To improve the ability to register visitors at school sites, the NSW Department of Education (DOE) has partnered with Service NSW to develop a digital School Check-in tool for all NSW government schools.
The School Check-in tool is necessary to:
- support schools’ obligations around security, probity, record-keeping and compliance when visitors enter schools
- digitise visitor sign-ins at Department of Education schools.
The School Check-in tool will be available as:
- part of the Service NSW app
- a self-serve Service NSW web check-in
- a concierge-assisted Service NSW web check-in
- a concierge-assisted School Check-in app.
This Privacy Collection Statement is to advise you of the personal information DOE will collect from you as a result of your use of the School Check-in tool.
School Check-in via the Service NSW app
The School Check-in tool enables you to ‘sign in’ to a NSW government school site.
In order to use the School Check-in tool via the Service NSW app, you will need to have a MyServiceNSW Account or register to use the tool as a ‘guest’ using the link provided on the Service NSW app.
School Web Check-in tool and concierge-assisted School Check-in app
In order to enable people who do not have the Service NSW app to ‘sign in’ to schools, DOE will provide a self-serve or concierge-assisted School Check-in tool (via web and app) to be completed when you arrive at a school site. These tools have been developed by Service NSW in partnership with DOE.
In order to use the School Web Check-in tool, you will need to access the Web Check-in tool from your own device, provide your information to the staff member at the school you are visiting or use the concierge device provided at the school.
Why are we collecting your personal information?
DOE maintains a log of all visitors to NSW government school sites to maintain and promote a safe and disciplined learning environment for students and staff. The visitor log also supports school obligations around security, probity, record-keeping and compliance.
The information may be used by DOE for the purposes of:
- understanding who was on a school site during a particular period of time
- responding to injuries or incidents on a school site
- exercising complaint handling and investigative functions
- contract management
- child protection
- complying with laws
- carrying out any of our functions.
DOE is collecting your personal information for the purposes of assisting us to maintain that log of visitors to a NSW government school site.
By using the School Check-in system, DOE will create a record of your attendance at the NSW government school site.
What information are we collecting?
Service NSW collects information through the School Check-in tool on behalf of DOE via the Service NSW app or Web Check-in tool. The information collected is shared with DOE and purged from Service NSW’s systems after 72 hours.
The information collected by the School Check-in tool includes:
- details of the premises you are visiting
- who you are visiting
- time and date of your visit
- your name
- phone number
- visitor type – parent/carer, contractor, other
- company name (if applicable)
- Working with Children Check clearance (if required).
If you access the School Check-in tool using your MyServiceNSW Account, your contact details (including your name and mobile phone number) will be pre-populated from your MyServiceNSW Account.
What if I do not want to give you my personal information?
If you do not provide your personal information in the manner described within this Privacy Collection Statement, then you will need to either:
- register your attendance at the school site using a paper-based method provided by the school, or
- if no such paper-based method is available, immediately leave the premises.
If you do not provide your personal information in the manner described within this Privacy Collection Statement, you will not be able to register your attendance at the school site and will need to immediately leave the premises.
Retention and disclosure of personal information collected
All data collected by the School Check-in tool will be provided electronically by Service NSW to DOE. In the event of a systems outage, Service NSW will temporarily store all visitor information collected by the School Check-in tool until DOE has successfully received your record, after which your record will be deleted from the Service NSW database. Service NSW will only have access to your name, contact details and the date and time of entry for 72 hours.
If you accessed the School Check-in tool using your MyServiceNSW Account, Service NSW will still permanently delete the additional information that was collected (that is, details of the premises attended, time and date of attendance) after 72 hours; however, your contact details in your MyServiceNSW Account will not be changed or deleted.
DOE will retain the data for 7 years as a visitor log in accordance with the requirements of State Archives and Records General Retention and Disposal Authority GA28 16.24.5. After 7 years, the data including your personal information will be deleted by DOE, unless there is a legal requirement to maintain the data for a longer period.
Registering another person’s details
You can register contact details for another person if that person is unable to complete their own electronic registration because of age, disability or an inability to understand the electronic registration device. For example, if a child enters a school site with you, you can complete the child’s registration. Students are not required to check-in using the School Check-in tool when attending their own school, but may be required to check-in when attending another school.
Additional information
You may ask for access to the personal information about you held by DOE at any time and request to update, correct or amend your personal information.
Once you register your attendance at a NSW government school using the School Check-in tool, you will only be able to update or amend the details of your attendance upon request to DOE.
If you are concerned about an alleged breach of privacy law or any other regulation, you can also raise those concerns with DOE. For further information about how we protect your privacy, to make a privacy complaint or to seek to amend the personal information we hold about you, please refer to the Department of Education's privacy information and forms.