Who we are
Our website address is: https://wqe.ac.uk
What personal data we collect and why we collect it
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service Privacy Policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.
Cookie statement
How we use cookies
We want to be open in the way we use cookies, and to help you make informed choices about the information you provide to us and third parties when you visit our websites.
“A cookie is a small text file that is downloaded onto a device (e.g. a computer or smartphone) when the user accesses a website. It allows the website to recognise that user’s device and store some information about the user’s preferences or past actions.”
– From the Information Commissioner’s Office guidance on use of cookies
We use several types of cookies for a number of reasons across the college’s websites. Some are essential, while others you can opt out of or block. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may, however, prevent you from taking full advantage of the website’s functionality.
There are broad categories why a cookie will be stored on your device when visiting the college’s websites.
- Cookies that make the website work properly for you and enable you to make use of any secure online services that we provide.
- Cookies that collect data about your use of the website which is used to help us improve our online services.
- Cookies that remember your preferences and make the site easier for you to use.
- Cookies that are placed by third party services we make use of to enhance the information we present online. We have no control over these third party cookies, but specifically list their use and indicate the privacy statements of the organisations involved.
Some cookies are retained in your browser for only as long as you visit the website, while others persist for a longer specified or unspecified period.
This is facilitated by WordPress which itself sets a cookie (cookieconsent_status) to store a visitor’s acknowledgement.
We also log website traffic using Google Analytics. This is a web analytics service to help us see how our website is used. In doing so, information about your use of our website, including your partial IP address, may be transmitted to Google. The data collected by Google Analytics is used to analyse how frequently people visit the website, how the website is found (from advertising or referring websites), and which pages are most frequently viewed. This information is combined with data from thousands of other users to create an overall picture of usage, and is never identified individually or personally and is not linked to any other information we store about you.
The cookies used are:
_ga, _gid – Used to distinguish visitors, expires after 2 years, 24 hours respectively.
_gat_gtag… – Used to throttle request rate, expires after 1 minute.
Earlier implementations of Google Analytics on this site used:
__utma – Tracks the number of times a visitor has been to the site, when their first visit was, and when their last visit occurred. Expires after 2 years.
__utmb and __utmc – Tracks how long a particular visit to the site lasts. Expires after 30 minutes, session end respectively.
__utmz – This cookie tracks which site or search engine the visitor came from, the link clicked or keyword used, and the visitor’s geographic location. Expires after 6 months.
More information about Google Analytics use of cookies can be found at: policies.google.com/privacy
Google provides a way of opting out of their analytics at: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
Cookies set by third parties
The following third party functionality is embedded into certain pages of the website and the third party will set their own cookie(s). We have no control over these cookies.
Eventbrite
An embedded event registration form is displayed on our parents’ induction evening page. Their privacy statement can be found at: www.eventbrite.co.uk/privacypolicy
Issuu
Certain publications are presented using an interactive user interface provided by Issuu. Their privacy statement can be found at: issuu.com/legal/privacy
MailChimp
An embedded open-event registration form utilises functionality from the online marketing platform MailChimp. Their privacy policy can be found at: mailchimp.com/legal/privacy.
Tiki-Toki
Interactive timelines are presented using a user interface provided by Tiki-Toki. Their privacy statement can be found at: www.tiki-toki.com/privacy
YouTube and Vimeo
Video content is hosted on YouTube and Vimeo provided via an embedded media player. Their privacy statement can be found at: policies.google.com/privacy and https://vimeo.com/features/video-privacy
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Analytics
Who we share your data with
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.
