Updated December 2025
This statement outlines the policy on how Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School (the School) uses and manages personal information provided to or collected by it. The School is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the Health Privacy Principles (HPPs) contained in the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) (Health Records Act).
In this Policy, “personal information” has the meaning set out in the Privacy Act. Essentially, personal information is information or an opinion about an individual who is reasonably identifiable.
This Policy also applies to our management of any "sensitive information" or "health information" (as those terms are defined in the Privacy Act and Health Records Act). For convenience, this Policy uses the term "personal information" to collectively refer to "personal information", "health information" and "sensitive information" (as those terms are defined at law), except where otherwise noted.
The Privacy Act and Health Records Act allow individuals to access their personal information and have it corrected (if it is inaccurate, irrelevant, incomplete, misleading or not up-to-date), subject to certain exceptions. The School is committed to protecting privacy and confidentiality in accordance with this policy and the School's obligations under the Privacy Act, the Health Records Act and other applicable laws.
The School may, from time to time, review and update this Privacy Policy to take account of new laws and technology, changes to the School’s operations and practices and to make sure it remains appropriate to the changing school environment.
The School, we, our, us Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School
Personal Information In this policy, “Personal Information” has the meaning set out in the Privacy Act 1988. Essentially, personal information
refers to any information or an opinion about an individual who is reasonably identifiable.
This policy uses the term "personal information" to collectively refer to "personal information", "health information"
and "sensitive information" (as those terms are defined at law), except where otherwise noted.
The types of personal information we collect depends on the circumstances in which the information is collected. The type of information the School collects and holds includes (but is not limited to) personal information, including sensitive and health information about:
To assist us in providing a safe and secure environment for our students, staff and the broader school community, and to comply with our legal obligations and duty of care, we may also collect:
The School will generally collect personal information held about an individual by way of forms filled out by Parents or students, face-to-face meetings and interviews, telephone calls and electronic methods such as email or via the School's websites and School App.
In some circumstances the School may be provided with personal information about an individual from a third party or via indirect means. For example, this may include the collection of:
The Privacy Act contains certain exemptions that apply to the School's handling of employee records (other than employee health records) for purposes that are directly related to a current or former employment relationship between the School and the employee.
The School may rely on these exemptions (and other applicable exemptions at law), and this Privacy Policy does not apply in circumstances where the School relies on such an exemption.
Information is automatically collected through your use of the Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School websites (including sub-sites of the School such as Ivanhoe Girls’ Aquatics and Performing Arts).
We may use temporary (session) cookies or permanent cookies when you access our website. This allows us to recognise your browser and track the web pages you have visited. Cookies are small text files that websites may place on your computer or device. Most often, cookies are used to recognise repeat users of websites and remember user preferences. Cookies are also used to allow the website to track usage behaviour and aggregate data to allow the School to customise a user’s experience on our website.
The information may be used and disclosed by the School for purposes including statistical analysis, and to assist the School to improve the functionality and usability of marketing materials, including the website. You can switch off cookies by adjusting the settings on your web browser.
Services that our website may use from time to time include Google Analytics, a service which transmits website traffic data to Google servers in the United States. Google Analytics does not identify individual users or associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. We use reports provided by Google Analytics to help us understand website traffic and webpage usage. By using our website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner described in Google’s most updated version of its Privacy Policy (located on the Google website) and for the purposes set out above. You can opt out of Google Analytics if you disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google.
We are constantly developing and enhancing our use of online technologies and make reasonable efforts to ensure we keep this Privacy Policy and related documents up to date in this regard.
As required by the Privacy Act and the Health Records Act, the School will take reasonable steps to provide you with collection notices, explaining what we are collecting and why, at or around the time that we collect personal information about you.
These collection notices will explain matters such as how we will use the information and who we might share it with. Collection notices may provide more specific information than contained in this Policy. We encourage you to read all collection notices carefully.
The School will use and disclose personal information it collects from you for the primary purpose of collection. The primary purpose of collection will depend on the circumstances in which the information was collected. This Policy sets out some of the primary purposes for which personal information is collected about students and Parents, job applicants and staff, contractors and volunteers (see below).
The School may also use and disclose personal information for such other secondary purposes that are:
Students and Parents: In relation to personal information of students and parents, the School’s primary purpose of collection is to enable the School to provide schooling for the student. This includes satisfying both the needs of parents and the needs of the student throughout the whole period the student is enrolled at the School.
The purposes for which the School collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information of students and Parents include:
In some cases where the School requests personal information about a student or parent, if the information requested is not obtained, the School may not be able to enrol or continue the enrolment of the student.
Job applicants, staff members and contractors: In relation to personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors, the School’s primary purpose of collection is to assess and (if successful) to engage the applicant, staff member or contractor, as the case may be.
The purposes for which the School uses personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors include:
Volunteers: the School also obtains personal information about volunteers who assist the School in its functions or conduct associated activities, such as alumni activities, to enable the School and the volunteers to work together.
