Privacy Policy
Effective from: 1 September 2020
This Privacy Policy explains how Anton Vlasenko, a sole trader trading as Volna Online Russian School (“Volna School”, “we”, “us” or “our”), collects, uses, shares and protects personal information when you visit our website, contact us, register for a course, attend lessons, take part in a mock examination, communicate with us or make a payment.
A short privacy summary for students
We need some information about you so we can organise your lessons, help you learn and keep you safe. This may include your name, age, class, attendance and schoolwork. Sometimes a group lesson may be recorded, but only when the required permission has been given.
We share information only with people who need it to provide your lessons or protect you. If you want to know what information we have about you, correct it or ask us to delete it where the law allows, ask a parent or another trusted adult to contact us at info@volnaschool.com.
A parent or guardian can read and explain this summary to younger students. The full Privacy Policy appears below.
1. Personal Information We Collect
We may collect the first name and age of a student; the student’s chosen course or class; their Russian-language speaking, reading and writing ability; whether they speak Russian at home; and information provided in optional free-text fields.
We may collect the first name, surname, email address and telephone number of a parent, guardian, authorised adult or adult student.
After a student joins the school, we may request a postal address where it is necessary to deliver textbooks or other learning materials. We may also request an address from GCSE or A-Level students taking mock examinations where sealed examination papers need to be sent or returned.
We keep information relating to enquiries, registrations, trial lessons, attendance, absences, class membership, mock-examination results, invoices, payments, credits, refunds and communications with parents, adult students and learners.
Where a parent or adult student voluntarily tells the headteacher about a health condition, disability, learning-support requirement or safeguarding concern, we may record and use the information where it is necessary to adapt lessons, provide appropriate assistance or protect the student.
Group lessons conducted through Microsoft Teams may occasionally be recorded where a student is absent or where a parent asks for the lesson to be available for revision. Depending on the Microsoft Teams recording settings and how participants use the lesson, a recording may include names, voices, video displayed by participants, screen sharing and lesson contributions. Private tuition lessons are not recorded.
We may receive technical information when you use our website, including an IP address, device and browser information, cookie identifiers, pages visited and interactions with the website. Payment providers process payment credentials. We normally receive transaction information, payment status and limited payment details rather than complete card information.
2. How and Why We Use Personal Information
We use personal information to respond to enquiries; arrange free trial lessons; recommend an appropriate class; enrol students; provide and administer lessons; communicate joining instructions; manage Microsoft Teams and Zoom classes; record attendance and authorised absences; provide learning materials; organise mock examinations; issue invoices, credits and refunds; send registration confirmations and important service or examination-related messages; maintain the security of our services; comply with legal and accounting obligations; and handle questions, complaints or legal claims.
We do not use registration information to send general newsletters or promotional email campaigns.
Where an adult learner, parent or authorised adult enters into an arrangement with us, we normally rely on taking requested steps before entering into a contract and performing the resulting contract.
Because a child is not normally the person entering into the contract, we generally rely on our legitimate interests to use limited information about the child to provide the lessons requested by the parent or authorised adult. When doing so, we consider the child’s interests, rights and best interests.
We rely on legal obligation where information must be kept or used for tax, accounting or another applicable legal requirement.
We rely on consent for non-essential cookies, optional group-lesson recordings and the use of a student’s photograph, video, testimonial or similar material for advertising or promotional purposes. Promotional use is subject to separate permission and is not required in order to receive lessons.
Health, disability and learning-support information receives additional protection. Where we use that information to make requested adjustments, we will normally obtain explicit consent from the parent, authorised adult or adult student. Where information must be used or shared to protect a child or another person, we may instead rely on an applicable safeguarding, legal-obligation or vital-interests provision permitted by law.
3. Retention and Security
We keep unsuccessful enquiries, incomplete registrations and registrations that do not lead to paid lessons for up to 12 months after the last contact.
We keep student, parent and course-administration records while the student is enrolled and normally for up to two years after the student’s final lesson. This includes registration, attendance, absence and mock-examination information. We may keep a particular record longer where it is reasonably needed for a safeguarding matter, complaint, dispute or legal claim.
We normally delete a delivery address within 90 days after the relevant books or examination papers have been delivered or returned, unless the address also forms part of a financial record or is needed to resolve a delivery problem, complaint or legal claim.
Microsoft Teams class groups, their ordinary class messages and any lesson recordings are deleted after the relevant academic year, normally within 60 days after the academic year ends. A recording may be deleted earlier when it is no longer needed.
We keep invoices, payment records, credits and refund records for at least the period required by HM Revenue and Customs. As a working rule, we retain these records for six years after the end of the relevant tax year.
We keep records of consent for as long as we rely on the consent and for up to two years afterwards where reasonably necessary to demonstrate how the consent was obtained or withdrawn.
