Privacy Policy

Last updated: 12 August 2026

1. Who We Are

Dancing Academy is a dance and performing arts school based in Chippenham, Wiltshire, offering classes for children, young people and adults across a wide range of dance styles. We have been part of the Chippenham community since 2008 and operate at www.dancingacademy.co.uk.‍ ‍

We are the data controller for the personal data collected through this website, meaning we decide how and why your data is used. This is in line with our obligations under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA).

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, you can reach us at:

Address: Unit 3, The Old Foundry, Foundry Lane, Chippenham, SN15 1JB
Email:info@dancingacademy.co.uk
Phone: 07427 832 996

2. What Personal Data We Collect

Contact form and general enquiries

‍When you get in touch via our website contact form, by email, or by phone, we collect your name, contact details, and the information you share with us about you or your child. This is used to respond to your enquiry and help you find the right class.

Free trial bookings

When you book a free trial, we collect the details needed to arrange the session — including the name and age of the student, a parent or guardian's name and contact details, and the class or style of interest.

Student enrolment and update forms

When a student joins Dancing Academy, we collect enrolment information for the student and their parent or guardian. This may include names, contact details, emergency contact information, and any relevant medical or health information needed to keep your child safe in class. Students and families can also update their details via our online update form.

Analytics

We use Squarespace's built-in analytics to understand how visitors use our website. This includes information such as which pages you visit, how long you spend on the site, and general details about your device and browser. This data is collected in an aggregated form and does not directly identify you.

Cookies

We use cookies on this website. Please see Section 5 for full details.

Social media

We have an Instagram feed embedded on our website. Instagram (Meta) may independently collect data when you interact with or view that embedded content. We also link to our Facebook and Instagram profiles, but these platforms only collect data if you visit them directly.

3. How We Use Your Personal Data

We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:

  • Responding to enquiries from prospective students and their families

  • Arranging and confirming free trial sessions

  • Enrolling students and managing their ongoing class attendance

  • Keeping students safe during classes, including the use of emergency contact and health information

  • Communicating with parents and guardians about timetables, fees, events, performances and school news

  • Processing class fees and managing student accounts

  • Entering students for examinations and competitions where requested

  • Improving our website through analytics

4. Our Legal Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR and the DUAA, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. Here's what we rely on:

Contract — Once a student joins Dancing Academy, we process personal data to fulfil our obligations as a dance school, including delivering classes, managing attendance and communicating with families.

Legitimate interests — We use this basis for responding to general enquiries and using website analytics. We have assessed that our interest in doing so does not override your rights and freedoms.

Legal obligation — We may retain certain financial and administrative records to comply with UK law.

Consent — We rely on your consent for non-essential cookies. You can withdraw this at any time by clearing your browser cookies and declining them on your next visit.

Vital interests — In limited circumstances, such as a medical emergency, we may need to use health or emergency contact information to protect a student's wellbeing. This would only occur where no other lawful basis applies.

Where we collect health or medical information about students (for example, information about allergies, medical conditions or physical needs), this is treated as special category data under UK GDPR and is handled with particular care. We collect this information only where necessary for the safety of the student, and it is not shared beyond those who need it to keep students safe.

The DUAA introduced a new category of "recognised legitimate interests" which provides a clearer legal basis for certain types of processing. Where any of our processing falls within these recognised categories, we document this appropriately.

5. Cookies

We use the following types of cookies on this website:

Under the DUAA, certain low-risk analytics cookies used only to collect statistical data to improve website performance no longer require prior consent, provided users are given clear information and a prominent opt-out. We still give you the option to decline analytics cookies via our cookie banner.

You can update your cookie preferences at any time by clearing your browser cookies and revisiting our site.

6. Third Parties We Share Data With

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. However, some of the tools we use to run our school and website involve third parties processing data on our behalf:

Squarespace — Our website is hosted and built on Squarespace. They process data related to your visit, including contact form submissions and analytics, in line with their own privacy policy: squarespace.com/privacy

Instagram (Meta) — Our embedded Instagram feed means Meta may process data when you view or interact with that content. Meta's privacy policy: privacycenter.fb.com

Examination boards — Where students enter examinations (for example, with the Royal Academy of Dance or ISTD), we share the relevant student details required by those bodies to register for and process exam results. These organisations have their own data protection obligations.

