We at Austnews, ("Company," "we," "us," "our" “SchoolLink,”) take our valued customers ("you," "your," "schools") and their subscribers ("parents," "recipients," "readers") privacy seriously . This policy regarding our privacy practices (the "Privacy Policy") describes how we treat the information we collect when you visit and use the website available at myschoollink.app (the "site") and/or Austnews's other domains, products, services, apps, and/or content (collectively with the Site, the "Services," "Platform"). When you use the Services, you are consenting to the collection, storage & usage of your information as described in this Privacy Policy; please read it carefully.
All capitalized terms that are not defined in this Privacy Policy shall have the meaning given to them in the Terms of Use.
In this Policy, “Personal Information” means any information about an identifiable individual or information that can be used to identify an individual, and includes “Personal Data” as that term is defined under the Australian Privacy Act 1988.
Austnews respects your information and treats it carefully. Austnews has been an accredited supplier to the government of state of Queensland for many years.
We ensure that your personal data is completely protected, never sold to anyone or not used for any other purpose than providing the services you have agreed to receive. However, it should be noted that anonymised data, which cannot be traced back to individual users, may be utilised for carefully vetted school appropriate advertising purposes. Austnews has been a trusted provider to schools for 40+ years and Austnews has been accredited (GITC Cert. No. Q-6019) as a supplier to the Government of Queensland. CCIQ QAssure Reg. No. 11954. Our customer base is primarily comprised of schools, therefore we consider schools and their parents personal data ("email addresses," "phone numbers," "names,") to be of critical importance.
SchoolLink is a tool to help your child/ren’s educators communicate with you effectively. As such we take your privacy seriously. Maintaining the privacy of your Personal Information is a shared responsibility between the three parties. While we will limit what we ask for and what we do with your information, we encourage you not to share it unless you need to. Please keep in mind that if you’re an end user (a parent) your linked schools are responsible for the content of the messages in the app’s timeline and all the messages and notifications contained within it.
You are responsible for any Content you provide in connection with the Services. We cannot control the actions of anyone with whom you or any other SchoolLink users may choose to share information. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that Content you or any other users, including school staff posts on the Services will not be viewed by unintended persons. Although we allow authorised administrators at schools to select to whom the messages will be sent to, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable and that we are not responsible for circumvention of any security measures contained on the Services. SchoolLink does not encourage you to make any personally identifiable information (Personal Information) public other than what is necessary for you to use our Services. You understand and acknowledge that, even after removal, copies of Content may remain viewable in cached pages, archives and storage backups or if other users have copied or stored your Content. We will make efforts to remove the Content under our control that is not part of another user's account.
You may request removal of Personal Information (as described below) that you have provided to us by contacting us at support@austnews.com.au. You retain control (& ownership) of your personal information & content stored on our systems, allowing you to add, modify or delete them anytime. Additionally, We may remove your Personal Information from our database on your request, but this information may remain in our server logs as part of our standard backup procedures, unless prohibited by contract or law. A verified school administrator (Verified Administrator) or manager maybe able to upload and provide information about you to your account; if you would like to remove or amend that information, you may have to contact and work directly with that Verified Administrator or Organiser at that respective school.
This Privacy Policy explains how SchoolLink Platform collects, uses and discloses information from you and other users who access or use the Services, including our treatment of Personal Information. Also, this Privacy Policy covers Austnews's treatment of any Personal Information that our partners share with us, or that you provide to Austnews through another third party website or service while using the Services. This policy does not apply to websites, services or practices of companies that we do not own or control, even if they help us operate our Services. Third party providers who do help us operate our Services must adhere to privacy and security obligations in a manner consistent with Austnews's policies and practices.
SchoolLink is designed and intended solely as a communication platform for school staff and parents or legal guardians ("Authorised Users"). The platform is not intended for use by children under the age of 18.
Access to SchoolLink is restricted to Authorised Users who have been verified by the educational institution. Children under the age of 18 are expressly prohibited from using the platform, and SchoolLink does not grant permission for children to access, use, or interact with the platform in any manner.
SchoolLink has no control over personal data or information related to children that may be created, uploaded, or added to the App by school staff or parents who use the App. We are not responsible for the content or the data protection practices of Authorised Users. Consequently, SchoolLink may indirectly store or process personal information related to children under the age of 18 as intended by it’s Users.
SchoolLink is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations concerning children's privacy, in Australia and similar legislation in other jurisdictions.