Development, marketing and fundraising: The School treats marketing and seeking donations for its future growth and development as an important part of ensuring the School continues to be a quality learning environment in which both students and staff thrive.
Where you have consented or where it is otherwise permitted by law, personal information (other than sensitive information) that is held by the School may be shared with organisations that assist in the School’s fundraising and community engagement activities. These third parties include alumni associations and service providers who assist with our fundraising and community engagement activities (for example, utilising service providers that screen contact details against publicly available information to help the School identify individuals who have capacity to provide additional fundraising support).
Parents, staff, contractors and other members of the wider School community may, from time to time, receive fundraising information and School publications, like newsletters (digital and printed) and magazines.
You can opt out of receiving further marketing materials (including in relation to our fundraising activities) from the School by:
The types of organisations and persons with whom we share your personal information will depend on the nature of our relationship with you, and the particular facts and circumstances.
Sending information overseas: The School does not routinely disclose personal information to overseas recipients in the course of ordinary, day-to-day operations. The School may periodically disclose personal information about an individual to overseas recipients on a case-by-case basis - for example to facilitate a school exchange. In such circumstances, the School will not send personal information about an individual outside Australia without obtaining the consent of the individual (in some cases this consent will be implied), or otherwise complying with the APPs, HPPs or other applicable privacy legislation.
In referring to “sensitive information”, the School means: information relating to a person’s racial or ethnic origins, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual orientation or practices, criminal record or health information.
The term "sensitive information", as defined in the Privacy Act, also covers genetic information, biometric information used for biometric verification or identification, and biometric templates. However, the School does not generally collect or handle these types of sensitive information.
Sensitive information about you will be used and disclosed only for the primary purpose for which it was collected or a directly related secondary purpose that would be reasonably expected by you, unless you agree otherwise, or the use or disclosure of that sensitive information is otherwise permitted, required or authorised by law.
The School’s staff are required to respect and take seriously the confidentiality of students’ and Parents’ personal information and the privacy of individuals.
The School has in place reasonable steps to protect the personal information the School holds from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure by use of various methods including locked storage of paper records and password access rights to computerised records.
The School also takes reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information in accordance with the School's obligations under the Privacy Act, Health Records Act and any other applicable laws.
The School endeavours to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date and provides specific portals to both Parents and staff through which updates to personal information can be made. A person may also seek to update their personal information held by the School by contacting the School's Director of Corporate Services (see "Contact Details" section below) at any time.
Under the Privacy Act and Health Records Act, an individual has the right to:
The School respects every parent’s right to make decisions concerning their child’s education.
Generally, the School will refer any request for consent and notices in relation to the personal information
of a student to the student’s Parents.
Parents may seek access to personal information held by the School about them or their child by contacting the School’s Director of Corporate Services (see "Contact Details" section below). However, there will be occasions when access may be denied. Such occasions would include where release of the information would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others or where the release may result in a breach of the School’s duty of care or other legal obligations to the student.
The School may, on a case-by-case basis, on the request of a student grant that student access to information held by the School about them or allow a student to give or withhold consent to the use of their personal information, independently of their Parents. The School's policy is that this would normally be done only when the student involved had reached 18 years of age, but the School could do so in other circumstances when the maturity of the student and/or the student’s personal circumstances so warranted.
Under the Privacy Act 1988, the Notifiable Data Breach (NDB) Scheme makes it compulsory for the School to notify specific "eligible data breaches" to individuals affected by the breach, and to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
In simple terms, a data breach occurs where personal information, tax file number information or certain types of consumer credit information held by the School is lost or subjected to unauthorised access, modification, disclosure or other misuse or interference.
To become a reportable "eligible data breach" a data breach must be likely to result in serious harm to any of the individuals to whom the information relates.
Where records held by the School are no longer required for current operational purposes, the School will either securely store, or destroy, those records. Any documents associated with allegations of child abuse are reasonably likely to be required for current or future legal proceedings, will be retained permanently and will not be disposed or destroyed.
If you would like further information about the way the School manages the personal information it holds about you or your child or wish to complain that you believe that the School has breached the APPs or the HPPs, please contact the School’s Director of Corporate Services (see "Contact Details" section below). The School will investigate any complaint and will notify you of the decision in relation to your complaint as soon as is practicable. We take all complaints seriously and will respond to your complaint in accordance with any applicable timeframes imposed by law and otherwise within a reasonable period. We request that you cooperate with us during this process and provide us with any relevant information that we may need.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your complaint, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001
Telephone: 1300 363 992
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Where the complaint relates to health information, you may also contact the Health Complaints Commissioner:
Health Complaints Commissioner
Level 13, 2 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne Victoria 3000
Telephone: 1300 582 113
Online: https://hcc.vic.gov.au/make-complaint
Director of Corporate Services
Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School
123 Marshall Street
IVANHOE VIC 3079 AUSTRALIA
Telephone: +61 3 9490 6222
Email: enquiries@ivanhoegirls.vic.edu.au
Further information on the Privacy Act is available on https://www.oaic.gov.au
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