Privacy Policy

Introduction

Independent Schools Victoria Ltd (ABN 44 711 074 857) (ISV) is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information that it collects, holds and administers. ISV is bound by the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles.

Policy Statement

This Policy outlines the way in which ISV collects, uses, manages and discloses personal information. It also outlines your ability to correct or access personal information about you, and what happens to your personal information once no longer required by ISV.

Policy

What is personal information?

‘Personal information’ is defined in the Privacy Act. It includes a broad range of information, or an opinion, that could identify an individual. What is personal information will vary, depending on whether a person can be identified or is reasonably identifiable in the circumstances. Examples include an individual’s name, address, phone number, email address, signature and date of birth (this list should not be taken as exhaustive).

‘Sensitive information’ is a special category of personal information and includes information about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions or associations, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership or associations, criminal record, health or genetic information, or biometric information used for biometric identification.

The kind of personal information ISV collects

The kind of personal information that ISV may collect and hold about you depends on the nature of your dealings with ISV and the circumstances of collection. ISV may collect personal information, including sensitive information, from you in your capacity as a:

representative of a Member School;
student, or a parent and/or guardian of a student enrolled at a Member School;
member of the ISV Board of Directors;
job applicant, employee, volunteer, consultant or contractor, volunteer or supplier;
attendee at a training program or conference; or
in some other capacity.

The general types of personal information ISV may collect and hold depends on the capacity in which you are interacting with us, but may generally include:

names, and contact details such as mailing addresses, email addresses and/or phone numbers
ages or dates of birth
any other personal information you choose to provide to us
details of your interactions with us.

In addition, where an individual is a representative of a Member School, we may collect the name of school with which you are associated, your position, your educational qualifications and other matters which are relevant for the purpose of administrating our relationship with that Member School. It may include providing student’s personal information such as behavioral, educational, or pastoral details, medical/health information, court documents and communications between schools and parents about their children, where relevant to the member services provided by ISV.

We will only collect sensitive information about you with your consent (unless we are otherwise required or authorised by or under law to do so).

Employees, job applicants and contractors

If you apply for a position of employment with us, we may also collect details of your work history, your ID, qualifications, health and other information relevant to your role.

If you are or have been an employee of ISV, the handling of your personal information may be exempt from the Australian Privacy Principles if it is part of your employment record and directly related to your current or former employment relationship with us. If you are an employee, contractor or job applicant, this Policy should be read together with any other legal notices or contract (as applicable to your role) that we provide to you.

How we collect and hold your personal information

ISV will generally only collect personal information about an individual directly from the individual, including in the following ways:

when you provide your details to ISV by way of forms, face-to-face meetings and interviews, emails or phone calls
in survey results submitted by Member School staff, Governors, students, or parents/guardians of students
when you communicate with ISV through our website
when you subscribe to our eCommunications
when you register for or attend one of ISV’s training programs or conferences
from third parties for funding provision and for representation and advocacy.

In most cases and where it is reasonable and practicable to do so, ISV will collect personal information directly from you. In some circumstances, ISV may receive personal information about an individual from a third party, for example, a report provided by a school or service, or a medical professional or a reference from another employer.

If you provide us with personal information about another person, please make sure that you have their consent to do so and that you tell them about this Policy.

Why we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information

ISV collects personal information from individuals that is necessary in order to perform one or more of our functions or activities, including in relation to its role in advising and supporting Member Schools.

ISV may collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for a range of other purposes, including:

to supply our services to our Member Schools and their staff or students
to respond to your enquiries or requests
to administer our training programs or conferences
for our insurance, legal and administrative purposes and internal record keeping
to promote and advocate for independent schooling
to manage our relationships with our Member Schools, suppliers and contractors
to comply with our legal obligations, manage risk and defend our legal interests, and as required by government and law enforcement agencies, departments or regulators
for marketing purposes, or perform research and analysis including data analytics and statistical activities, and to improve or develop our services
to consider job applicants for employment with us.

We may use and disclose your information for other purposes required or authorised by or under law (including purposes for which you have provided your consent), or additional purposes relevant to our relationship with you as set out below.

If we are unable to collect personal information from or about you, we may not be able to respond to your requests or enquiries or engage in other dealings with you.

Students

ISV may from time to time receive information from its Member Schools that includes a student’s personal information, where this information is relevant and required for the support services (such as regulatory guidance, training and support) sought by the Member School. This may include health information of a student, where those support services we provide to the Member School requires facilitating connections with relevant health professionals, such as physiotherapists, to ensure students have appropriate support.

Student personal information may also be used to:

seek feedback, or monitor, or assist to improve the quality of your Member School’s services
enable ISV to undertake research and develop sector-wide insights, including developing services and products to make available to your Member School and/or third parties.

Parents/Guardians of students

If you are a parent or guardian of a student, the primary purpose of collecting your personal information is to:

seek feedback, or monitor, or improve the quality of ISV’s services
seek feedback, or monitor, or assist to improve the quality of your Member School’s services
enable ISV to undertake research and develop sector-wide insights, including developing services and products to make available to your Member School and/or third parties.

