Privacy Policy
Purpose
To better protect the privacy of users of the Whitestone College website, we have developed this statement to explain our online information practices, and how the information we obtain is used. Please refer to this document for more information about the privacy policy
The College may review and update this Privacy Policy as the need arises due to technological advancements, or changes in College operations or South African Law.
Information that you give us
You may share personal data about yourself and your circumstances by:
- applying for employment with the college;
- filling in forms on the website, registering to use the website, and continuing to use the website;
- giving us information about yourself in any communications with us either by telephone, e-mail, post or otherwise, either in connection with your application or to report a complaint or issue;
- signing in at reception on one of our sites or hosted events;
- submitting an application for a course program to us;
- making payments on our online payment platforms
You are not obliged to provide your personal data to us. However, if you do not provide your personal data to us, we may not be able to provide services to you, respond to your queries, communicate with you effectively, process your application or receive your payment.
Information that we collect about you
We collect personal data about you:
- when you send us electronic correspondence (including email and text messages);
- when you visit the website, including details of your visits to the website including, but not limited to, Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet, MAC addresses, traffic data, acquisition data, location data, your login information, time-zone setting browser type and version, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, weblogs, cookies and other communication data, and the resources that you access;
- if you visit one of our sites, data including your name and CCTV images;
- when you call Whitestone College, including information about complaints and services, we monitor and/or record calls between our staff and you for the purposes of resolving complaints, training and to improve our quality and service standards.
Information that we receive from other sources
- the College may from time-to-time share your some of your information with third-party providers for the limited purposes of communicating with you regarding the educational courses we offer, or in connection with the College’s data-collecting practices to help evaluate and improve our educational services, website, and/or marketing and advertising. The College cannot and does not make any representations about the practices or policies of third parties with whom your information may be shared and the College disclaims liability relating to the same.
- from your previous school.
- Form Department of Education, Departments of Higher Education, SETAs or any accrediting or certifying bodies
How we collect your personal information
Generally, we collect personal information on forms associated with enrolments, by receiving emails and telephone calls, in face-to-face meetings and interviews, through financial transactions, and through surveillance activities such as email monitoring and the use of CCTV security cameras on College grounds.
We may also collect personal information from other people (for example a report from a medical professional) or an independent source (such as a telephone directory or online), however we will only do this when it is not practical to collect the information from you directly.
How does Whitestone College use the personal information you provide?
We only use your personal information primarily for the purpose it was collected, or for a related secondary purpose that can be reasonably expected, or to which you have consented, such as:
- providing educational services to our students;
- pastoral care, extra-curricular and health services to students;
- satisfying our legal obligations including our duty of care and child protection obligations;
- keeping parents informed as to school community matters through correspondence and publications;
- assessment and educational authorities, including the Department of Basic Education, Department of Higher Education, Umalusi. The Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training, Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO), Various SETAs that Whitestone College is accredited with;
- marketing, promotional and fundraising activities;
- helping us to improve our day to day operations; train our staff; develop our systems, programs and services; undertake planning, research and analysis;
- capturing and managing information on Whitestone College Management of Information Systems (MIS);
- Collecting of outstanding amounts through the use of debt collectors;
- the employment of staff and contractors.
We only collect sensitive information that is necessary for one or more of these functions or activities, if we have the consent of the individuals to whom the information relates, or if it is necessary to support, lessen or prevent a serious threat to life, health or safety.
We will only use or disclose sensitive information for a secondary purpose if you would reasonably expect us to, and the secondary purpose is directly related to the primary purpose, or if we are required to by law.
How do we store your information and keep it secure?
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our website; any transmission is at your own risk.
Once we have received your information, we store your information in a variety of formats including on databases (Management of Information System), in hard copy files, and on personal devices such as laptop computers, tablets, mobile phones, cameras and other recording devices.
The security of your information is very important to us and we take all reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. This includes:
- Restricting access on College MIS and databases on a need to know basis with staff security levels based on roles and responsibilities;
- ensuring all staff are aware that they must not reveal or share passwords;
- that hardcopy files holding sensitive health information are in lockable filing cabinets in locked rooms;
- implementing physical security measures on College grounds to prevent break-ins;
- implementing ICT security systems, policies and procedures designed to protect personal information storage on our computer networks;
- implementing human resources policies and procedures, such as email and internet usage, confidentiality and document security policies, designed to ensure that staff follow correct protocols when handling personal information; and
- undertaking due diligence with respect to third party service providers who may have access to personal information, including cloud service providers to ensure as far as practicable that they are compliant with the South African Privacy Principles or a similar privacy regime in their location.
Personal information we hold that is no longer needed is destroyed in a secure manner, deleted or de-identified as appropriate.
Personal information of students
At Whitestone College we take a common-sense approach to dealing with a student’s personal information and generally will refer any requests for personal information to a student’s parents/guardian. We will treat notices provided to parents/carers as notices provided to students, and we will treat consents provided by parents/carers as consents provided by a student.
We are however cognisant of the fact that children do have rights under the SA Privacy law, and that in certain circumstances (especially when dealing with older students and sensitive information), it will be appropriate to seek and obtain consents directly from students. We also acknowledge that there may be occasions where a student may give or withhold consent with respect to the use of their personal information independently from their parents/carers.
There may also be occasions where parents/carers are denied access to information with respect to their children, because to provide such information would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others or result in a breach of the College’s duty of care to the student.
Third Parties
We do not sell, trade, or rent your information to others. We do not disclose your information to third parties without your consent unless we are legally required to do so or where such disclosure is necessary to enable third parties with whom we work to assist us in providing our services to you or to respond to your enquiry.
Where we pass your information to any third parties, we will require those third parties to act in accordance with our instructions and adopt appropriate security measures to protect your information. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that your information is used by those third parties in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
How we ensure the quality of your personal information
We take reasonable steps to ensure your personal information is accurate and complete. You may request that the College updates or corrects your personal information by contacting us using the contact details set out below. You may request access to your personal information at any time.
How we deal with complaints about the handling of your personal information
If you wish to make a complaint about a breach by the College of the South African Privacy Law you may do so by providing a written complaint by email, letter, facsimile, our website or by personal delivery, verbally by visiting the College or over the telephone. We undertake to respond within a reasonable timeframe and we may seek further information from you to provide a full and complete response.
How to contact us
You can contact us about this Policy or about your personal information by:
- Email to info@whitestonecollege.co.za;
- Writing to our Administrator at PO Box 61195, Marshalltown; Johannesburg, 2107
- Sending a fax to 086 260 8787;
- Telephoning +27114920949; or
- Via the Contact Us page of our website at https://whitestonecollege.co.za/contact/#joburg
This Privacy Policy is subject to change at any time. Please check our Privacy Policy on our website regularly for any changes.