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 has been created to give you a transparent and detailed description of how data are used by Puzzle of the Week. One of the most important things to note is that in the system schools do not ever share student data with Puzzle of the Week. The process means that students/parents submit their own data and give consent for Puzzle of the Week to share them with teachers at their school.

Overview

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


Sharing of Data

Students/parents must consent for their data to be stored by Puzzle of the Week and shared with registered teachers from their school in order to submit an answer. They can also choose to consent to their name being published on public leaderboards on the website, an anonymous name is used if they do not consent to their name being shared. Teachers must consent for the name and location of their school to appear publicly on the website in order to register for the competition. Puzzle of the Week will never share any data in any other way at any other point.

Consent

To enter the competition, this entry form must be filled out. Consent is given at the point of entry. In most countries, students under the age of 13 cannot give consent to the use of their data themselves, their parents or carers must do this for them. There is more detail about the consent which is given on our Puzzle of the Week Consent System page.

Use of Emails

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

Students' email addresses are the way Puzzle of the Week tracks multiple submissions from each student. They are also used to send results to 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 parental consent comes into question. They will not receive any third party promotions or any other form of 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 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