For any questions or concerns regarding this Children's Privacy section, please contact us at support@austnews.com.au
When you use the Services, you may set up your personal profile, subscribe to contact groups, send messages, perform searches and queries, and transmit information through various channels as permitted by the functionality of the Services. SchoolLink will not display your personal contact information to other users, without your permission.
The information we gather from users enables us to attempt to verify user identity, allows our users to set up a user account and profile through the Services, and helps us personalize and improve our Services. We retain this information to provide the Services to you and our other users and to provide a useful user experience. When you update your information, the prior version may remain in our backups for a reasonable period, as specified by our storage service provider’s retention SLA.
We receive and store any information you knowingly enter on the Services, whether via computer, mobile phone, other wireless device, or that you provide to us in any other way. With your express consent, you maybe able to upload, import or sync contact information from your mobile device (for example, from your address book) to SchoolLink. This information may include Personal Information such as your name, phone numbers, email addresses and photographs.
You may choose not to provide us with certain information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of many of our features. We use the Personal Information we receive about you to provide you with the Services and also for purposes such as:
attempting to authenticate your identity, responding to your requests for certain information, customising the features that we make available to you, suggesting relevant services or products for you to use, improving the Services and internal operations (including troubleshooting, testing, and analysing usage), communicating with you about new features and, most importantly, protecting our users, sending emergency messages we are directed to send to you, and working towards making sure our Services are safer and more secure.
You may modify or remove your Personal Information at any time by logging into your account and accessing features to edit your account information. If a Verified Administrator (at a school) uploads or adds information about you to your account, you may have to contact and work directly with that Verified Administrator in order to modify or remove that information.
We receive and store certain types of information whenever you use the Services. SchoolLink automatically receives and records information on our server logs from your browser and/or mobile device including SchoolLink cookie information, the page you requested, and other usage information such as your activity on the Services, the numbers and frequency of visitors to our site, mobile app and its components (similar to TV ratings that indicate how many people watched a particular show). None of this information constitutes Personal Information.
Certain information that is collected automatically, such as device ID, IP address, location and phone number, and browsing information that is associated with a user will be treated as Personal Information. In addition, for users who are teachers or administrators of schools that contract with Austnews and/or SchoolLink, with the consent of the Verified Administrator in the school third party Student Information System (SIS) provider, which will include basic directory and class roster information, and similar information that is Personal Information.
We also may provide to our commercial partners aggregate information derived from automatically collected information about how our users, collectively, use our site. We may share this type of non-personally identifiable, aggregated statistical data so that our partners also understand how often people use their services as well as SchoolLink.
Within the scope of SchoolLink, the term 'anonymised data' refers to user data from which all personally identifiable information has been removed, altered or never present. This ensures that individual users cannot be readily identified based on the data utilised for the following purposes:
Provision of Relevant Advertisements: We may utilise anonymised data to gain insights into user behaviour and preferences. This may allow us to curate and display advertisements that are pertinent to your interests, thereby enhancing your user experience within the app.
Anonymised data is shared with our trusted advertising partners. This assists them in better comprehending the demographics and behavioural patterns of our user base, thereby enabling them to more effectively target their advertising campaigns.
Advertising only appears on user accounts that are subscribed to schools which have opted for SchoolLink's 'Ad Supported' package. This package allows the school to receive our services at a discounted rate. The deficit is covered by appropriate, carefully vetted ad placements.
By using SchoolLink, you consent to the use of anonymised data for the purposes outlined above.
When users use our mobile application, we automatically collect the Internet Protocol (IP) address, device ID, device type, and what operating system (OS)the user is running. We collect users' IP addresses whenever they use our mobile application, which provides us with a coarse approximation of the user's location at the city level in order for SchoolLink to, for example:
We also may, with your express consent, request more specific location information in order to provide you with more relevant information (such as nearby school events or relevant groups that you may subscribe to). We will not store or track your device location on an on going basis without your permission.
We may also collect location-based information from users as part of providing the Services and in order to comply with applicable laws and regulations for the user's jurisdiction.
SummaryIf you provide us your email address or phone number, SchoolLink may send you administrative messages (such as updates, notifications, newsletters, and other news) relating to the Services or to respond to communications from you.
