The school controls its students' records. We keep only what a class needs to read with TaleTykes, and the school agreement sets out every record and how long it is kept. A student's reading is kept while they are in a class. Once a teacher has removed them and they are in no class, it is deleted when 60 days have passed since the removal.
Classes are opening soon. No student information is collected until a school has accepted the school agreement, and that cannot happen until the agreement is in force.
What is kept about a student
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| A first name and last initial, as the teacher types them | So a student can find their name, and a teacher can tell two students apart |
| An age group, and a picture chosen from a set | So books suit the student, and the sign-in screen shows pictures |
| A PIN or a sequence of pictures, kept only in a scrambled form | So a student can sign in on a classroom device |
| What the student reads: pages, minutes, books finished and words tapped for help | So the teacher can see how the class is reading |
| Answers to the teacher's questions | So the teacher can read them. A spoken answer is turned into words, and the recording is not kept |
| Books a student makes, and what they asked for in them | So the student can read their own books |
| What the safety checks decided, with the student's words when a check objected to them | So a teacher is told when a child may need help |
We never collect a student's surname, email address, date of birth, home address, photograph or voice recording. We do not show students advertising, sell their information, or use it for anything but the school's use of TaleTykes. The companies that help us run the service are listed in the privacy notice.
Who can see it
| Who | What they can see |
|---|---|
| The student's teachers | The class list, each student's reading, answers and books, and what a student wrote behind a safety alert |
| School admins | Every class's reading, books and answers, the teachers and the billing, but not what a student wrote behind a safety alert unless they teach that class |
| The school's safety lead | Safety alerts from the classes they teach, including what a student wrote, and from every class if they are also an admin |
| Classmates | A classmate's first name and last initial, books in the class library, and the class board if the teacher switches it on |
| A parent the school links | That one child's school reading and books, but not other children, their answers, or what they wrote behind a safety alert |
How long things are kept
| What | How long it is kept |
|---|---|
| A student's reading, answers and books | While they are in a class, including an archived one. Once they are in no class, until 60 days have passed since a teacher removed them |
| Everything about a school's students, once the school stops using TaleTykes | Deleted 60 days after the school is closed |
| The weekly class board | Worked out each time it is shown, so nothing extra is stored |
| A classroom device | Until a teacher stops using it, and then 60 days |
| The record that the school accepted the agreement | Three years after the school stops using TaleTykes |
A student leaves a class when a teacher removes them. Archiving a class removes nobody, so its students' reading is kept until they are removed or the school closes. When a school stops using TaleTykes, an admin closes it on Data and privacy, as Running a school account explains.
Downloading the school's data
On Data and privacy, a school admin can choose "Download the spreadsheet" on any plan. It has one row for each student in each current class: the name on the class list, the class and its grade, the age group, the day they joined the class, how many parents are linked, the books they made, and the books they finished and minutes they read in the last 365 days. Every download is recorded.
The spreadsheet only includes current classes and students who are still in them, so download it before you remove students or archive classes. On the Classroom and School plans, each class's Progress tab has a spreadsheet of its own.
Requests from parents
A parent who wants to see, correct or delete their child's school information should ask the school. A parent who has linked their account can also ask from their child's school reading page, and the request appears on Data and privacy under "Requests from families", with the date to answer by, 30 days after it was made.
- Do what the parent asked, or decide not to.
- Choose "Mark as done", or "Decline" and confirm.
- Tell the family what you did, through your usual way of reaching them, because the request names the student but not who sent it. Their page shows the request as answered or declined, but we do not send them your reasons, so explain yourself, especially when you decline. A declined request cannot be opened again.
To remove one student's information sooner, write to us. Otherwise, a student you remove from every class is deleted once 60 days have passed since the removal.
Where to go next
For a question about a student's information, write to privacy@taletykes.com. For anything else, write to support@taletykes.com or use Contact.