The Admissions Process

During the Admissions process we gather information to help us to decide whether or not to offer a place, a scholarship, or financial assistance to your child.  

The information we collect includes:

• Information about your child – e.g. name, date of birth, gender and nationality
• Contact details for your child and each parent/carer
• Details of the applicant’s brothers and sisters
• Proof of nationality and address
• Your job details
• The year group and date that you wish your child to start in
• The applicant’s education to date
• School reports and references
• Any additional needs your child may have, including support for learning reports, disability and medical information
• Whether you are seeking financial assistance or a music scholarship
• Information on earnings and financial assets, if applying for financial assistance
• Payment details
• Assessment results

This information allows us to better understand who your child is, whether we can accommodate their needs and whether a Watson’s education would be best for them. This enables us to communicate to you throughout the admissions process.

We need your consent for your child’s current school to share financial information (if fees are still outstanding), and to release academic report and pupil profile information to us.

We will only contact you using the methods you have provided us with during the Admissions process.

You can withdraw your consent to us collecting and/or storing your personal information at any time. You can withdraw your consent by contacting us using the details at the end of this privacy policy.

We will collect information from you from the first time you make an enquiry. You may call to ask a question of our Admissions team, you may attend Open Morning and ask us to send our Recorder magazine out to you, or you may apply for a place, and fill in our application form or complete market research surveys (either on paper or online). Your child’s current school may provide the information, as detailed above.

The information enables us to:

• Invite your child to an assessment
• Send a prospectus or newsletter, if requested
• Communicate to you throughout the admissions process
• Assess your child, and determine if they will fit into Watson’s
• Analyse your survey feedback for market research purposes, after the offers have been sent out, and places accepted or rejected.

We will never sell and will not share your personal information with any third-party.

Should your application be unsuccessful we will destroy your information one year after the end of the Academic Year for which you applied.

Should you be placed on a waiting list we will retain your information until the process has closed, then destroy after the end of the Academic Year for which you applied.

Should you be successful your records will be kept for the duration of your child’s education with the School (Privacy Policy – Educating your Child), and potentially beyond (Privacy Policy – Keeping in Touch and Supporting the School).

You have the right to access the personal information we hold on you. If you wish to receive a copy you may make a data subject access request to our Data Protection Officer, the Bursar.

We must confirm your identity before we can release any personal information.

If the personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, you can ask us to correct it. You can also ask for information to be deleted or removed if there is no compelling reason for George Watson’s College to continue to hold it.

The personal information collected by the School will be held in electronic and/or physical format on secured systems within the European Economic Area. We will not knowingly transfer your personal information outside of the European Economic Area. We only store physical copies of documents containing your personal information on the School’s premises. Information that we store electronically is retained on systems owned and/or managed by the School.

Details regarding how we store and manage data can be found in our Data Storage and Retention Policy.

This can be found in our Information Security policy.

How to Contact us

If you have any questions, comments or requests regarding this Privacy Policy please contact:

The Bursar / Data Protection Officer
George Watson’s College
Colinton Road
Edinburgh
EH10 5EG
or
dataprotection@gwc.org.uk
or
0131 446 6000

Complaints

If you are not satisfied with the way that we have handled any of your requests or questions relating to our use of your personal data then you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk/concerns  or phone 0303 123 1113.

The Information Commissioner’s Office is the statutory body responsible for overseeing data protection legislation and law in the United Kingdom.