Family and Student Privacy Notice
How Sophwick uses personal information about you and your child once you have a family account.
Version 2026-10-29.2426438a, dated 29 October 2026.
This notice explains how Sophwick uses information about families and students who use the Sophwick tuition portal. It replaces the current Student Privacy Notice when the portal launches.
1. Who we are and what this notice covers
Sophwick is a trading name of Veritas Gaming Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 14942374). We are the controller of the information described here, and we are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (registration number ZC252945). Contact us at hello@sophwick.com or on +44 7360 680831.
Our Designated Safeguarding Lead also handles privacy questions: email hello@sophwick.com or call +44 7360 680831.
This notice covers the parents, guardians and students who use the Sophwick tuition portal, from the moment we invite you to create an account. Before that, our Enquiry Privacy Notice applies. Our general Privacy Notice covers visitors to our website.
Each tutor is an independent, self-employed professional. Within the portal, tutors only see and use what this notice says they can, and they agree with us to keep it confidential and inside the portal.
2. What we collect
We collect only what we need to arrange safe, good tuition and to bill for it. We do not collect the student's date of birth.
| Information | About | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Name, email address, phone number, password (stored scrambled), timezone | Parents and guardians with a login | Your enquiry, our invitation, and you |
| Billing name, address and email | The parent who pays | You |
| First name, surname, year group, school (optional), subjects | The student | You |
| Learning notes: targets, exam board, what helps them learn | The student | You. Please do not include medical or diagnostic details; if an adjustment helps, just tell us the adjustment |
| Which tutor you chose, the hourly price, and any reason you gave for declining or ending tutoring | The family | You and the portal |
| Lessons: times, length, Teams link, whether each was taught, cancelled or missed, how much notice was given, and the reasons and notes recorded | The student and the family | You, your tutor and the portal |
| Progress reports after each lesson | The student | Your tutor |
| Disputes, no-show reports and waivers, with the notes and decisions | The family | You, your tutor and Sophwick |
| Invoices, payments, refunds and any query you raise about an invoice; if you save a card, its type and last four digits (Stripe holds the card details, never Sophwick) | The parent who pays | You, Sophwick and Stripe, our payment processor |
| Messages and files with your tutor (from messaging launch) | Everyone in the conversation | You and your tutor |
| Sign-in records, security logs and a record of actions taken in the portal | Everyone with a login | The portal |
We do not ask for special category information, such as health or ethnicity. If some is shared with us anyway, for example in learning notes or a message, we use it only to keep the student safe and to teach them well, and we may remove it.
3. Why we use it, and our lawful bases
We never rely on consent for anything the service needs, and we never use your information for advertising or profiling.
| What we use it for | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Running your account, recommending a tutor, booking lessons, progress reports | Contract with you; for the student's information, our and your legitimate interest in the student receiving the tuition you arranged |
| Invoicing, collecting payment for your tutor and for us, keeping financial records | Contract; legal obligation (tax and accounting records) |
| Applying the cancellation, no-show and dispute rules, and keeping each tutor's reliability record | Contract; legitimate interest in running a fair, reliable service |
| Keeping children safe: checking tutors, limiting what tutors see, reviewing messages, acting on concerns | Legitimate interest in safeguarding children; legal obligation and vital interests where we must share with authorities |
| Keeping the portal secure: two-step verification for staff, logs, the audit record | Legitimate interest in security; legal obligation to keep personal data secure |
| Handling complaints and your data protection rights | Legal obligation; legitimate interest |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have weighed them against the student's interests and rights, giving those extra weight because they are a child. You can ask us for that assessment.
4. Who can see what
The portal enforces these limits in its database, not just on screen, and we test them automatically.
| Information | You (every parent or guardian with a login) | Your tutor | Sophwick |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your contact and billing details | Yes | No | Yes |
| Student's first name and year group | Yes | Yes, once you accept them | Yes |
| Student's surname and school | Yes | No | Yes |
| Learning notes | Yes | Yes, while they are your tutor and able to teach; hidden once tutoring ends | Yes |
| Lessons, progress reports, cancellations and their reasons | Yes | Yes, for their own lessons | Yes |
| Your hourly price | Yes | No (they see only their own rate) | Yes |
| A dispute you raise and its decision | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| A waiver and its reason | Yes | They are told a charge was waived, never why | Yes |
| Any reason you give for ending tutoring, and Sophwick's own notes | No | No | Yes |
| Messages and files (from messaging launch) | Yes | Yes | Yes, and each time we read a conversation it is logged |
Tutors cannot see anything about your family until you accept them, and never see your contact details. A tutor who is not approved, or who is suspended, cannot see families at all beyond what they need to finish lessons already taught.
