provide and maintain our Service
To notify you about changes to our Service
To allow you to participate in interactive features of our Service when you choose to do so
To provide customer support
To gather analysis or valuable information so that we can improve our Service
To monitor the usage of our Service
To detect, prevent and address technical issues
To provide you with news, special offers and general information about other goods, services and events which we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about unless you have opted not to receive such information
Legal Basis for Processing Personal Data Under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The Thinking Academy Ltd may process your Personal Data because:

We need to perform a contract with you
You have given us permission to do so
The processing is in our legitimate interests and it's not overridden by your rights
For payment processing purposes
To comply with the law
Retention of Data

The Thinking Academy Ltd will retain your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

The Thinking Academy Ltd will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of our Service, or we are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

Transfer of Data

The Thinking Academy Ltd will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information.

Disclosure of Data

Disclosure for Law Enforcement

Under certain circumstances, The Thinking Academy Ltd may be required to disclose your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).

Legal Requirements

The Thinking Academy Ltd may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:
To comply with a legal obligation
To protect and defend the rights or property of The Thinking Academy Ltd
To prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
To protect the personal safety of users of the Service or the public
To protect against legal liability

Security of Data

The security of your data is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Your Data Protection Rights Under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA), you have certain data protection rights. The Thinking Academy Ltd aims to take reasonable steps to allow you to correct, amend, delete, or limit the use of your Personal Data. If you wish to be informed what Personal Data we hold about you and if you want it to be removed from our systems, please contact us.

In certain circumstances, you have the following data protection rights:

The right to access, update or to delete the information we have on you. Whenever made possible, you can access, update or request deletion of your Personal Data directly within your account settings section. If you are unable to perform these actions yourself, please contact us to assist you.

The right of rectification. You have the right to have your information rectified if that information is inaccurate or incomplete.

The right to object. You have the right to object to our processing of your Personal Data.

The right of restriction. You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information.

The right to data portability. You have the right to be provided with a copy of the information we have on you in a structured, machine-readable and commonly used format.

The right to withdraw consent. You also have the right to withdraw your consent at any time where The Thinking Academy Ltd relied on your consent to process your personal information.

Please note that we may ask you to verify your identity before responding to such requests.

You have the right to complain to a Data Protection Authority about our collection and use of your Personal Data. For more information, please contact your local data protection authority in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Service Providers

We may employ third party companies and individuals to facilitate our Service ("Service Providers"), to provide the Service on our behalf, to perform Service-related services or to assist us in analyzing how our Service is used. These third parties have access to your Personal Data only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Analytics

We may use third-party Service Providers to monitor and analyze the use of our Service.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Google uses the data collected to track and monitor the use of our Service. This data is shared with other Google services. Google may use the collected data to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.

You can opt-out of having made your activity on the Service available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. The add-on prevents the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, and dc.js) from sharing information with Google Analytics about visits activity.

For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en

Behavioural Remarketing

The Thinking Academy Ltd uses remarketing services to advertise on third party websites to you after you visited our Service. We and our third-party vendors use cookies to inform, optimize and serve ads based on your past visits to our Service.

Google AdWords

Google AdWords remarketing service is provided by Google Inc. You can opt-out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize the Google Display Network ads by visiting the Google Ads Settings page: http://www.google.com/settings/ads

Google also recommends installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on - https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout - for your web browser. Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on provides visitors with the ability to prevent their data from being collected and used by Google Analytics. For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms web page: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en

Our Service may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.We will let you know via email and/or a prominent notice on our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the "effective date" at the top of this Privacy Policy.You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

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By email: leonie@thethinkingacademy.co.uk

March 2020

ACCESS TO ASSESSMENT & SPECIAL CONSIDERATION POLICY

Definition

Access Arrangements allow candidates to show what they know and can do without changing the demand of the assessment. For example, through the use of readers, scribes and Braille question papers. Access Arrangements are agreed before an assessment. They allow candidates with special educational needs, disabilities or temporary injuries to access the assessment and a fair and equal chance of demonstrating their knowledge, skills and understanding to achieve the assessment standards.

The access arrangement will depend on the individual circumstances, the impact of the disability on the individual, cost implications and the practicality and effectiveness of the arrangement. Access arrangements must:

· Not make the assessment easier

· Not give the candidate an unfair advantage

· Be based on the individual need of the candidate

· Be auditable and capable of being internally and externally quality assured

· Give a realistic indication to a potential employer of what the holder of the

· certificate can do.

Access arrangements apply for external assessments

Special Considerations

A Special Consideration is a post-assessment adjustment reflecting an unforeseen circumstance which could affect a candidate’s performance during or near the time of an assessment and/or examination. Special consideration may be given following dated examinations for candidates who are present for the examination but may have been disadvantaged, for example, by temporary illness or adverse circumstances during the assessment.

In the case of an on-demand assessment, the assessment should be rescheduled.

Examples of unforeseen circumstances include, but this is not an exhaustive list:

· Temporary illness or accident/injury at the time of the assessment

· Bereavement at the time of the assessment (where whole groups are affected, normally only those most closely involved will be eligible)

· Domestic crisis arising at the time of the assessment

· Serious disturbance during an examination, particularly where recorded material is being used

Other accidental events at the time of the assessment such as being given the wrong examination paper, being given a defective examination paper, failure of IT equipment, failure of materials to arrive on time; Failure by the centre to implement previously approved access arrangements.

Such circumstances do not normally apply to The Thinking Academy assignment tasks and/or portfolio assessments when used, because of their flexibility, are usually completed largely at the candidate’s convenience. Such circumstances may not affect the assessment outcome; therefore it may be more appropriate to reschedule the assessment to enable fair access.

Special consideration cannot give the candidate an unfair advantage and must not mislead regarding a candidate’s achievements. The candidate’s results must reflect their actual achievement in assessments; not their potential ability.

All centres are required to have their own guidance on access arrangements and special considerations and to ensure that all staff within the centre are familiar with the content.

March 2020