PRIVACY POLICY

This Website Privacy Policy is aligned with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who we are

Oakswood College is a further and higher education college based in Birmingham, United Kingdom, operated by Oakswood College (the "College", "we", "us", "our"). For the purposes of UK data protection law, the College is the "data controller" for personal data collected through If you have any questions about this notice, please contact the College using the details on the Contact page of our website.

2. What data we collect

Through our website we may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

• Identity and contact data: name, email address, telephone number, country of residence, and any information you choose to include in enquiry or application forms.
• Application related data: information you provide when you request a call back, apply online for a course, or ask a question (for example programme of interest, preferred start date, brief educational background).
• Usage and technical data: IP address, browser type and version, device identifiers, pages visited, time spent on pages, and similar analytics information collected via cookies or similar technologies.
• Communications data: records of emails or messages you send to us via the website contact or "Ask a Question" forms.

3. How we collect your data

We collect personal data on our website in three main ways:

• Directly from you: when you complete "Apply Online", "Request Call Back", "Ask a Question" or similar forms, or when you sign up to receive information.
• Automatically: when you browse the site, certain technical and usage data are collected using cookies and similar technologies.
• Indirectly: in limited cases from third party services such as web hosting, analytics or form processing providers acting on our behalf, where they capture data generated by your use of our site.

4. How we use your data and legal bases

Your personal data from the website are used for the following purposes under UK GDPR legal bases:

• To respond to enquiries and provide information you request about courses, admissions, student support and life at Oakswood College (performance of a contract or taking steps at your request before entering a contract).
• To process online applications or call back requests relating to study at Oakswood College (performance of a contract or legitimate interests in managing admissions).
• To manage our relationship with you, including sending service communications related to your enquiry or application (performance of a contract and legitimate interests).
• To operate, maintain and improve our website, including security monitoring, troubleshooting and usage analytics (legitimate interests in running our business, safeguarding systems, and understanding how our site is used).
• To send you relevant marketing information about courses or events only where permitted by law and, where required, with your consent (consent or legitimate interests, with an unsubscribe option in every message).

We do not use personal data collected from the website for solely automated decision making that produces legal or similarly significant effects for you.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to:

• Enable core site functionality and security.
• Help us understand how visitors use the site so we can improve content and navigation.

Where required, we will present a cookie banner or preference tool explaining the types of cookies used and giving you options to accept or reject non essential cookies. You can also adjust your browser settings to refuse cookies, although some features of the website may not function correctly as a result.

6. Sharing your data

We may share personal data collected via the website with:

• Internal teams at Oakswood College (for example admissions, student support, marketing) strictly on a need to know basis to respond to your enquiry or manage your application.
• Our website hosting provider, IT support and analytics or form processing service providers, acting as data processors under written contracts that require them to protect your data and use it only on our instructions.
• Regulatory or law enforcement bodies where we are required to do so by law or to protect our rights or the rights of others.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. If data are transferred outside the UK, appropriate safeguards such as adequacy regulations or standard contractual clauses will be used in line with UK GDPR requirements.

7. How long we keep your data

Personal data collected through the website are kept only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this notice:

• Enquiry and call back data are normally retained for a limited period to respond to you and to maintain basic enquiry records, after which they will be securely deleted or anonymised, subject to our retention schedule.
• Application related data submitted online may be retained for longer in line with Oakswood College's student records and admissions retention requirements and our obligations to awarding and regulatory bodies.
• Technical and analytics data are generally kept for shorter periods sufficient for security and statistical analysis, then deleted or aggregated so they no longer identify individuals.

8. How we protect your data

Oakswood College takes appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data collected via the website from unauthorised access, loss, misuse or disclosure. These measures include secure hosting arrangements, access controls, staff training, and policies for information security and data protection aligned with UK GDPR requirements.

9. Your data protection rights

Under UK data protection law you have the following rights in relation to your personal data, subject to certain conditions and exemptions:

• Right of access – to request copies of your personal data.
• Right to rectification – to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to restriction – to request restriction of processing in certain circumstances.
• Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing.
• Right to data portability – to request that we transfer data you have provided to another organisation, where technically feasible and lawful.
• Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights in relation to data collected through the website, please contact the College using the contact details on our site and indicate that your request relates to website data. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you are unhappy with how we handle your data. Details of how to do this are available at

10. Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites, including partner institutions and external resources connected with study and student life. This privacy policy applies only to www.oakswoodcollege.co.uk, and Oakswood College is not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites. When you follow a link to another website, you should read that site's own privacy notice.

11. Changes to this privacy policy

This Website Privacy Policy will be reviewed periodically and updated to reflect changes in law, guidance or how we operate our website and online services. The "last updated" date will be shown at the top of the notice, and any significant changes may be highlighted on the website.