Privacy Policy

Last updated: 1 October 2026

Middlesbrough Music Academy respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, who we may share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have in relation to your information.

This policy applies to website visitors, prospective and current students, parents and guardians, and anyone who contacts or interacts with Middlesbrough Music Academy.

1. Who we are

Middlesbrough Music Academy Limited, trading as Middlesbrough Music Academy, is responsible for the personal information described in this policy and acts as the data controller.

Middlesbrough Music Academy Limited
Trading as Middlesbrough Music Academy
Suite 5b, South Bank
Cargo Fleet Business Centre
Cargo Fleet Offices, Middlesbrough Road
Cargo Fleet
Middlesbrough
TS6 6XH

Telephone: 0800 246 5099
Email: contact@middlesbroughmusicacademy.co.uk

2. Personal information we collect

The information we collect depends on how you interact with us.

Website visitors and enquiries

The website enquiry form asks for your name, email address, preferred lesson and message. If you contact us another way, or include additional details in your message, we also receive the information you choose to provide.

Hosting and external services can receive technical connection information such as your IP address, browser and device information. The services used by this website are explained below and in our Cookie Policy.

Students and lesson administration

If you sign up for lessons or become a student, we may collect:

• the student's name;
• parent or guardian details, where applicable;
• date of birth;
• contact details;
• emergency contact details;
• lesson preferences;
• lesson bookings and attendance records;
• tutor and lesson administration information;
• payment and billing information;
• records of communications with us;
• other information reasonably necessary to provide and administer lessons.

Health, medical and additional-needs information

Where relevant to the safe and appropriate provision of lessons, you may choose to provide information about a student's health, medical conditions, allergies, disabilities, additional needs or other circumstances that may affect their lessons.

Some of this information may be classed as special category personal data under UK data protection law.

We will only collect and use this information where it is reasonably necessary and where we have an appropriate lawful basis and, where required, an additional condition for processing special category data.

We will limit access to this information to people who reasonably need it for the purpose for which it was provided.

Payments

We use Stripe to process card payments.

Where a payment method is saved on file, it may be used to collect lesson fees and other agreed charges in accordance with our Terms of Tuition.

We may retain payment records, transaction details and billing information for accounting and administration purposes. Full card numbers are processed by Stripe and are not stored directly on our website systems.

Testimonials, photographs and videos

We may collect and use testimonials, photographs, videos and related information for our website, social media or other promotional materials.

Where identifiable photographs, videos or testimonials involving children are used, we will normally obtain appropriate permission from a parent or guardian before publication.

3. How we collect personal information

We may collect personal information when:

• you use our website;
• you submit an enquiry or contact form;
• you contact us by email, telephone or another communication channel;
• you register for or book lessons;
• you provide information during student onboarding;
• you attend lessons;
• you make a payment;
• you communicate with us about a student or their lessons;
• you provide a testimonial, photograph or video;
• you provide consent or other permissions;
• cookies or other website technologies operate on our website.

We may also receive information through services we use to administer lessons, manage enquiries, process payments and operate our business.

4. Why we use personal information

We may use personal information to:

• respond to enquiries;
• arrange trial or ongoing lessons;
• register students;
• manage bookings and attendance;
• allocate students to tutors;
• provide and administer lessons;
• communicate with students, parents and guardians;
• process payments and maintain payment records;
• maintain appropriate emergency information;
• accommodate relevant health, accessibility or additional needs;
• manage our relationship with students and their families;
• operate and secure our website;
• prevent spam, fraud and misuse;
• improve our services using feedback and correspondence;
• deal with questions, complaints and disputes;
• send marketing communications where permitted;
• publish testimonials, photographs or videos where appropriate permission has been obtained;
• comply with our legal, accounting, tax, insurance and safeguarding responsibilities.

5. Our lawful bases for using personal information

We only use personal information where we have an appropriate lawful basis.

Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on the following.

Contract

We process information where it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into an agreement or to fulfil our agreement with you.

This includes registering students, arranging and administering lessons, communicating about tuition and processing lesson fees.

Legitimate interests

We may process information where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and those interests are not overridden by your rights.