SchoolLink may also send you emergency messages when we are directed to do so by a school admin, principal, or government agency. By maintaining a SchoolLink account and/or not opting out of receiving information from SchoolLink, you acknowledge and agree that you may receive e-mail or SMS text messages on your phone or mobile device from other SchoolLink users, from SchoolLink and/or its agents (as described below) and other individuals or companies if you choose to use services or products that they offer. Receiving these messages may cause you to incur usage charges or other fees or costs in accordance with your wireless or data service plan. Any and all such charges, fees, or costs are your sole responsibility. You should consult with your wireless carrier to determine what rates, charges, fees, or costs may apply. We may receive a confirmation when you open an email from us if your computer supports this type of program.
If you no longer wish to receive administrative email messages from SchoolLink you may opt-out by following the unsubscribe link located at the bottom of each message or by contacting us at support@austnews.com.au. Please note that if you do not want to receive legal notices from us, such as this Privacy Policy, those legal notices will still govern your use of the Services, and you are responsible for reviewing the legal notices for changes. To permanently cease receiving SMS text messages, please text @STOPALL:
You may opt out of receiving marketing messages (including text messages and emails); however, you may still receive text message and email communications that are necessary for the Services or otherwise exempt from anti-spam laws.
We send notices to you when an authorised admin of your associated/linked school/s has posted something new to one of your opted-in contact groups, you are sent a message, or when SchoolLink needs to inform you of something. If you no longer wish to receive such communications, you may turn them off at the device level.
Cookies are small files that websites place on your computer as you browse the web. Like many websites, SchoolLink uses cookies to discover how people are using our Services and to make them work better.
A pixel is a small amount of code on a web page or in an email notification. As many services do, we (or our agents) may use pixels to learn whether you've interacted with certain web or email content on our Services. This helps us measure and improve our Services and personalize your experience on SchoolLink.
Local storage is an industry-standard technology that allows a website or application to store information locally on your computer or mobile device. We use local storage to customize what we show you based on your past interactions with SchoolLink.
SchoolLink uses these technologies to deliver, measure, and improve our Services in various ways. These uses generally fall into one of the following categories:
Authentication and security:
For example, these technologies help authenticate your access to SchoolLink and prevent unauthorized parties from accessing your account.
To remember information about your browser and your preferences.
For example, cookies may help us remember your preferred language or country that you are in. We can then provide you with SchoolLink content in your preferred language without having to ask you each time you visit SchoolLink. This also gives us the ability to customise content based on your country, such as disabling SMS, or to withhold certain content based on applicable local laws.
To help us improve and understand how people use our Services.
For example, cookies help us test different versions of our services to see which particular features or content users prefer or to share information about our services to you as you interact online across the internet. We might also optimise and improve your experience on SchoolLink by using cookies to see how you interact with our services, such as when and how often you use them and what links you click on. We may use Google Analytics to assist us with this.
Most browsers have an option for turning off the cookie feature, which will prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, as well as (depending on the sophistication of your browser software) allowing you to decide on acceptance of each new cookie in a variety of ways. We strongly recommend that you leave the cookies activated, however, because you will not be able to log in or use many of the Services' features without cookies enabled. Note that the use of cookies by anyone other than SchoolLink is not covered by our privacy policy. We do not have access or control over those cookies.
Summary
Cookies are bits of information that tell us you've visited SchoolLink before and help the browser remember things about your device (such as your language setting). Cookies also help us manage our promotional material on other sites. Our cookies do not collect any Personal Information from you. This only applies to SchoolLink cookies and no one else's.
SchoolLink partners with third-parties to promote our Services. If you respond to one of our posts and visit or register to use our Services, we may provide these third party companies with identifiers from your device or computer, such as an IP address or device ID, to help us analyse our user acquisition efforts. No personal data or timeline content is shared with third-party promotion services.
We use mobile analytics software to allow us to better understand the functionality and improve the performance of our mobile software on your phone. This software may collect, store and use information such as how often you use the application, the events that occur within the application, usage, performance data, and where the application was downloaded from.
This software may share information it collects with other third parties (1) as part of providing the analytics services; (2) with integrations that enhance available features, school communications and/or parent or guardian engagement in their child's education or activities; and, (3) to comply with applicable laws.
Summary
When you use the SchoolLink app on your phone or tablet, we have analytics that help us
understand how you use the app. This helps us improve the features & design!
Users must associate their SchoolLink account with a school to use the features of the Services.
By associating your account with a school, you acknowledge and agree that a Verified Administrator of that school may be able to view your User Profile (including your Personal Information and timeline content). In addition, Verified Administrators may be able to make administrative changes to your account, such as removing you from contact groups, suspending your account, and more. In addition, depending upon the preferences of the Verified Administrator and the School, SchoolLink may be used as a school directory and information such as your name, subscribed contact groups may be made available to people in your child’s/children’s school/s.
