Privacy Policy

1. Data Controller

Classpot ("we", "our", "us") operates the website classpot.co.uk. We are a school comparison platform helping families find the right school in England.

Trading name: Classpot

Registered in: England and Wales

Email: hello [at] classpot.co.uk

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information you provide directly

Email address, if you submit a school suggestion, write a review, or contact us via the website.

2.2 Information collected automatically

• Usage data: pages visited, time on site, browser type, device type, and referring website, collected via Google Analytics and Vercel Analytics.
• Location data: approximate geolocation (with your explicit permission) to display nearby schools. We do not store your location on our servers.
• Cookies and similar technologies: see Section 8 below for full details.
• Error and performance data: technical error reports, including browser type, device information, and error context, collected via Sentry to help us diagnose and fix issues.

2.3 Information collected during a purchase

If you purchase a school report, we collect your email address and order reference for the purpose of delivering your report and maintaining a record of the transaction. Payment card details are processed exclusively by Stripe, Inc. and are never transmitted to or stored on our servers.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR (Article 6), we rely on the following lawful bases for processing your personal data:

4. How We Use Your Information

We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:

• To provide and improve our school comparison service.
• To display relevant schools based on your approximate location (with your consent).
• To analyse website usage and improve user experience (with your consent, via cookies).
• To display relevant advertisements via Google AdSense (with your consent, via cookies).
• To monitor and diagnose technical errors and maintain service reliability.
• To process school submissions and reviews.
• To respond to your enquiries.
• To deliver paid school reports you have purchased.

We do not use your personal data for email marketing purposes.

5. Third-Party Services and Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We use the following third-party services, each of which may process data on our behalf or as an independent controller:

Each of these providers acts under their own privacy policies. We recommend reviewing them for detailed information.

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites and encourage you to review their privacy policies independently.

6. International Data Transfers

Some of the third-party services we use (Google Analytics, Google AdSense, Vercel, Vercel Analytics, Sentry, Stripe) are operated by companies based in the United States. This means your personal data may be transferred to, and processed in, countries outside the United Kingdom.

Where such transfers occur, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, including:

• Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
• The UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or UK Addendum to EU SCCs, where applicable.
• Adequacy decisions by the UK Secretary of State, where available.

If you would like further information about the specific safeguards applied to international transfers of your data, please contact us at hello [at] classpot.co.uk.

7. Digital Products and Your Right to Cancel

School reports are digital products delivered immediately upon purchase. Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, you ordinarily have a 14-day right to cancel a distance purchase. However, by completing your purchase and accessing the report, you expressly consent to immediate delivery and acknowledge that your right to cancel is lost at that point.

If you experience a technical issue preventing delivery, or if the report contains a material error, please contact us at hello [at] classpot.co.uk and we will assess your request on a case-by-case basis.

8. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Cookies are small text files stored on your device when you visit our website.

8.1 Types of cookies we use

8.2 Cookie consent

When you first visit our website, you will see a cookie consent banner. Non-essential cookies (analytics and advertising) are not placed until you provide explicit consent. You may withdraw your consent at any time by adjusting your preferences via the cookie settings link in the website footer, or by clearing cookies through your browser settings.

9. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this policy:

10. Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. These include encrypted connections (HTTPS), restricted access to personal data, and the use of reputable third-party infrastructure providers. However, no method of internet transmission or electronic storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Automated Decision-Making

We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects, as described under Article 22 of the UK GDPR. Personalised advertising delivered via Google AdSense involves profiling by Google as an independent data controller; this is subject to Google's own privacy policies and only activated with your explicit consent.

12. Your Rights Under UK GDPR

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Right of access — you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification — you can request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure — you can request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to restrict processing — you can request that we limit how we use your data.
• Right to data portability — you can request your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Right to object — you can object to processing based on legitimate interest.
• Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at hello [at] classpot.co.uk. We will respond within one calendar month. If we require additional time (up to two further months), we will inform you and explain the reason.

13. Right to Complain

If you are not satisfied with how we handle your personal data or your rights request, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK supervisory authority:

14. Children's Privacy

Our service is designed for parents, guardians, and educators. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe we have inadvertently collected data from a child, please contact us immediately at hello [at] classpot.co.uk, and we will take steps to delete such data without undue delay.

We are aware that younger users may visit the site. Where behavioural advertising cookies are used, these are only activated with explicit consent from the adult user via our cookie banner, in line with the ICO's Age Appropriate Design Code.

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or applicable law. Any material changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. Where changes are significant, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you (for example, via a prominent notice on our website).

16. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or have concerns about how your data is handled, please contact us:

Email: hello [at] classpot.co.uk