This may include:

• responding to enquiries;
• managing our business and customer relationships;
• maintaining appropriate business records;
• managing lesson administration;
• improving our services and website;
• preventing fraud, spam and misuse;
• maintaining the security of our systems;
• dealing with complaints and disputes.

Consent

We rely on consent where appropriate or legally required. This may include:

• certain marketing communications;
• publication of testimonials;
• publication of identifiable photographs or videos;
• use of children's images for promotional purposes.

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing that took place lawfully before consent was withdrawn.

Legal obligation

We may process and retain personal information where necessary to comply with a legal obligation, including relevant tax, accounting, regulatory and safeguarding requirements.

Vital interests

In exceptional circumstances, we may use relevant personal information where necessary to protect someone's life or physical safety, for example during a medical emergency.

Special category information

Where information concerning health, disability or another type of special category personal data is processed, we will ensure that both an appropriate lawful basis and an appropriate special category condition apply.

Depending on the circumstances, this may include explicit consent or another condition permitted by data protection law.

6. Children and young people

Many Middlesbrough Music Academy students are children or young people, and we take particular care when handling their personal information.

Where a child wishes to have lessons, we generally expect registration and administration to involve their parent or guardian.

We only collect information about children that is reasonably necessary to provide and administer lessons, communicate with their parent or guardian, maintain appropriate records, process payments and meet our safeguarding and legal responsibilities.

Where appropriate, information about how we use a child's personal information will be explained in a way that is suitable for their age and understanding.

We do not knowingly use children's personal information for inappropriate marketing purposes.

7. Enquiries and contact forms

When you contact us or submit an enquiry through our website, we use the information you provide to respond to you, answer questions, discuss lesson availability and arrange lessons where requested.

We may retain a record of our correspondence for administration and customer service purposes.

Our website form is configured to send enquiries through FormSubmit to contact@middlesbroughmusicacademy.co.uk. FormSubmit processes the form contents and may use a spam check when you submit. Emails sent directly to us are handled through our email service. You can email us instead if you prefer not to use FormSubmit.

Submitting a lesson enquiry does not subscribe you to a marketing mailing list.

8. Payments

Card payments are processed using Stripe.

Stripe may process card details, transaction information and related information in accordance with its own privacy information.

Where you authorise us to keep a payment method on file, it may be used to collect lesson fees and other agreed charges in accordance with our Terms of Tuition.

Middlesbrough Music Academy does not directly store your full card number on its website systems.

We may retain invoices, payment records and transaction information where necessary for accounting, tax, administration and dispute-resolution purposes.

9. Marketing communications

We may contact you about Middlesbrough Music Academy lessons, availability, events, services, offers or news where we are permitted to do so.

We will only send electronic marketing where we have an appropriate legal basis.

In some circumstances this may be because you have consented. In other circumstances, we may be permitted to contact existing customers about similar services under the applicable rules for electronic marketing.

You can opt out of marketing communications at any time by using an unsubscribe option provided in the communication or by contacting us.

Messages necessary to administer your lessons, including booking, payment, timetable and other important service information, are not marketing communications.

10. Testimonials, photographs and videos

We may publish testimonials, photographs or videos on our website, social media accounts or other promotional materials.

Where identifiable children are involved, we will normally obtain appropriate permission from their parent or guardian before publishing the material.

You may contact us if you wish to withdraw permission or ask us to stop using a testimonial, photograph or video.

Where consent is withdrawn, we will stop future use where consent was the basis on which we relied. It may not always be possible to retrieve material that has already been printed, legitimately archived or shared by other people.

11. Cookies and website technologies

The academy’s own page code does not set cookies, store browser preferences, or include analytics or advertising trackers. There is no cookie preference banner or Cookie Settings tool on this version of the website.

The website is hosted through Sites and loads fonts from Google Fonts. These services receive technical information needed to deliver the site and fonts. Hosting services may use technology for security, access or sessions.

The contact form submits to FormSubmit, where a spam check may be presented. Google Maps and My Music Staff open only when you follow their links; they are not embedded in our pages. External services have their own privacy and cookie practices.

Our Cookie Policy explains these services and how to manage stored site data using your browser.