If you’re an administrator or a parent affiliated with a school, you acknowledge that SchoolLink may enable other users who are associated with the same school to contact you -- for example, teachers, management, or parents who are associated with your School may communicate with you. Participants may also contact each other (in addition to viewing Content Submissions).
SchoolLink does not display in a user's account profile personal contact information of the user to any other users without prior consent.
Summary
If you’re an end user (a parent), you will be required to link your account with a school/s. Linking helps to verify your identity and unlock app features. Your school’s management will also have access to certain information in your SchoolLink account, including your personal contact information. We will not display your personal contact information to other users without your permission.
SchoolLink relies on its users to provide accurate Personal Information in order to provide our Services. We try our best to protect that information and make sure that we are responsible in handling, disclosing, and retaining your data. We neither rent nor sell your Personal Information to anyone. If other SchoolLink users, School admins, other individuals or companies whose products you choose to use, have access to your Personal Information (for example, your timeline content), they may use and share that information in ways that SchoolLink cannot, and does not, control. SchoolLink shares your Personal Information in personally identifiable form as described below.
Agents and third party service providers
We employ other companies to perform tasks on our behalf and help us provide certain features of our Services, and may need to share your information with those companies in order to provide our Services to you.
Some examples of services for which we use agents include sending email or SMS, analysing data, providing user services, and searching for any security vulnerabilities.
These agents may use Personal Information we share with them, for example, to assist us, to provide their services to you and/or us, and to measure and improve the performance of their services.
SchoolLink has reviewed the privacy policies and practices of these agents and third party service providers in order to verify that they are capable of complying with SchoolLink's
policies and practices, including those related to the collection, use, transfer, confidentiality, security and integrity of user data.
Summary
SchoolLink does not rent or sell your Personal Information. We may share your information to provide certain features of the SchoolLink service, only as permitted by this policy.
We may release Personal Information when we believe in good faith that release is necessary to:
We also may be required to disclose an individual's Personal Information in response to a lawful request by public authorities, or law enforcement requirements.
Summary
We may release your Personal Information if necessary to protect our platform and users (for example, to comply with legal requests).
The security of Personal Information in our care is a top priority for Austnews. Austnews has protections in place to enhance our users' security, and routinely update these protections. We have administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect against unauthorised use, disclosure of or access to Personal Information. In particular:
Austnews endeavors to protect user information and to ensure that user account information is kept private; however, we cannot guarantee the security of user account information. Unauthorised entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of user information at any time. If Austnews knows or becomes aware of a security breach of its users' personally identifiable information, SchoolLink will notify affected users as required by applicable laws and may post a notice on the Services as required by applicable law(s).
The Services contain links to other sites or services. SchoolLink is not responsible for the privacy policies and/or practices on other sites. When linking to another site you should read the privacy policy stated on that site. This Privacy Policy only governs information collected on the Services.
Summary
The security of your Personal Information is extremely important to us and we take
measures internally to make sure your information is safe with us. Our hosting service provider, Google Cloud Platform ensures the highest upkeep of their security features for your data held in our servers.
If we learn that your data was breached, we will notify you as soon as possible so you can take actions to protect your data.
As a SchoolLink account holder, you have access to view and update the following information at your discretion:
You are able to add or update certain information on pages, such as those listed in the "What Information Can I Access" section above.
If you’re an end user (a parent), you may delete your account by accessing ‘user profile’ area of the SchoolLink app. If you’re a school admin you may contact SchoolLink support to perform this task.
Please note that certain information may remain in our records, server logs and archives after deletion of your account. SchoolLink retains this information for purposes such as diagnosing problems with the service and for auditing legal investigations, but reserves the right to delete this information in accordance with its standard business practices in effect from time to time. Further, information and other content you have provided may remain visible elsewhere to the extent such content was copied or stored by other users.
We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to our information practices. If we make any material changes we will notify you by email (using the e-mail address specified in your account) or some other means prior to the change becoming effective. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding privacy when using SchoolLink's Services, please contact us and send us a detailed message at the contact information below.
Name:Australian Newsletter Services Pty. Ltd
Address:Peterson St, Wellington Point, Queensland, Australia
Email:support@austnews.com.au
Austnews fully complies with Australian (National) Privacy Principles in the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988.
Additionally, Austnews has been accredited (GITC Cert. No. Q-6019) as a supplier to the Government of Queensland. CCIQ QAssure Reg. No. 11954 -