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Privacy Statement

Rutherford College (“we, us, our”) complies with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 when dealing with personal information.   

This privacy statement explains what personal information Rutherford College collects, why we need it, how we use it and who we share it with. It also explains how our community members can request or correct their information.  

  • We collect only the personal information we need to meet our purposes and as required by the Education Act.  
  • We take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold from harm.  
  • We use personal information in the ways set out in this statement, and only ever to meet our  

The school’s designated privacy officer is the Principal.  

Collection of personal information  

  • Information about students and their parents/caregivers may be collected in several ways including:  
  • Directly from students and parents by telephone, in person, in enrolment, EOTC (Education Outside the Classroom) 
  • From other parties (such as other schools, medical and other health professionals) 
  • From publicly available sources   

The information the School collects about job applicants and employees, contractors, volunteers may be collected in a number of ways: 

Directly from job applicants and employees (contractors, volunteers) during the recruitment phase and during the course of employment  

Personal information collected by Rutherford College 

The information we collect may include: 

  • Personal details including name, contact information, date of birth, gender, ethnicity, 
  • Academic history 
  • Health information  
  • Human resource and staff salary information  
  • Student financial information  
  • Information about academic performance 
  • Information about student behaviour and welfare, including family/whanau circumstances 
  • Attendance records 
  • Information about family/whanau and emergency contacts 
  • Photographs, audio, video or other media (for example during events, school trips or activities) 
  • CCTV footage (Rutherford College uses CCTV cameras on school premises for safety, wellbeing, and security purposes, but not in private areas such as toilets or changing rooms) 
  • Event attendances 
  • E-newsletter readership  
  • Information about use of Rutherford College’s digital resources, website, social media sites
  • Information about volunteering or donating to the school  

Use of personal information 

Rutherford College may use personal information collected about students and parents for the following purposes: 

  • Provide educational services for our students 
  • To communicate with parents, caregivers/ designated guardians and/or whanau in relation to their child/children’s schooling 
  • Day to day administration 
  • Looking after the students’ educational, pastoral, social, and medical wellbeing and safety 
  • Ensure the safety of our staff, volunteers, and visitors to our school.
  • Communicating to the wider school community and wider public through marketing and school publications (for example, our website, social media sites) 
  • Meet the requirements of the Education Act and other legislation, including reporting requirements; and  
  • For any other lawful purposes 

The school may use personal information collected about prospective employees, employees and contractors, and volunteers 

  • To assess whether an individual is suitable for employment or work, including child-connected work 
  • Administering the individual’s employment or contract 
  • To ensure that information the school has collected is accurate and up to date 
  • Internal accounting and administration 
  • Insurance  
  • For reporting to educational and Government authorities  
  • To satisfy legal obligations including with respect to child safety and child abuse 
  • For any other lawful purposes. 

Disclosure of information  

The School will follow principle 11 of the Privacy Act 2020 that governs the disclosure of information.  

  • Disclosure is one of the purposes for which you got the information 
  • The person concerned authorized the disclosure  
  • The information will be used in an anonymous way 
  • Disclosure is necessary to avoid endangering someone’s health or safety 
  • Disclosure is necessary to avoid a prejudice to the maintenance of the law 
  • The School may lawfully disclose personal information for administrative and educational purposes and to ensure child safety. This may include disclosing information to  
  • Other schools 
  • Government departments or authorities (for example Ministry of Education, New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) 
  • People providing services to the school 
  • Parents/ guardians 
  • Anyone else to whom the School is lawfully authorized to disclose information  

Keeping information secure 

We will take care to protect the personal information we hold from unauthorized access, disclosure, loss or misuse, using reasonable and appropriate technical and organizational security measures. We will not retain personal information longer than we need it for our lawful purposes and will dispose of it securely and permanently when we no longer need it. 

Enquiries, accessing and correcting information 

All individuals under the Privacy Act 2020 have the right to request a copy of, or the correction of, the personal information the school holds about them. Parents or guardians can generally request a copy of personal information about their child, on the basis that they are acting as their child’s representative.  Requests for access to or correction of personal information should be sent to the principal, using the details set out below.  

Email: [email protected]

If an individual has a question, concern, or complaint about the way the school handles personal information, please do not hesitate to let us know by contacting the Principal using the details above.