In most instances where support or guidance is provided to Member Schools, the school is encouraged to provide de-identified information about students, staff and parents to ISV where this won’t affect the quality or accuracy of the services ISV can provide. If sensitive information is given to ISV, it will be used and disclosed only for the purpose for which it was provided or a directly related secondary purpose, unless consent is provided or the use or disclosure of the sensitive information is allowed by law.

Job applicants and contractors

In relation to the personal information of job applicants, staff and contractors, our primary purpose of collection is to assess and (if successful) engage the applicant, staff member or contractor, as the case may be.

The purposes for which we use and disclose the personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors include:

assessing and (if successful) engaging the applicant or contractor;
administering the individual’s employment or contract;
for insurance purposes; and
satisfying our legal obligations, for example, in relation to child protection legislation or work health and safety.

Marketing communications

We may use your personal information so that we can contact you with information about our services, events or news that may be of interest to you.

We may contact you by email, mail or telephone. You can let us know at any time if you no longer wish to receive these communications, by contacting us (using the contact details at the end of this Policy) or using an opt-out/unsubscribe facility in our communications available here.

To whom we disclose personal information

ISV may disclose your personal information to third parties for the purposes outlined above. These third parties may include, where appropriate:

our Member Schools
State and Federal government departments and education authorities (including for policy and funding purposes, or other purposes)
people or businesses who assist us in providing our services
our contracted service providers, including information technology service providers, marketing, promotional and market research agencies and external business advisors (such as auditors and lawyers)
recipients of ISV publications such as newsletters and eCommunications
if you are a job applicant, referees whose details you have provided to us

Anyone to whom we are required to disclose the information by law, including child protection laws, or to exercise a duty of care or defend our legal interests. We may also disclose your personal information to other third parties and for other purposes contemplated in this Policy, or where we are required or authorised by law to do so, or where you have provided your consent.

In certain circumstances, ISV may share de-personalised aggregated data with third parties, including to meet its commitments as a service provider to Member Schools and their students. Nothing in this Policy prevents ISV from using and disclosing de-personalised aggregated data to others for any purpose, such as when we produce training session attendance reports.

Disclosure of information overseas

We may in limited circumstances, send personal information to third parties who are located in countries outside of Australia, such as when we engage overseas consultants to assist us in particular projects requiring access to that information.

Except for information that is de-personalized aggregated data (i.e. it is not personal information), personal information will only be disclosed with your consent or otherwise in accordance with the Privacy Act or other applicable law.

Management and security of personal information

ISV takes reasonable steps to protect the security of personal information. Our staff are required to protect the confidentiality of personal information and the privacy of individuals. We also take reasonable steps to protect personal information held by us from misuse, interference and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. This includes:

restricting access to electronic records and use of physical security for hard copy records;
Implementation of security access groups across the organisation with access levels based on roles and responsibilities
Multi Factor Authentication implemented on core systems
Cyber training for staff
Annual Security Review

Destruction or de-identification of personal information

When we no longer require your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it, except to the extent that we are required to retain the information for a longer period to comply with legal and regulatory obligations and for other legitimate business reasons.

Access to and correction of your personal information

Under the Privacy Act, an individual has the right to seek access to, and/or correction of, any personal information which we hold about them and to advise us of any perceived inaccuracy. There are some exceptions to this right set out in the Privacy Act.

ISV takes reasonable steps to ensure the personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete, up to date and relevant. You can help us by letting us know about any changes to your personal information that we hold.

You may seek access to and correct your personal information by contacting using the contact details at the end of this Policy. You may be required to verify your identity and specify what information you seek. We will generally provide you with access to your personal information, but ISV may refuse to provide access if we believe this appropriate and such refusal is permitted by law. Where this is the case, we will generally notify you and (if permitted by law) explain the reasons for our refusal.

Student consent and rights of access to their personal information

Generally, we will refer any requests for consent and notices in relation to the personal information of a student, to the student’s parents/guardians. Generally, we will treat consent given by parents/guardians as consent given on behalf of the student, and notice to parents/guardians will act as notice given to the student.

Parents/guardians may seek access to personal information about them or their child. However, there may be occasions when access is denied. Such occasions may include (but are not limited to) where we believe the student has capacity to consent and we are not permitted to disclose the information to the parents/guardians without the student’s consent, where release of the information would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others, or where the release may result in a breach of our duty of care to the student.

We may, at our discretion, on the request of a student grant that student access to information we hold about them, or allow a student to give or withhold consent to the use of their personal information, independently of their parents/guardians. This would normally be done only when the maturity of the student and/or the student’s personal circumstances warrant it.

Contacting us or making a complaint

If you have any questions about privacy or wish to complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles or the handling of your information, you may contact us using the contact details at the end of this Policy. We may require you to lodge your complaint in writing. We will consider and respond to you in relation to the complaint as soon as possible.

If ISV is unable to satisfactorily resolve your concerns about our handling of your personal information, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
mail: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

Updates to this privacy policy

We may, from time to time, review and update this Policy to take account of new laws and technology, or changes to our operations and practices. Any changes made to the Policy will be posted on our website.

Contact details

If you would like more information about ISV’s privacy practices, or if you wish to contact us regarding the information set out in this Policy, please contact the Privacy Officer:

By email: ISV.Privacy@is.vic.edu.au

By post: PO Box 119, North Melbourne, Vic, 3051

By phone: (03) 9825 7200

Revised: October 2025

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