We may also share your data if required to do so by law, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our school, our students, or others.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

7. How Long We Keep Your Data

We only hold your data for as long as necessary:

  • Enquiries that don't proceed to enrolment: We keep your contact details and message for up to 2 years, in case you get back in touch.

  • Active student records: Kept for the duration of a student's time at Dancing Academy, plus 6 years after their last class, in line with standard UK business practice and our legal obligations.

  • Health and emergency contact information: Reviewed and updated annually, and deleted when no longer needed.

  • Squarespace analytics data: Retained in line with Squarespace's default data retention settings.

  • Cookies: Session cookies are deleted when you close your browser. Persistent cookies expire in line with the timescales set by each provider.

8. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR and the DUAA, you — and where relevant, the parent or guardian acting on behalf of a child student — have the following rights in relation to personal data:

Right of access — You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you or your child.

Right to rectification — You can ask us to correct any inaccurate or incomplete data.

Right to erasure — You can ask us to delete personal data in certain circumstances.

Right to restriction — You can ask us to limit how we use your data while a dispute is resolved.

Right to data portability — You can ask us to provide data in a structured, commonly used format.

Rights related to automated decision-making — We do not make any automated decisions about students or their families that would have a legal or significant effect. No profiling is used to make such decisions.

Right to withdraw consent — Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

Right to complain to us directly — The DUAA introduced a new right for you to raise a data protection complaint directly with us as the data controller. We are required to acknowledge and investigate your complaint without undue delay and keep you informed of the outcome. To make a complaint, please email info@dancingacademy.co.uk with the subject line "Data Protection Complaint". We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days.

Right to complain to the ICO — If you are not satisfied with how we handle your complaint, or you prefer to go directly to the regulator, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

Website: ico.org.uk
Phone: 0303 123 1113

We will respond to any data subject rights request within one month of receiving it. We may need to verify your identity before we can action your request, and in some cases may need to pause the response period while we gather the information needed. We will always let you know if this is the case.

9. Data Security

We take the security of your personal data seriously, particularly given that much of the data we hold relates to children and young people. Our website is hosted on Squarespace, which provides industry-standard security measures including HTTPS encryption. Access to student records is limited to those members of our team who need it as part of their role.

That said, no method of transmitting data over the internet is completely secure. While we do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

If you suspect a data breach involving your or your child's personal information, please contact us at info@dancingacademy.co.uk as soon as possible.

10. International Data Transfers

Squarespace and Meta (Instagram) may transfer and process some data outside the UK. Where this happens, appropriate safeguards are in place, such as standard contractual clauses.

The DUAA updated the framework for international data transfers, replacing the previous "essentially equivalent" test with a new data protection test. This ensures that where data is transferred internationally, the level of protection is not materially lower than under UK GDPR. The European Commission renewed the UK's adequacy decision in December 2025, confirming that the UK continues to provide an adequate level of data protection for transfers from the EU.

11. Children's Privacy

Dancing Academy works with children and young people, and we take the privacy and safety of our young students very seriously.

The DUAA introduced specific obligations for online services likely to be accessed by children, including a requirement to give particular consideration to how children are protected and supported when using digital services. We have taken this into account in how we design and operate our online presence.

Where students are under 13, we collect and process their personal data only with the knowledge and involvement of a parent or guardian. Parents and guardians can request access to, correction of, or deletion of their child's data at any time by contacting us at info@dancingacademy.co.uk.

Health and emergency contact data for child students is collected solely to keep them safe while in our care and is not used for any other purpose.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in how we operate or in the law. When we do, we will update the date at the top of this page. We encourage you to check back occasionally, especially if you are an existing student family.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please get in touch:

Dancing Academy
Unit 3, The Old Foundry
Foundry Lane
Chippenham
SN15 1JB

Email: info@dancingacademy.co.uk
Phone: 07427 832 996
Website: www.dancingacademy.co.uk