Privacy Policy

Sheffield Music Academy is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy covers the following:

• Who we are
• What information we collect
• How we use your information
• Who may use your information
• Third party links and services
• How we protect your information
• Where your information is processed
• Marketing Communications
• How long we keep your information
• Your rights

This Privacy Policy applies to all of the personal data we collect about you, including information collected on www.sheffieldmusicacademy.co.uk and any other websites (including mobile access) where this policy is linked to; all of which are referred to as the “Site” in this policy. By providing information to us, you agree to this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy was last updated in April 2026 and will be reviewed annually. We may occasionally amend this Privacy Policy. Any new policy will automatically be effective when it is published on the website. You should therefore return here regularly to view our most up to date Privacy Policy. You should also print a copy for your records.

Who we are

The Site is owned and operated by Sheffield Music Academy. Sheffield Music Academy is incorporated in England as Sheffield Music Academy a company limited by guarantee no. 07667445 and is a registered charity no. 1143420. The registered office is 9 Shirley House, 31 Psalter Lane, Sheffield, S11 8YL. We refer to Sheffield Music Academy as “we”, “us” or “our” in this Privacy Policy.

What information do we collect?

Most of the information we collect is information provided directly by you. With regard to a student enquiry or application this may include:

• contact information – information such as name, email address, physical mailing address and telephone number
• professional information – such as your employment background, job description and related information
• transaction information – your contact information, ability and lesson information regarding your child, your financial information including that related to the Department of Education bursary
• responses to surveys – information you provide in responding to a survey on the website, via an app or email, on the telephone or otherwise

We may also collect and process information obtained through the Site or the device you are using, including:

• location information (including GPS signals sent by a mobile device, location information gathered from social media networks or sensor or IP address data from your device)
• information from cookies, web beacons or from the internet, including your IP address, browser type, operating system, domain name, access times, which pages you visit within our website and referring website addresses. You can find out more about how we use cookies via the cookie consent banner on this site.
• if you ask us to connect with other sites (for example if you ask us to connect with your Facebook account) we may get information that way too

Recruitment

If the website is used to apply to work with us, we will use the information supplied to process an application and to monitor recruitment statistics. As a business partly involving volunteers we may transfer your details to other people to help with the recruitment process. Where we want to disclose information to a third party (for example where we want to take up a reference) we will not do so without informing you first unless the disclosure is required by law. Personal information about unsuccessful candidates will be held for up to 12 months after the recruitment exercise has been completed, it will then be destroyed or deleted. We retain de-personalized statistical information about applicants to help inform our recruitment activities, but individuals should not be identifiable from that data.

Employment

Once a person has taken up employment with us, we will compile a file relating to their employment. At that stage we will give more details about how we hold employee data and we will expect the employee to sign up to additional privacy terms as part of their employment. Employees will be subject to additional DBS checks throughout their time with the Academy and this will include the transfer and processing of sensitive personal data as a necessary part of employment with the Academy. Finally, we may use publicly accessible information to verify information we are provided with and to manage and expand the Academy.

How do we use your information?

Our primary purpose in collecting your personal data is to provide you with the services you requested and those which we believe will optimize your use of the Site. We may use your personal data for the following purposes:

• to provide the information, services or support you request; i.e build a timetable for your child
• to identify you, and to contact you from time to time with updates
• to manage our relationship with you and to carry out any related administration
• to promote what we do, or the services of our partners, including by email and via social media platforms
• to detect, investigate and prevent activity we think may be potentially illegal, unlawful or harmful and to enforce our Privacy Policy and/or our Terms or any other purpose referenced herein or therein
• to carry out research, including market research, statistical research on site traffic, ticket sales and other commercial information to assist us in improving the services we provide to you and tailor the Site

Who may use your information?

We may disclose your personal data to enforce our policies, to comply with our legal obligations or in the interests of security, public interest or law enforcement. For example, we may respond to a request by the police or regulatory or governmental authority. We may also disclose data in connection with actual or proposed litigation, or to protect our property, security, people, students, concert-goers and other rights or interests. We will take steps where necessary to safeguard children in our care, even if this means sharing personal data. Our Safeguarding Policy gives more details of this.

We may deem it necessary to share your information with third parties who help deliver our products and services to you. Examples could include web hosting, analysing data and providing marketing assistance. These companies may have access to your personal information as necessary to perform their functions, but they may not use that data for any other purpose.

We may also share your personal data with any third party you have asked us to share your personal data with – such as Facebook or any other social media site if you have asked us to connect with your account.

Your personal information may be passed on to a successor in interest in the unlikely event of a liquidation, bankruptcy or administration. Please remember that when you share information publicly on the Site, for example a comment on a blog post, it may be indexable by search engines, including Google, which may mean that the information is made public.

Third party links and services

The Site may contain links to third parties’ websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of those websites. Therefore, please read carefully any privacy policies on those links or websites before either agreeing to their terms or using those websites.

We may also use Google Analytics to gather statistics on site usage. This may involve the use of cookies. There are more details in our cookie consent banner and in Google’s own privacy policy. Google may aggregate data they collect from their various services including Google Analytics, Google Translate, Google Maps and YouTube. You acknowledge and accept that we have no control over Google’s data collection. You should look at Google’s privacy policy for details of their data collection practices.

If you have asked us to share data with third party sites (such as social media sites), their servers may not be secure. Note that, despite the measures taken by us and the third parties we engage, the internet is not secure. As a result others may nevertheless unlawfully intercept or access private transmissions or data.

How do we protect your information?

We take what we consider to be appropriate technical and organisational measures to guard against unauthorised or unlawful processing of your personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, your personal data. While no system is completely secure, we believe the measures implemented by the Site reduce our vulnerability to security problems to a level appropriate to the type of data involved. However, it remains your responsibility to maintain good internet security.

Where is your information processed?

Please take special care when sending data to us. Our funders require details of identity and resources including passport and bank account details. Please take special care when sending these details to us. Please don’t send us more data than we need or have asked for. For example if we have asked for a bank statement if is fine to blank out details of individual transactions unless we have asked for them.

Your data may be processed and stored on our or third party providers’ computers in the United States or other countries where we or our services providers have a presence.

Marketing communications

If you have given permission, we may contact you by mail, telephone, SMS, or email about classes, concerts or events that may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive any direct marketing communications from us, you can opt out at any time. See further ‘Your rights’, below.

If you have opted out of marketing communications we may still contact you for other purposes including:

• To check that the details we hold are still correct
• To check that you still want to be on our database
• To communicate with you regarding your children’s classes
• To send you concert tickets where you have asked for them
• To ask for feedback on the Academy or our teachers
• To provide details we require e.g., proof of entitlement for assistance you have applied for

How long do we keep your information?

We will retain your personal data only as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy, or as is required by applicable law. Be aware that our Government funding may impose additional data retention requirements. In addition, our obligations as a Charity and/or the obligations of our trustees may impose the need to retain data for longer than a conventional business. Once we have no further need for your data we will delete it and/or shred it.

Your rights

You may have the right to see the information we hold on you and can contact the office to arrange this. We may charge a small fee for this service.

You may have a right to change or request the deletion of information we hold about you. This could include changing your contact details or your payment details or cancelling your account. If you wish to do this, please send the details of your request to the office. For privacy-related enquiries, please use our contact page: /contact.