This Privacy Policy explains how Assured English (“we”, “us”) collects, uses, and looks after personal data about parents, students, and visitors to our website at assuredenglish.uk. We aim to write this in plain English. If anything is unclear, please email hello@assuredenglish.uk.

Who we are

Assured English is a sole-trader English tutoring business operated by Sofia Rashid Ahmead, trading as Assured English, based in Windsor, UK. For the purposes of UK GDPR, we are the data controller for the personal data described in this notice.

What we collect

Names of parents and students, parent and student email addresses, and the parent code we generate to link parents to their child's account.
Message content and any attachments uploaded through the student or parent portal (drafts, photos of homework, questions for Sofia).
Lesson notes that Sofia writes about each session — what was covered, what improved, what to watch out for, and any homework set.
Booking and lesson information — date, time, mode (online or in person), and attendance status.
Billing references (e.g. invoice numbers and amounts). Payments are taken externally; we do not store card or bank details on this site.
Anonymous, cookie-free analytics via Vercel Analytics (page views, country, device type), and performance data via Vercel Speed Insights.

Lawful basis for processing

Contract— most processing is necessary to deliver tutoring lessons that you (or your child's parent) have asked us to provide.
Legitimate interests — running the business itself: scheduling, billing, keeping lesson records, and improving the site. We balance these interests against your rights and only do what a reasonable parent would expect.
Consent — Vercel Analytics is anonymous and cookie-free, but we mention it here for completeness. You can opt out by blocking analytics in your browser.
Legal obligation — we keep certain billing records for the period required by UK tax law.

Who we share data with

We use a small number of trusted processors to run the business. Each is bound by their own data protection terms with us:

Google / Firebase — authentication, database (Firestore), and file storage. Hosted in the europe-west2 (London) region.
Calendly — booking the initial free parent chat. Only data you enter into the Calendly form is shared with them.
Vercel — website hosting and anonymous analytics. EU edge regions.

We do not sell your data, and we do not share it with anyone for marketing purposes.

Where your data lives

Firebase data (auth, database, files) is stored in Google's europe-west2 region in London. Website traffic is served by Vercel's EU edge network. Some limited operational metadata (e.g. error logs) may transit Vercel's global network — this is covered by appropriate safeguards.

How long we keep things

Billing records and lesson notes — 7 years, to comply with standard UK accountancy norms.
Messages — kept indefinitely unless you ask us to delete them.
Student and parent accounts — deleted 30 days after a student stops lessons, unless you ask us to delete them sooner.
Analytics — Vercel keeps anonymous analytics for a rolling 30-day window by default.

Children's data (under 13)

Many of our students are under 13 — the UK's age of digital consent under UK GDPR Article 8. Children under 13 cannot consent on their own behalf to the processing of their personal data; a person with parental responsibility must do so for them.

How we capture parental consent.We never accept a child as a direct sign-up. New families are created exclusively by Sofia, after a parent or guardian has contacted her (by email, phone, or after the free 15-minute parent chat) and confirmed they want their child to receive tutoring. When Sofia creates the family record, she emails the parent an invitation that includes their unique parent code and a sign-in link. The parent's subsequent first sign-in to the parent portal is treated as their explicit, verifiable consent to the processing of their child's data on the terms set out in this notice.

What the child can do without their own email. Children under 13 do not need to provide their own email address. They sign in using the same email their parent provided, plus a four-emoji code chosen for them. We do not knowingly ask under-13s for any personal data beyond what is operationally necessary to run the lesson (their first name, year group, and any work they choose to share with Sofia).

Parental rights on behalf of the child. At any time, a parent can request access to, correction of, restriction of, or erasure of any data we hold about their child by emailing hello@assuredenglish.uk. We will respond within one month. Parents can also withdraw their consent at any time; on withdrawal we will delete the child's account, messages, lesson notes, and any attachments within 30 days, retaining only what UK accounting law requires us to retain (such as invoice numbers and amounts).

Sixth-formers (16+).Students aged 16 and over may, with their parent or guardian's knowledge, sign up with their own email and password and consent to processing on their own behalf. Anyone under 16 enrolled in our sixth-former flow must still have parental consent captured by Sofia at the outset.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

Access the personal data we hold about you.
Have inaccurate data corrected.
Have your data erased (the “right to be forgotten”).
Restrict how we process your data.
Receive your data in a portable format.
Object to processing based on legitimate interests.

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@assuredenglish.uk. We'll respond within one calendar month.

Cookies

We use only essential cookies — specifically, the auth session cookie for student sign-in and a separate session cookie for parent sign-in. Vercel Analytics is cookieless. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.

Complaints

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, please contact us first so we can try to put it right. If you're still not satisfied, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

Changes to this policy

When this policy changes, we'll update the “Last updated” date at the top. Substantive changes will also be flagged to existing parents by email.

Contact

Sofia Rashid Ahmead, trading as Assured English
hello@assuredenglish.uk