5. Keeping children safe
Safeguarding comes first. To protect students we:
- vet every tutor before they can see any family (Enhanced DBS with Children's Barred List check, identity, right to work, qualifications, two references and an interview), and stop anyone booking a tutor whose checks are not current;
- keep all contact inside the portal and in lessons, and (from messaging launch) automatically hide phone numbers, emails, social media handles and most links in messages, keeping the original text for Sophwick only;
- may read any message or file in the portal for safeguarding, quality or to settle a dispute, and log every time we do;
- keep an audit record of everything Sophwick staff do in the portal.
Lessons are not recorded. They take place on Microsoft Teams through a link your tutor adds in the portal.
If we are worried about a child's safety, we follow our Safeguarding Policy. This may mean sharing information with children's services, the police or the Local Authority Designated Officer without telling you first, where telling you could put the child at risk. Data protection law allows this.
6. Companies that help us, and transfers outside the UK
We do not sell your information. These companies process it for us under contracts that require them to keep it secure and use it only on our instructions:
| Company | What they do for us | Where the data is held |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Database, sign-in and file storage for the portal | London, UK |
| Vercel | Hosts the website and portal | UK and EU servers; Vercel is a US company |
| Resend | Sends portal emails (invitations, lesson reminders, reports) | US company |
| Namecheap (Private Email) | Our hello@sophwick.com mailbox | EU |
| Stripe | Takes card payments, automatic payments from a saved card and refunds, and holds your card details; Sophwick never sees your full card number | UK, EU and US; Stripe is a US company |
Microsoft provides Teams under its own terms. When you join a lesson, Microsoft processes the information it needs to run the call as its own controller, and your tutor hosts the meeting.
Where a company holds information outside the UK, we make sure it is protected by a UK adequacy decision or a contract approved under UK law.
7. How long we keep it
These periods follow our Retention Schedule, which our solicitor will confirm. Sophwick reviews anything due for deletion before it is deleted, and keeps a record longer while it is part of an open complaint, dispute or safeguarding concern.
| Information | How long | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Your account, the student's details and learning notes | 12 months after the last lesson | Deleted |
| Lessons, cancellations, disputes and progress reports | 6 years after the end of the financial year of the lesson, to support the invoices; surnames and contact details removed after 12 months | Deleted |
| Messages and files | 6 years after the last message | Deleted |
| Invoices and payment records | 6 years after the end of the financial year, as tax law requires | Deleted |
| A safeguarding concern about a student | Until the student's 25th birthday, worked out from their year group | Reviewed, then deleted |
| Sophwick's audit record | 6 years | Deleted |
| Sign-in and security logs | 12 months | Deleted |
Your enquiry is deleted once your first lesson is accepted, as our Enquiry Privacy Notice says.
8. Your rights, and your child's rights
You have the right to:
- get a copy of the information we hold about you;
- have wrong information corrected;
- have information deleted, where we no longer need to keep it;
- restrict or object to how we use it, including anything based on legitimate interests;
- receive information you gave us in a format you can reuse.
Your child has these rights too. Parents can usually use them on a young child's behalf; as children get older, we will consider whether they understand their rights and can use them themselves. To use any right, email hello@sophwick.com. We will reply within one month, free of charge. We may ask you to confirm who you are.
Some information we must keep even if you ask us to delete it, such as invoices (tax law) and safeguarding records.
For students: the short version
- We know your first name, your surname, your year group, your school if your parent tells us, and what your parent says helps you learn.
- Your tutor only knows your first name, your year group and those learning notes. They never get your address, phone number or email.
- Your lessons are not recorded.
- If you are ever worried about anything that happens in a lesson or a message, tell your parent, your teacher, or Childline (0800 1111). You can also email us at hello@sophwick.com.
9. Cookies, changes and complaints
Cookies. The portal uses one cookie that keeps you signed in. It is strictly necessary, so we do not ask for consent, and it is listed in our Cookie Policy. The portal uses no advertising or tracking cookies.
Changes. If we change this notice in a way that matters, we will tell you in the portal or by email before the change applies. This version takes effect on 1 November 2026.
Complaints. Please tell us first at hello@sophwick.com, and we will try to put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.