Privacy Policy

Who we are

TJ Tutors Ltd is a specialist English tuition provider. We are the data controller for the information described in this policy.

If you have any question about this policy or about how we handle information, email [email protected] and we will reply.

The short version

We teach children English. To do that we hold information about the child — their name, year group, the schools they are working towards, the work they produce, and how they are progressing. We also hold contact details for their parents.

We do not sell information to anyone. We do not share it with third parties for their own marketing. We do not take card payments and we hold no card details — programme fees are paid by bank transfer.

Lessons are recorded so that children can watch them again. That is explained in full below, and you can ask us not to include your child.

The rest of this policy sets all of this out properly, because you are entitled to know exactly what we hold and why.

Information we collect

About parents and guardians

• Name, email address and telephone number
• The name of a second parent or guardian, where you give it
• How you heard about us
• Your answers on our application form
• Payment records and correspondence with us
• Technical information about your visits to our website — see Cookies and analytics

About children

• First name and year group
• Schools you are considering, and exam boards or entrance formats where relevant
• Your description of their most recent school English report
• A copy of that school report, if you choose to upload it
• Work they submit, and our written feedback on it
• Assessment scores at the start of a programme and during it
• Notes on their development priorities and progress
• Offers received from schools, and grades achieved, where you tell us
• Their voice, image and contributions during live lessons, which are recorded — see Recorded lessons
• Anything else you choose to tell us in the “anything else we should know” section of our application form

Information about health or learning needs

If you tell us about a learning difficulty, a diagnosis, an EHCP or any other health-related matter, that is special category data under UK GDPR. We only use it to teach your child appropriately and to make reasonable adjustments.

Our lawful basis for holding it is your explicit consent, given when you provide it. You can withdraw that consent at any time by emailing us, and we will delete it — though it may mean we can no longer make the same adjustments.

You are never obliged to tell us anything about your child’s health or learning needs.

Where the information comes from

Most of it comes from you, on our application form or in conversation with us.

Some of it we create ourselves — assessment scores, written feedback, progress notes.

School reports come from you rather than from the school. We do not contact your child’s school unless you ask us to.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

You are not required to give us any of this information, but we cannot assess or teach a child without the information marked as required on our application form.

Children’s information

We take this seriously and we want to be plain about it.

We hold information about children because we teach them. The contract is with you as the parent, and we rely on you to provide information about your child and to make decisions on their behalf.

We do not market to children. All our communications go to parents and guardians. We do not send children marketing emails or texts, and we do not advertise to them.

We do not profile children or make automated decisions about them. Every assessment, recommendation and piece of feedback is written by a person who has read their work.

A child’s information is only ever seen by the TJ-trained teachers who teach or mark for them, and by Tom Harrop. It is not shared with other families, other children, or anyone outside TJ Tutors, except as set out in Who we share information with.

You can ask to see everything we hold about your child at any time. Children over the age of 12 are generally considered able to exercise their own data rights in the UK, and we will take a sensible, child-appropriate approach if a student asks us directly.

Recorded lessons and the TJ Library

Every live lesson is recorded so that the children in that class can watch it again, catch up if they missed one, or revisit an explanation before an exam. The TJ Library is where those recordings are kept and where enrolled families find them.

What is captured. Audio, the shared screen, any written work displayed during the lesson, and children’s video where their camera is on. Children appear on screen. We say that plainly rather than leave you to work it out.

Who can see them. Only the families enrolled on that programme, for as long as they are enrolled. Recordings are never shared beyond the cohort they were made in.

How long we keep them. 24 months from the end of the programme, after which they are deleted. That covers a full exam cycle, including a GCSE student revisiting Year 10 material in Year 11. It applies to everything in the Library — we do not keep any recording of a child indefinitely.

Our lawful basis is your consent, given at enrolment. You can withdraw it at any time by emailing us.

If you would prefer your child not to be recorded, tell us and we will make arrangements — your child can keep their camera off and their microphone muted during recorded portions, or we can edit their contributions out. This will not affect the teaching they receive, and we will not ask you to justify the request.

We do not publish lesson recordings publicly, use them in advertising, or post them on social media.

If we ever wanted to use a child’s work or contribution in teaching material shown outside their own cohort, we would ask you first, specifically, and you would be free to say no.

School reports and other documents you upload

If you upload your child’s school English report, we store it securely and use it only to give context to the assessment and to their teaching.

We keep uploaded reports for 12 months after the assessment if you do not enrol, or for the duration of the relationship plus 12 months if you do. Then we delete them.

You can ask us to delete an uploaded document at any time.

Parent WhatsApp groups

Each programme has a parent WhatsApp group where we share weekly resources and programme information.

Joining is optional. If you join, other parents in the group will be able to see your name and phone number. That is how WhatsApp works, and we cannot change it.

WhatsApp is operated by Meta, and their own privacy terms apply to messages sent through it. We do not use the groups for marketing, and we remove members when their programme ends unless they ask to stay.

If you would rather not be in a group, tell us and we will send the same resources by email.

Who we share information with

We do not sell your information. We do not share it with third parties for their own marketing.

We use the following service providers, who process information on our behalf and only on our instructions:

We may also disclose information where we are legally required to — for example to comply with a court order, to meet a safeguarding obligation, or to protect a child from harm. Safeguarding is the one circumstance in which we may share information without your consent, and we would tell you unless doing so would put a child at risk.

International transfers

Some of our providers are based outside the UK, principally in the United States.

Where information is transferred outside the UK, we rely on the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where a provider is certified under it, and on the UK International Data Transfer Addendum where it is not, to make sure the information receives equivalent protection.

You can ask us for details of the safeguards that apply to any particular provider.

How long we keep information

We delete or anonymise information once these periods pass.

Keeping information secure

We use reputable providers with appropriate security, restrict access to those who need it, and protect our accounts with strong authentication.

No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of information sent to us over the internet. If a breach occurs that is likely to put anyone at risk, we will report it to the ICO within 72 hours and tell you.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• See the information we hold about you or your child
• Correct anything that is wrong
• Delete information, in certain circumstances
• Restrict how we use it, in certain circumstances
• Object to us using it where we rely on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time
• Receive a copy of information you gave us, in a portable format
• Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent — including for lesson recordings

To exercise any of these, email [email protected]. We will respond within one month.

There is no charge, unless a request is clearly unfounded or excessive.

Marketing

We will only send you marketing emails where you have agreed, or where you are already a client and the message relates to something similar to what you have bought.

Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing takes effect immediately.

Messages about an assessment or programme you have booked are not marketing — they are part of the service — and you will continue to receive those while your booking is active.

Cookies and analytics

Our website uses cookies that are necessary to make it work, and — with your consent — cookies that help us understand how people find and use the site, including from Meta.

You can change or withdraw your cookie preferences at any time using your browser settings, and you can ask us at any time what cookies we use.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first — email [email protected] and we will look into it.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Changes to this policy

We will post any changes on this page and update the date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use your information, we will tell you by email.

Contact

Questions about this policy, or about anything we hold: