Use of Data and GDPR

Puzzle of the Week strongly believes in the importance of privacy and transparency when dealing with data. The processes involved have been designed to meet GDPR rules. This page is to give you a transparent and detailed description of how and why data is used by Puzzle of the Week.

One of the most important things to note is that in the system schools do not ever disclose student data to Puzzle of the Week. Students submit their own data and give consent for Puzzle of the Week to share it with teachers at their school.

Overview

Below is a diagram showing how data is handled at Puzzle of the Week. In red are all the data used at each stage.


Sharing of Data

Student data is only ever shared with teachers at their school or on the public leaderboard on the website. Students/parents can opt to remain anonymous on the leaderboard easily.

Puzzle of the Week will not share or sell any data submitted by schools or students in any other way at any point.

Consent

Students under the age of 13 cannot give consent to the use of their data, their parents or carers must do this for them. Additionally if incorrect consent is given then Puzzle of the Week cannot legally store a students’ data and their entries to the competition will be deleted.

This causes some difficulties for schools and students and if you would like to know the exact details of how this system works it is detailed on this webpage.

Use of Emails

Teachers' email addresses are used to send puzzles, updates, results, and for general Puzzle of the Week communication. They will not receive any third party promotions or communication.

Students' email addresses are used to track multiple submissions from each student and to send results to those students. Puzzle of the Week will not use student email addresses for communication of any kind other than concerning results for the competition. Student email addresses are not even shared with their teachers.

Parental email addresses are used only if the authenticity of the parental consent comes into question. They will not receive any third party promotions or communication.

Storage

All data are stored securely online using Google Drive. Personal data from previous competitions are deleted at the end of each calendar year apart from the historic leaderboards in the previous results section of the site.

Personal Choice

Consent should be given freely by all parties, therefore a student should never be told that they "must" submit an answer or be pressured into doing so

GDPR

  • Consent: The consent on each form is explicit that we will not share your data to any third parties at any point.

  • Breach Notification: If there were to somehow be a form of data breach ‘resulting in a risk for your rights and freedoms’ you will be notified as soon as reasonably possible.

  • Right to Access: You have the right to obtain confirmation from Puzzle of the Week as to how your personal data is being processed, we will offer that when requested but it is detailed in general above. Puzzle of the Week will provide a copy of your personal data, free of charge, in an electronic format at your request. As we send a summary of this data to each student at the conclusion of each puzzle I hope that that will satisfy most people.

  • Right to be Forgotten: At any point students or teachers can have their data removed (including from previous years’ leaderboards). Data from each annual competition are deleted by the end of the calendar year in which that competition finished.

  • Privacy by Design: The system was completely redesigned this year with consent and anonymity being built in from the very beginning. Puzzle of the week has also minimised the student data shared with teachers (i.e. teachers cannot see student email addresses).

  • Data Protection Officer: Andrew Sharpe acts as the data protection officer for Puzzle of the Week and can be contact using the details below.

Contact

If you have any questions or wish to know more about the data that are held about you or your students by Puzzle of the Week then please contact andrew@puzzleoftheweek.com