1. Who We Are

Ekota Academy Ltd is a registered charity (Charity Number: 1196108) working to empower communities, create opportunities and improve lives.

We deliver a range of community programmes, including sports and physical activities, education and skills development, health and wellbeing initiatives, youth projects and family support.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and protect your personal information when you visit our website, contact us, participate in our activities or otherwise interact with Ekota Academy.

Organisation: Ekota Academy Ltd

Website: https://ekotaacademy.com

Email: ekota@ekotaacademy.com

For the purposes of data protection legislation, Ekota Academy Ltd is the data controller responsible for the personal information we collect and process.

2. What Personal Information We Collect

Depending on how you interact with Ekota Academy, we may collect the following types of personal information:

Contact information

• Full name
• Email address
• Telephone number
• Home address or postcode

Programme and activity information

• Age or date of birth
• Emergency contact details
• Parent or guardian contact details, where applicable
• Programme, activity or event registration details
• Attendance and participation records
• Relevant information needed to support participation in our activities

Additional information

• Information you provide when contacting us or completing an enquiry form
• Feedback, comments, photographs or videos submitted to us
• Information provided when applying to volunteer or work with us
• Information relating to donations, fundraising or sponsorship enquiries

In certain circumstances, we may also collect special category personal information, such as health information, disabilities or accessibility requirements. We only collect this where it is necessary for a specific purpose, such as supporting someone’s safe and appropriate participation in our activities, and where we have a lawful basis to do so.

3. How We Collect Your Information

We may collect personal information in several ways, including:

• When you complete a contact, registration or enquiry form on our website.
• When you register for one of our programmes, activities or events.
• When you contact us by email, telephone, social media or other communication channels.
• When you subscribe to our newsletter or mailing list.
• When you apply to volunteer, work or participate in a project.
• When you provide feedback or complete a survey.
• When you attend our activities or events.
• When information is shared with us by a parent, guardian, referring organisation or project partner, where appropriate.

We may also automatically collect limited technical information when you visit our website, such as your IP address, browser type, device information and pages visited.

4. How We Use Your Personal Information

We use personal information to operate our organisation and deliver our services effectively.

This may include:

Delivering our programmes and activities

• Processing registrations and enquiries.
• Managing participation in sports sessions, workshops, events and community projects.
• Communicating important programme information, including dates, times and changes.
• Supporting participants with additional needs or accessibility requirements.
• Managing attendance and emergency contacts.

Communicating with you

• Responding to enquiries and requests.
• Sending information about activities you have registered for.
• Providing updates about our organisation and community initiatives.
• Sending newsletters and promotional information where permitted.

Managing our organisation

• Recruiting and managing staff and volunteers.
• Maintaining administrative and financial records.
• Managing donations, fundraising and sponsorship activities.
• Meeting our legal, regulatory and safeguarding responsibilities.

Improving our services

• Gathering feedback from participants and community members.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of our projects and programmes.
• Producing reports for funders, partners and relevant authorities.
• Understanding how visitors use our website.

5. Our Lawful Basis for Processing Information

Under UK data protection legislation, we must have a lawful basis for collecting and using personal information.

Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on the following:

• Consent: Where you have given us permission to use your information for a specific purpose, such as receiving certain marketing communications or using photographs in promotional materials.
• Contract: Where processing is necessary to fulfil an agreement or provide a service you have requested.
• Legal obligation: Where we need to process information to comply with the law.
• Legitimate interests: Where processing is necessary for our legitimate organisational interests, provided these are not overridden by your rights and interests.
• Vital interests: Where processing is necessary to protect someone’s life or prevent serious harm.

Where we process special category information, such as health information, we will also identify and rely on an appropriate additional condition under data protection legislation.

You can withdraw consent at any time where consent is the basis for processing. This will not affect any processing carried out before you withdrew it.

6. Photographs and Videos

As part of our community activities, events and programmes, we may take photographs and videos to document our work and celebrate the achievements of participants.

These images may be used in:

• Our website.
• Social media channels.
• Newsletters and promotional materials.
• Reports and publications.
• Funding applications and project evaluations.

Where required, we will seek appropriate permission before using identifiable photographs or videos for promotional purposes. Additional care will be taken when photographing children and young people, including obtaining appropriate parental or guardian permissions where necessary.

If you do not wish to be photographed or have your image used, please let a member of the Ekota team know.