12. Website security and spam prevention

Our hosting service and FormSubmit may process technical connection information to secure their services and prevent abuse. FormSubmit may present Google reCAPTCHA after you submit an enquiry. Our website does not load an embedded reCAPTCHA check before submission.

13. Who we share personal information with

We do not sell personal information.

We may share information with trusted organisations and service providers where reasonably necessary to operate Middlesbrough Music Academy.

These may include providers that help us with:

• lesson and student administration;
• payment processing;
• email and communications;
• website hosting and infrastructure;
• website security;
• databases and information storage;
• accounting and professional services;
• IT and technical support.

For this website, the services involved are Sites hosting, Google Fonts and FormSubmit. We also use an email service to receive and respond to correspondence. My Music Staff is accessed through the student portal link for lesson administration, payments and cancellations. Card payments are processed by Stripe through our payment arrangements, not through the website enquiry form.

The exact technologies used on our website may change from time to time. Our Cookie Policy provides further information about cookies and similar technologies currently operating on the website.

We may also disclose personal information where reasonably necessary:

• to comply with the law;
• for safeguarding purposes;
• to protect somebody in an emergency;
• to establish, exercise or defend legal rights;
• to deal with complaints or disputes;
• to professional advisers, insurers, accountants or other appropriate business service providers.

14. International transfers

Some organisations that provide services to Middlesbrough Music Academy may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where UK data protection law requires additional protection for an international transfer, we will use an appropriate safeguard or transfer mechanism recognised under UK law.

This may include transfers to countries covered by UK adequacy regulations or the use of approved contractual safeguards.

15. How long we keep personal information

We do not keep personal information for longer than reasonably necessary.

Our usual retention periods are:

General enquiries that do not lead to lessons:
Normally up to 12 months following the last meaningful contact.

Enquiries that lead to lessons:
For the duration of the student relationship and normally for up to six years afterwards where appropriate.

Student administration records:
For the duration of tuition and normally for up to six years afterwards where appropriate.

Payment, invoice and accounting records:
Normally six years or for any longer period required by applicable tax or accounting rules.

Emergency contact information:
While reasonably required for an active student, after which it will be deleted or archived where there is a legitimate reason to retain it.

Health, medical and additional-needs information:
Only for as long as it is reasonably required for the purpose for which it was collected, subject to any safeguarding, legal, insurance or dispute-related reason requiring longer retention.

Marketing records:
Until you unsubscribe, withdraw consent where applicable, or the information is no longer required.

Marketing suppression records:
We may retain sufficient information to record that you have opted out so that we can continue to respect your preference.

Testimonials:
Until permission is withdrawn, the testimonial is replaced, or we no longer use it.

Published photographs and videos:
For as long as we have an appropriate basis to use them and they remain relevant.

Website technology information:
The academy does not collect website analytics through this site. Hosting and external-service records are subject to those providers’ retention practices, separately from the academy’s correspondence and student records.

Security and technical logs:
Normally for a limited period unless they are required for security, fraud prevention, investigation or another legitimate purpose.

Information may be retained for longer where reasonably necessary for legal, safeguarding, insurance, accounting, regulatory or dispute-resolution purposes.

16. Keeping your information secure

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

Access to personal information is limited to people and service providers who reasonably require it for their role or to provide services to Middlesbrough Music Academy.

No internet-based system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but we take appropriate steps to reduce the risks associated with handling personal information.

17. Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, UK data protection law may give you the right to:

• request access to personal information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• ask us to delete certain information;
• ask us to restrict certain processing;
• object to certain uses of your information;
• withdraw consent where processing is based on consent;
• receive certain information in a portable format;
• complain about how your information has been handled.

These rights are not absolute and whether a particular right applies will depend on the circumstances and our lawful basis for processing the information.

To exercise your rights or ask a question about your personal information, contact:

contact@middlesbroughmusicacademy.co.uk

18. Complaints about personal information

If you are concerned about how Middlesbrough Music Academy has handled your personal information, please contact us first so that we have an opportunity to investigate and resolve the issue.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent regulator for data protection.

ICO website: ico.org.uk
ICO telephone: 0303 123 1113

19. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when our services, systems, legal requirements or data-processing practices change.

The latest version will be published on our website and the date at the top of this policy will show when it was most recently updated