Our privacy commitment

This Privacy Policy sets out how we comply with our privacy obligations under applicable laws. New Zealand’s privacy and healthcare laws regulate how we may collect, store, use and disclose personal information. We are bound by the requirements of those laws, which regulate how we may collect, store, use and disclose your and your child’s personal information. Those laws also specify other requirements, such as how individuals may access, correct and delete information held about them.

When we say personal information, we mean identifiable information about you and/or your child, such as names, emails, addresses, telephone numbers, school history and so on. When we say sensitive information, we mean a special category of personal information, like health information.

In this Privacy Policy "we", "us" and "our" all refer to Ko Taku Reo, which has been the national organisation for deaf education in New Zealand since the merging of Kelston and Van Asch Deaf Education Centres in 2020.

As New Zealand’s provider of education services for Deaf and hard of hearing children, Ko Taku Reo provides specialist schools, facilities, campuses and related deaf educational services (Services). In order to provide your child with our Services, Ko Taku Reo relies on the collection of personal information submitted by you or with your authority.

By using our Services or providing your and your child’s personal information to us, you consent to our collection, storage, use and disclosure of your and your child’s personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

We may amend the terms of this Privacy Policy from time to time and will notify you of any changes by posting an updated version on our website or by sending you a notice via email. It is your responsibility to check this Privacy Policy periodically for changes, and to keep your email address with us current.

Your and your child’s continued use of our Services following notification of any changes to this Privacy Policy constitutes acceptance of those changes. If you do not agree with any aspect of the updated Privacy Policy, you must immediately cease all use of our Services.

Information you provide to us directly: Our usual practice is to collect personal information directly from you, when you complete any form, or otherwise register to use any of our Services on behalf of your child, or provide any other information in connection with your and your child’s use of our Services. A few examples include:

• name, gender and ethnicity to identify support that reflects the child’s identity, language and culture
• date of birth and year level, to identify support that is appropriate to their age
• photographs of your child
• your details as the child’s parent/guardian
• national student number
• the type of support needed
• health information: any health issue, disability or learning difficulty that means a child needs particular types of support
• information about services and support they are already receiving

You can always choose not to provide your and your child’s personal information to Ko Taku Reo, but it may mean that we are unable to provide you and your child with the Services.

Sensitive information: We may collect or obtain sensitive information (such as health information) directly from you or from any other source (an example being your child’s previous school or deaf education provider) with your authorisation.

Information we get from third parties: We collect or obtain personal information from authorised third parties (e.g. the Ministry of Education).

Information we collect automatically: We may collect personal information about you automatically when you visit our websites, like your IP address and device type, or use our Services, like CCTV security cameras on our premises. Some of this information may be collected using cookies and similar tracking technologies.

Information we create in the performance of the Services: We may also create or obtain personal information about your and your child’s interactions with us. Some of this information may be confidential to us.

Information you make public: We may collect or obtain your and your child’s personal information that you manifestly choose to make public, including via online channels such as social media (e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook etc.)

Where we collect personal information or sensitive information, we will only process it:

• to perform a contract with you or to provide the Services to you; or
• where we have legitimate interests to process the personal information or sensitive information and these interests are not overridden by your rights; or in accordance with a legal obligation; or - where we have your consent.
• communicate with you;
• publish personal information (such as names, photographs, school work) in our newsletters, on our school website and online channels (such as school/class blogs, social media e.g. Facebook or YouTube pages);
• process and administer the Services (including storing personal information in our Student Management System) and to help us develop, improve, manage, administer and facilitate our Services and educational operations;
• process your and your child’s personal information for our internal purposes (such as record keeping, database management, training, obtaining public funding); - verify your child’s enrolment identity and application/enrolment details;
• assist with the resolution of any issues relating to you or the Services;
• liaise with the Ministry of Education for the purposes of fulfilling our obligations under our contract(s) with the Ministry of Education;
• provide personal information and health information about you where validly requested to do so under the Privacy Act or any Code issued under that Act;
• provide related service providers with your personal information and health information (including your Covid-19 vaccination status) in connection with providing the Services;
• ensure the safety and security of our premises in connection with providing the Services (for example in the use of CCTV surveillance);
• provide any information and records regarding you to any person properly appointed to audit our Services; and
• comply with all laws and regulations in all applicable jurisdictions.

