Privacy Policy

About SENDBridge

SENDBridge is a community and support platform for parents and carers of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). It also lets you keep your own private records, such as appointments, referrals, school communications and paperwork.

Who is responsible for your information

SENDBridge is responsible for the personal information described in this policy and acts as the data controller for it. You can reach us using the contact details at the end of this page.

Information we collect

We only hold what you give us or what the app needs to run. This may include:

• Your name and email address when you create an account.
• Anything you post in the community, such as posts, comments, replies, discussions and reactions.
• Private messages you send to other members.
• Your Organiser records — appointments, referrals, school notes, documents and contacts — and the children's records you add, which may include a child's name, date of birth and school.
• Anything you write when you report a post or comment, or block another member.
• Technical information needed to run the app securely, such as when you signed in.

Children's information

SENDBridge is for use by parents and carers, not by children. You may choose to record information about your child in your Organiser. Information about a child's health or special educational needs is treated as sensitive (special category) data, so please only enter information you are entitled to record, and keep your account password private. Your Organiser and your children's records are private to your account and are never shown to other members.

How information is used

We use your information to provide the features of SENDBridge, to let you manage your own records, to keep the community safe by reviewing content that has been reported, and to maintain and improve the service.

Why we are allowed to use it

Running your account and your Organiser is necessary to provide the service you have asked us to provide. Keeping the community safe relies on our legitimate interest in protecting members from harm. Where you record information about a child's health or special educational needs, we only hold it because you have chosen to record it and asked us to store it for you.

Who can see your information

It depends on where it sits:

• Your Organiser entries and your children's records: only you.
• Your private messages: only you and the member you sent them to.
• Posts, comments, replies and discussions: any signed-in member can read these. Please do not share identifying details about your child in the community areas.
• A small number of administrators can review content that has been reported or flagged, so that they can act on it.

Sharing of information

SENDBridge does not sell your personal information. Information may be processed by the service providers we use to host and run the app, where that is necessary to provide the service, or disclosed where the law requires it.

Cookies and advertising

SENDBridge does not use tracking cookies of its own. To help cover the cost of running the platform, we may show adverts supplied by Google AdSense on our public information pages. Where adverts appear:

• Adverts only ever appear on the four public information pages — the visitor homepage, About, Community Guidelines and Child Safety — and only for visitors who are not signed in.
• Adverts never appear inside the member areas, and never inside our iPhone or Android app. Once you sign in, Google's advert code is not loaded at all, so no advert cookie is set while you use the app.
• Our own domain is the only address that can show an advert. The platform address that serves a copy of these pages can never show one.
• No information from your account, your Organiser, your children's records, your private messages, or anything you post is ever shared with Google or with any advertiser.
• We show at most one advert on a page, placed below that page's content, and Google's Auto ads are switched off.
• Google AdSense may set cookies and collect your IP address, your device and browser details, and the page you are viewing, in order to show adverts and measure them. Google may transfer this information outside the UK. You can read Google's own privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy.

Your choices about adverts

Advert consent is handled by Google's own consent message, which appears on our public pages when you visit from the UK, the EEA or Switzerland. It offers three choices — consent, do not consent, and manage options — and you can change or withdraw your choice at any time.

• Google's message is the only advert consent you will see on SENDBridge. We do not ask separately, so you are never asked twice.
• You can say no. The public pages and the app work exactly the same either way.
• No advert is requested until a choice allowing adverts has been recorded. If no choice has been recorded, no advert is shown.
• You can change your mind at any time using the Advert settings link in the footer of our public pages, which brings Google's message back so you can withdraw or change your choice.
• You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings at any time.

Data security

Reasonable measures are used to protect information handled through SENDBridge, including keeping your Organiser and your messages private to your account. However, no online service can guarantee absolute security, so please use a strong, unique password.

How long we keep it

We keep your information for as long as you keep your SENDBridge account. When you delete your account, we delete your profile and the information that belongs to you — including your Organiser entries and your children's records. We may keep limited records for longer where the law requires it, for example for tax or accounting, or to deal with a legal claim.

Deleting your information

You can delete individual Organiser entries and children's records at any time from the Organiser. You can also delete your whole account, and everything that belongs to it, from the Safety page inside the app or from our account deletion page. Deleting your account removes your profile, posts, comments, replies, discussions, messages, reactions, blocks, notifications, Organiser entries and children's records.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• Ask for a copy of the information we hold about you.
• Ask us to correct information that is wrong.
• Ask us to delete your information.
• Ask us to restrict or stop using your information.
• Receive your information in a portable format.
• Object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests.

Using your rights

The quickest way to get or delete your information is inside the app: you can download a copy of your Organiser at any time, and you can delete your account from the Safety page. For anything else, contact us using the details below and we will respond within one month.

Complaining to the ICO

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please contact us first so that we can try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK regulator, at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated as SENDBridge develops. The date at the top of this page will be updated when changes are made.

Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your personal information, please contact SENDBridge:

sendbridgeapp@gmail.com