FOI, Privacy Notices, Complaints, Whistle-Blowing, Funding & Charging Policy
Charging
The Governing Body recognises the valuable contribution that the wide range of additional activities, including clubs, out of Academy trips, residentials and experiences of other environments, can make towards students’ all round educational experience and their personal and social development. (Throughout this policy, the term “parents” means all those having parental responsibility for a child.)
Charging policy
Charging will be permitted for the following activities:
- The full costs of board and lodging on residential visits.
- The full costs associated with individual or small group tuition in the playing of a musical instrument, whether in or out of Academy time (in most cases the Academy subsidises such lessons).
- The full costs of activities which take place wholly or mainly outside of Academy hours, but which are not provided as part of the syllabus for a prescribed public examination and are not required in order to fulfil statutory duties related to the National Curriculum or to Religious Education.
- The full costs of entering a student for a public examination not prescribed in regulations and for preparing the student for such an examination outside Academy hours.
- The full costs of re-sits of prescribed public examinations where no further preparation has been provided by the Academy.
- The full costs of entering a student for a prescribed public examination where the Governing Body has decided there are educational reasons for not entering the student.
If a student has not regularly attended the lessons for a particular examination subject, the examination fee may be requested, refundable if the student attends for examination.
If, without a medical certificate explaining the reason, a student fails to complete examination requirements for any public examination for which the Academy has paid an entry fee, the Governing Body may seek to recover the fee from the parent.
There may be a charge for examination entry where there is a request from the parent for additional subject entries to be made which are not supported by the Academy.
- The cost of essential ingredients or materials for practical subjects will be provided.
- The costs (full or partial at the Academy’s discretion) of breakages caused by students. A charge is unlikely to be made for accidental breakage, unless the student was not heeding previously stated safety procedures. The recovery of the full cost of deliberate breakage or vandalism will be sought be the Academy.
- The Academy will charge an administrative fee for certification of passports, driving licences, confirmation of examination results, photocopying etc.
- The Academy will charge an administrative fee (Approximately £10) for the cost in terms of time, equipment and materials for the copy of a student file or related items. In exceptional circumstances this fee may be waived.
Remissions
Where the parent of a student is in receipt of qualifying state benefit(s), the Governing Body will remit in full the cost of board and lodging for
- Any residential activity that is organised for the student and which takes place within school time. This will also be the case where the residential activity forms part of the syllabus for a public examination
- Any residential visits outside Academy time which are covered by the following criteria, where the education is provided:
a) To fulfil any requirements specified in the syllabus for a prescribed public examination;
b) Specifically to fulfil statutory duties relating to the National Curriculum imposed by Section 10 (ii) of the 1988 Act;
c) The costs of individual instrumental music tuition will also be remitted in all cases where the individual tuition is provided as part of the syllabus for a prescribed public examination or is required by the National Curriculum;
d) Specifically to fulfil statutory duties relating to Religious Education.
The Governing Body may remit charges in full or in part to other parents after considering other specific hardship cases. The Governing Body invites parents to apply, in the strictest confidence, for the remission of charges in part or in full. The Principal will authorise remission in consultation with the Chair of Governors.
Insurance
Any insurance costs will be included in charges made for trips or activities.
Voluntary contributions
Nothing in this policy statement precludes the Governing Body from inviting parents to make voluntary contributions. The Governing Body should make clear that such contributions are voluntary that children of parents who do not contribute will not be discriminated against, and that if insufficient contributions are received the trip may be cancelled.
Monitoring, Evaluation and Review
The Governing Body will review this policy at least every two years and assess its implementation and effectiveness. The policy will be promoted and implemented throughout the Academy.
If you require a paper copy of the information on our website, please request in writing and this will be provided free of charge.
Complaints
We value your comments and feedback. If you have experienced an issue or have a concern you'd like to raise regarding the Academy or a member of staff, please contact Mrs Tracey Harrison, PA to the Principal, on info@harriscrystalpalace.org.uk. Complaints should be addressed to Samuel Rigby (Principal) at the Academy.
We will work hard to resolve issues quickly and informally whenever possible by understanding the problem and finding a prompt solution. Most concerns can be addressed in this way. You might also like to refer to the Parent Guide to School Complaints (downloadable below). This is a checklist to resolving concerns quickly, easily and positively, published by the Department for Education. Our Complaints Procedure is also shown below.
If your complaint is about the Principal, please direct it to the Harris Federation Chief Executive's Office on info@harrisfederation.org.uk
Our full complaints policy can be found further down the page.
Privacy Notice
Under data protection law, individuals have a right to be informed about how the Federation and its Academies use any personal data about its students. We, the Harris Federation, comply with this right by providing Privacy Notices to parents/carers and students, as appropriate, where we are processing their personal data.
Harris Federation is the Data Controller for the purposes of data protection law and therefore will determine the purposes for which personal data is processed (the ‘why’ and the ‘how’). Your Academy and authorised 3rd parties, e.g. ParentPay, process and ‘use’ data on behalf of the Federation and are therefore Data Processors.
We collect and use personal data about the students who attend our Academies, in order to provide an outstanding education. This personal data includes identifiers such as name, address and contact details of parents/carers, characteristics such as ethnic group, nationality and language, attendance information, test results, medical conditions, and special educational needs information.
This data is used for a variety of reasons, including:
- Support student learning.
- Protect student welfare.
- Monitor and report on student progress.
- Contact students and parent/carers when we need to.
- Provide appropriate pastoral care.
- Assess the quality of the services we provide.
- Administer admissions waiting lists.
The Federation and its Academies will ensure that all personal data is processed fairly and lawfully, is accurate, is kept secure and is retained for no longer than is necessary. We do not share personal information about our students with any third party without consent, unless the law and our policies allow us to do so. For example we are required to pass on some data to the Department of Education (DfE).
See our Privacy notices below to learn how we collect, use, protect and share the personal information about our students.
If you have any questions, concerns or would like more information about anything mentioned in the Privacy Notice(s), please contact the Federation’s Data Protection Officer (DPO), details below:
Data Protection Officer
Harris Federation
Interchange
81-85 Station Road
Croydon CR0 2RD
Email: dpo@harrisfederation.org.uk
Tel: 0208 253 7777
Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives the public right of access to information produced in the course of the Federation’s work.
There are exemptions to this right. In particular, data about living, identifiable people ('personal data') continues to be covered by the Data Protection Act and is not generally publicly available except to the "subject" of the data - that is, the person whom the data is about.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Harris Federation has developed a Publication Scheme which lists all the documents which the Federation will make public as a matter of routine.
If the information you are looking for is not available on our Publication Scheme which can be found further down the page, you can make a request for the information you require in writing, please make sure you read our charging policy for information about cost you may be liable for.
Yours sincerely
Sir Dan Moynihan
Chief Executive Officer
Funding
The Academy is part of the Harris Federation for which the annual report, annual audited accounts, memorandum of association, articles of association and funding agreement can be found here. The Academy’s own supplementary funding agreement can be found below.
Executive Pay
Information about executive pay for employees that have a gross annual salary and benefits of £100,000 or more can be found here.