Ko Taku Reo collects your and your child’s personal information so that we can provide you and your child with the Services and any related services you may request. In doing so, Ko Taku Reo may use the personal information we have collected from you for purposes related to the Services including to:

By using the Services, you consent to your personal information being collected, stored, used and disclosed in this way and for any other use, you authorise. Ko Taku Reo will only use your personal information for purposes described in this Privacy Policy or with your consent.

We do not sell, trade, rent or otherwise provide your personal information to others without your consent.

We will only disclose your personal information outside Ko Taku Reo if it is necessary and appropriate to facilitate the purpose for which your personal information was collected pursuant to this consent form, including the provision of the Services or a directly related purpose. Such disclosure may be to education facilities where we provide our Services, appropriate education, health and welfare authorities and to the Ministry of Education.

You should know that our school/kura/early learning service is part of a group of education providers and that we disclose personal information to the Ministry of Health and other participant education providers in that group to:

• identify children and young people who might need additional learning support
• ensure that the adults who work with children (such as teachers or teacher aides) have the skills and resources they need to support them
• decide what additional learning support would help children and young people, whether individually or in groups.

Only those people who need access to the Ministry of Health’s register for the purposes explained above will have access to your and your child’s personal information. By way of example, they may include school staff members with responsibility for learning support (e.g., learning support staff and associated administration staff), or resource teachers of the Deaf.

We will seek your specific agreement before your or your child’s personal information is disclosed to other organisations in support of your child’s learning needs. We will not otherwise disclose personal information unless such disclosure is authorised by you or required by law.

In connection with providing the Services, you accept that your and your child’s personal information may be collected or held in New Zealand and be disclosed to recipients in, or transferred to, or processed in, countries other than New Zealand. We may provide personal information to third parties in countries other than New Zealand if we have reasonable grounds to believe the recipient is required to protect personal information will be protected in a way that, overall, provides comparable safeguards to those required by New Zealand’s privacy laws.

However, there may be differences between New Zealand's privacy laws and those of the overseas locations in which we may store and process personal information. If we cannot ensure that recipients in those locations are required to protect your and your child’s personal information using comparable safeguards to those under New Zealand’s privacy laws then we will only provide your and your child’s personal information to recipients in those locations if you authorise us to do so.

For further information, please contact us using the details set out in the contact section below.

We are committed to protecting the security of your and your child’s personal information and we take reasonable precautions to protect it from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Ko Taku Reo implements and maintains organisational and technical security measures that are designed to provide reasonable protection against the loss, interference or misuse of your and your child’s personal information and to prevent unauthorised access, modification or disclosure of that information.

Our website may contain links to other websites that are not under our control. These websites may use cookies. It is the responsibility of those third parties to collect appropriate consents from you in order to permit their own cookies (to the extent this is required by law) and to inform you about the cookies they use. You should check the privacy policy on all third-party websites to ensure you are comfortable with third party cookies.

We have no responsibility for linked websites and provide them solely for your information and convenience. We specifically disclaim responsibility for their content, privacy practices and terms of use, and we make no endorsements, representations or warranties about their accuracy, content or thoroughness. Your disclosure of personal information to third party websites is at your own risk.

We are committed to full compliance with the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007.

By subscribing to emails and/or text communications, or otherwise providing your email address and/or mobile number, you consent to receiving emails and/or texts (as the case may be) which promote and market our products and services, or the products and services of others, from time to time.

You can unsubscribe from our email communications and/or text communications at any time by clicking the "Unsubscribe" link in any promotional or marketing email or text received or by emailing privacy.officer@kotakureo.school.nz.

Once you have unsubscribed from the email or text communications, you will be removed from the corresponding marketing list as soon as is reasonably practicable.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the personal information you provide is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

You may request access to the information we hold about you, or request that we update or correct any personal information we hold about you, or ask us to restrict or cease processing your and your child’s personal information or even delete your personal information, by setting out your request in writing and sending it to us at privacy.officer@kotakureo.school.nz.

We will review your request as soon as reasonably practicable to comply with our legal obligations. If we are unable to give you access to the information you have requested, we will give you reasons for this decision when we respond to your request.

The length of time we keep personal information depends on what it is and whether we have an ongoing business or statutory need to retain it (for example, to provide you with a service you've requested or to comply with applicable legal requirements such as money laundering and financial reporting legislation).

We'll retain your and your child’s personal information for as long as we have a relationship with you and for a period of time afterwards where we have an ongoing business need to retain it, in accordance with our internal retention policies and practices and legal obligations. Following that period, we'll make sure it's deleted or anonymised. Otherwise, as a general rule, we only keep your personal information for as long as we require it for the purposes of providing you with our Services.