We may delete information earlier where it is no longer needed. We may retain it for longer where required by law or where reasonably necessary for safeguarding, fraud prevention, a complaint, a dispute or a legal claim.
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information against unauthorised or unlawful access, use, alteration, disclosure, loss or destruction. No internet or electronic-storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
4. Who We Share Personal Information With
Personal information is available only to people who need it for the relevant purpose, including authorised teachers, the headteacher and people responsible for school administration.
We use Wix for website hosting, registration forms, limited automations, invoicing, website management and Wix Analytics. We use Google services for Gmail, Google Analytics and Google Ads. We use Microsoft Teams for group lessons and some private lessons, and Zoom for private lessons and mock examinations.
We use payment services that support debit or credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal, as well as bank transfers. The provider used depends on the payment method selected. Payment providers process payment information under their own terms and privacy notices.
Where necessary, we may share limited information with postal or courier services to send textbooks or mock-examination papers. Where a parent or adult student asks us to help with examination arrangements, we may share relevant information with an examination centre or another examination-related organisation.
We may also disclose information to an accountant, professional adviser, insurer, regulator, law-enforcement body or other authority where this is reasonably necessary or required by law.
Some service providers may process personal information outside the United Kingdom. Where a restricted international transfer occurs, we use an applicable UK adequacy regulation, contractual safeguard or another transfer mechanism permitted by UK data-protection law. You may contact us for more information about the safeguard used for a particular service.
If you choose to follow a link to Facebook or another external website, that organisation processes information under its own privacy terms.
5. Cookies, Analytics and Advertising
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies that are necessary for the website to operate, remain secure and remember essential choices.
With the visitor’s permission, we also use Wix Analytics and Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the website. We use Google Ads technologies to measure and improve advertising. These services may use identifiers and information about a visitor’s device, browser and interaction with the website.
Optional analytics and advertising technologies are not activated unless the visitor has provided the consent required by the applicable rules. Visitors can accept or reject optional technologies and can change their preferences through the cookie settings available on the website.
Rejecting optional cookies does not prevent the necessary parts of the website from operating. Cookie and analytics information may be personal information where it identifies or can be linked to a person or device.
6. Children’s Personal Information and Lesson Recordings
Volna School provides lessons for students from three years of age and therefore knowingly processes limited personal information about children.
A registration form for a child must be completed by a parent, guardian or another authorised adult. During the initial telephone consultation, we ask the person completing the registration to confirm that they have authority to arrange lessons and provide the relevant information about the child.
We use only the information reasonably needed to identify the student, recommend a suitable class, provide lessons, communicate with the responsible adult, manage attendance and absences, provide support and administer payments or examinations.
Before enrolment, we ask a parent or authorised adult separately about permission for lesson recordings and promotional use of images. Permission for recordings and permission for advertising must be treated as separate choices.
Group lessons are recorded only occasionally, normally where a student is absent or where a parent has asked for a lesson to be available for revision. Everyone enrolled in that Microsoft Teams class group can access the recording. Students and parents must not download, copy or share a class recording outside the class group without permission. Private tuition lessons are not recorded.
Parents and authorised adults may withdraw permission for future optional recordings or promotional use by contacting us. Withdrawal does not make earlier lawful use unlawful and may not allow us to retrieve material that has already been lawfully printed or published, although we will stop new use where reasonably possible.
If you believe that a child’s information has been supplied by someone without authority, please contact us so that we can investigate and take appropriate action.
7. Your Data-Protection Rights and Complaints
Depending on the purpose, lawful basis and circumstances, you may have the right to be informed about our use of personal information; obtain access to it; correct inaccurate information; request erasure; request restriction of processing; object to processing; receive certain information in a portable format; and withdraw consent at any time.
These rights are not all absolute. For example, we may need to retain information to comply with a legal obligation or to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that was lawful before the withdrawal.
To exercise a right or raise a privacy concern, email info@volnaschool.com. We may need to ask for information reasonably necessary to confirm your identity or authority. We normally respond within one calendar month, subject to any lawful extension or exemption.
You may also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office through https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/ or by telephone on 0303 123 1113. We would appreciate the opportunity to address your concern first, but contacting us does not affect your right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
8. Contact Details and Changes to this Policy
The data controller is Anton Vlasenko, a sole trader trading as Volna Online Russian School.
Business and correspondence address:
90 Telford Way
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
HP13 5EA
United Kingdom
Email: info@volnaschool.com
Telephone: 07473147964
We may update this Privacy Policy when our services, systems, providers or legal obligations change. We will publish the revised policy on this page and update the “Last updated” date. Where a change materially affects how we use information already collected, we will provide an appropriate additional notice.
This Privacy Policy explains how we use personal information and the rights available to you. If you have any questions or concerns about our privacy practices, please contact us at info@volnaschool.com.
Last updated: 13 August 2026