POOL STARS

Privacy notice

Last updated: October 2026

1. Who we are

Pool Stars Limited (“Pool Stars”, “we”, “us”) is a swimming school based at Wyboston. We teach children and adults to swim, and we deliver swimming provision in primary schools through the Swim:ED programme.

We are the data controller for the information described in this notice. That means we decide how and why your information is used, and we are responsible for looking after it.

Company registration number: 14214686

Registered address: 22 Mallow Close, St Neots, PE19 2LF

ICO registration number: ZC258714

If you have any question about this notice or about how we use your information, contact us at office@pool-stars.co.uk

2. What this notice covers

This notice explains what information we hold, why we hold it, how long we keep it and what rights you have. It applies to:

  • children and adults who attend our lessons, and their parents and carers
  • staff at schools we work with, or may work with, through Swim:ED
  • our own staff, and people who apply to work with us
  • anyone who contacts us or uses our website

3. The information we hold

Children and adults attending lessons

  • name, date of birth and age
  • swimming ability, attendance and progress records
  • medical information relevant to safe participation, including conditions, allergies and medication
  • any additional needs or adjustments we need to make
  • photographs or video, where separate consent has been given
  • records of accidents or incidents, where these occur

Parents and carers

  • name and date of birth
  • address, email address and telephone number
  • emergency contact details
  • booking, payment and correspondence history

School staff

  • name, job role and school
  • work email address and telephone number
  • records of our correspondence with you, and details of your school’s swimming provision where you share them with us

Our staff and job applicants

  • contact details, right to work documentation and qualifications
  • references, employment records and training records
  • payroll, tax and pension information
  • results of criminal records checks, where the role requires one
  • absence and, where relevant, health information

Website visitors

  • information you give us through our enquiry forms
  • technical information about your visit, where you have accepted cookies

4. Why we use it, and our legal basis

We only use personal information where the law allows. Our reasons are:

  • To deliver lessons and provision you have booked. Legal basis: performance of a contract. Where the contract is with a parent, we also rely on legitimate interests in respect of the child.
  • To keep people safe in and around water. Legal basis: legitimate interests, and our legal obligations around health, safety and safeguarding.
  • To manage bookings, payments and our accounts. Legal basis: performance of a contract, and legal obligation.
  • To communicate with you about lessons, changes and safety matters. Legal basis: performance of a contract, and legitimate interests.
  • To contact schools about Swim:ED. Legal basis: legitimate interests — we have an interest in offering a service relevant to a school’s statutory swimming obligations, and we consider this proportionate because we contact people in a professional capacity, at work contact details, about their work.
  • To send marketing about our own services. Legal basis: consent, or legitimate interests where you are an existing customer or a corporate contact. You can opt out at any time.
  • To employ and pay our staff. Legal basis: performance of a contract, legal obligation, and legitimate interests.
  • To meet our safeguarding and regulatory obligations. Legal basis: legal obligation, and substantial public interest in the area of safeguarding children.

5. Health and medical information

Health information is treated as a special category of personal data and given extra protection in law.

We collect medical information about participants so that our teachers can keep them safe in the water and make reasonable adjustments. We ask for your explicit consent to hold and use this information when you register, and you can withdraw that consent at any time — although we may not be able to offer lessons safely without it.

In an emergency we may share relevant medical information with the emergency services or a first aider without seeking consent first, because doing so protects someone’s vital interests.

Medical information is seen only by staff who need it to teach or supervise safely, and is not used for any other purpose.

6. Photographs and video

We sometimes take photographs or video of lessons for teaching, celebration or marketing purposes. We only do this where separate, specific consent has been given, and consent to photography is never a condition of attending lessons.

You can withdraw photography consent at any time by contacting us. We will stop using the images going forward, though we may not be able to recall material already printed or shared.

Where we deliver Swim:ED in a school, photography is arranged with the school and follows the school’s own consent arrangements.

7. Who we share it with

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for anyone else’s marketing. We share it only where we need to:

  • Schools we deliver in — attendance, progress and assessment data for their own pupils, which the school needs to meet its curriculum obligations
  • Aspire Active Partnerships — our Swim:ED programme partner, where needed to arrange and deliver provision
  • Our service providers — booking, payment, email and customer management systems that operate on our instructions
  • Our accountant and payroll provider — for staff pay and company accounts
  • Emergency services and medical professionals — in an emergency
  • Safeguarding partners, including local authorities and the police — where we have a safeguarding concern or a legal duty to report
  • Insurers and professional advisers — where necessary, for example after an accident

8. Where your information is stored

Our systems are provided by established suppliers, some of which are based outside the UK. Where information is transferred outside the UK, we make sure it is protected by safeguards recognised under UK data protection law — either an adequacy decision, or approved contractual terms such as the International Data Transfer Agreement.

You can ask us for details of the safeguards applying to any particular transfer.

9. How long we keep it

We keep information only as long as we need it.

  • Participant and parent records: for the duration of lessons and three years afterwards
  • Accident and incident records involving a child: until the child’s 25th birthday, reflecting the time limit for bringing a claim
  • Safeguarding records: in line with current safeguarding retention guidance, which may be considerably longer
  • Financial and payroll records: six years, as required for tax purposes
  • Employment records: six years after employment ends
  • Unsuccessful job applications: six months
  • School and enquiry contacts: two years from our last contact with you

When a retention period ends we delete the information securely, or anonymise it so it can no longer identify anyone.

10. Your rights

You have the right to:

  • ask for a copy of the information we hold about you
  • ask us to correct anything that is wrong
  • ask us to delete information, where there is no good reason for us to keep it
  • ask us to restrict how we use it, or object to our using it
  • ask us to transfer it to another organisation, in certain circumstances
  • withdraw consent, where we rely on consent
  • opt out of marketing at any time

To exercise any of these, contact us at office@pool-stars.co.uk. We will respond within one month. There is no charge.

11. Children’s information

Children have the same rights over their own information as adults. In practice, for younger children, these rights are usually exercised by a parent or carer on their behalf. As children get older we will take their own views into account, and an older child may exercise their rights themselves.

We only collect information about a child that we need in order to teach them safely and well.

12. Cookies

Our website uses cookies. Essential cookies make the site work. With your permission, we also use cookies from services such as HubSpot, which helps us understand how our website is used and handles our enquiry forms, and YouTube, which plays the videos on our pages. You can accept or decline these in the cookie banner, and change your choice at any time.

13. Marketing

We may send you information about our lessons and services. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can also ask us to stop at any time by replying or contacting us directly. Opting out of marketing will not affect messages we need to send you about lessons you have booked.

14. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first — we would rather put it right. Contact us at office@pool-stars.co.uk.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at any time. You can reach the ICO at ico.org.uk, or on 0303 123 1113.

15. Changes to this notice

We review this notice regularly and will update it when our practices change. The date at the top shows when it was last changed