You can also contact us at ekota@ekotaacademy.com to raise a concern or request the removal of an image from channels we control.

7. Sharing Your Personal Information

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

However, we may share relevant information with trusted organisations where necessary to deliver our services or meet our responsibilities.

These may include:

• Local authorities and public sector organisations.
• Project funders and grant-making organisations.
• Community and delivery partners.
• Schools and educational organisations, where relevant.
• Website hosting and IT service providers.
• Email, communication and mailing list providers.
• Payment processing providers, where applicable.
• Professional advisers, auditors and regulatory bodies.

For example, we may share limited participant information with a project funder to demonstrate participation, report on project outcomes or meet funding requirements.

We only share information that is relevant and necessary for the purpose. Where organisations process information on our behalf, we expect them to handle it securely and in accordance with applicable data protection requirements.

8. How We Store and Protect Your Information

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

These measures may include:

• Password-protected systems and accounts.
• Restricted access to personal information.
• Secure digital storage and record-keeping.
• Staff and volunteer guidance on handling personal information.
• Appropriate arrangements with external service providers.

We only allow access to personal information where there is a legitimate organisational reason to do so.

Although we take reasonable steps to protect your information, no method of transmitting or storing data electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

9. How Long We Keep Your Information

We only retain personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including any legal, financial, safeguarding or reporting requirements.

Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the services involved.

For example:

• Enquiry information is retained for as long as necessary to respond and manage the enquiry.
• Programme registration and attendance records are retained in accordance with relevant project, funding and legal requirements.
• Financial and donation records are retained in line with applicable financial and legal obligations.
• Marketing information is retained until you unsubscribe or withdraw your consent, where applicable.
• Website technical information is retained in accordance with our website and hosting arrangements.

When information is no longer required, it will be securely deleted or anonymised.

10. Cookies and Website Technology

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to improve your browsing experience, support website functionality and understand how visitors use our website.

Cookies are small text files stored on your device.

These may include:

Essential cookies

These are necessary for the website to function correctly, such as supporting security, navigation and basic website features.

Analytics cookies

These may help us understand how visitors interact with our website, such as which pages are visited most frequently. Where required, these cookies will only be used with your consent.

Third-party cookies

Some website features may be provided by external services, such as embedded videos, maps or social media content. These providers may use their own cookies and collect information about your interaction with their services.

You can manage your cookie preferences through our website’s cookie settings or your browser settings.

We will seek consent before using non-essential cookies or similar technologies where required by law.

11. Links to Other Websites

Our website may contain links to external websites, including social media platforms, partner organisations and other services.

If you follow these links, you will be leaving the Ekota Academy website. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content or security of external websites.

We recommend reading the relevant privacy policies before providing personal information to other organisations.

12. Children’s Personal Information

As an organisation that works with children and young people, we recognise the importance of protecting their personal information.

We may collect information about children and young people when they register for or participate in our activities and programmes.

Where appropriate, we will work with parents or guardians to obtain relevant information and permissions.

We take particular care when handling children’s personal information and only collect information that is necessary for delivering our services, supporting their participation and meeting our safeguarding responsibilities.

We do not knowingly collect more personal information from children than is necessary for these purposes.

13. Your Data Protection Rights

Under UK data protection legislation, you have several rights regarding your personal information.

Depending on the circumstances, these include:

• Right of access: You can request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Right to erasure: You can request that we delete your personal information in certain circumstances.
• Right to restrict processing: You can ask us to limit how we use your information in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability: You can request your information in a commonly used electronic format where this right applies.
• Right to object: You can object to certain types of processing, including direct marketing.
• Right to withdraw consent: Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

These rights are subject to certain conditions and exemptions. For example, we may need to retain some information to meet legal, financial or safeguarding obligations.

To exercise your rights, please contact us using the details below.

14. How to Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, how we use your personal information or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us:

Email: contact@ekotaacademy.com

Website: https://ekotaacademy.com

Please include enough information for us to understand your request. We may need to verify your identity before providing access to personal information.

15. Making a Complaint

We take concerns about data protection seriously and encourage you to contact us first if you have any questions or concerns about how your information is being used.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent data protection regulator.

Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

Website: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

16. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our organisation, services, website or legal requirements.

Any updates will be published on this page, together with the date of the latest revision.

We encourage visitors to review this page periodically to stay informed about how we protect personal information.