ENGLISH CONNECT ACADEMY
Your information and privacy.
Effective 16 October 2026 · LessonBoard, registration and remote lessons
Who is responsible?
Lingua Connect Academy Ltd, operating as English Connect Academy, is responsible for the information described here. For privacy questions or requests, email info@englishconnectacademy.com.
This notice covers LessonBoard, student enquiries, teacher registration and our use of email and remote lesson platforms. It does not cover cookies or analytics on our separate marketing website.
Information we use
- Students and families: names, parent or guardian details where supplied, email, optional telephone number, location, time zone, English level, lesson requests and relevant learning notes.
- Teachers: name, email, optional telephone number and location, time zone, account and application details, teaching availability, time off, lesson types, agreed pay and currency.
- Lessons and money: bookings, attendance, cancellations, relevant notes, charges, invoices, teacher pay and payment status. We also keep records of lesson changes and some administrative actions.
- Security: sign-in attempts, IP addresses and browser information in security or hosting logs, essential cookies, and hashed identifiers used to limit repeated registration attempts. Passwords and invitation codes are stored as hashes.
We receive information from you, from a parent or guardian arranging lessons, or from authorised academy staff and teachers. If you supply another person's information, please make this notice available to them where appropriate.
LessonBoard does not collect card numbers or initiate bank payments. Please do not put identity documents, payment-card information or sensitive health details in registration forms or general lesson notes. Contact us separately to discuss support needs requiring sensitive information.
Why we use it
We use information to respond to enquiries, arrange and deliver lessons, review teaching applications, manage accounts and availability, schedule lessons in the right time zone, maintain learning and attendance records, calculate charges and teacher pay, and protect the service.
- Contract or steps before a contract: information necessary to arrange or provide tuition to the contracting individual, or manage a teacher's teaching agreement.
- Legitimate interests: administering enquiries and lessons, supporting learners where a parent or guardian is the contracting party, reviewing teacher applications, maintaining appropriate operational records and securing the service. We must balance these interests against individual rights, especially children's rights.
- Legal obligations: retaining financial records or making disclosures required by applicable accounting, tax or other law.
Required form fields are needed to process the request; without them we may be unable to arrange lessons or create an account. Optional fields are marked. The registration acknowledgement is not consent to unrelated marketing. Registration does not create a marketing subscription.
An administrator reviews teaching applications. LessonBoard does not automatically decide who should be appointed as a teacher.
Children's information
Parents or guardians should arrange enquiries for children and provide appropriate contact details. We use children's information to organise and support learning, not to create advertising profiles. Requests about a child's information are considered with regard to the child's rights and understanding, and the requester's authority.
Access, communication and service providers
Authorised administrators manage registrations, scheduling and finances. Teachers can access learners and lessons available through their teaching role. Relevant information may be shared with professional advisers or authorities where necessary and lawful.
- Render: hosts LessonBoard and its database; the current hosting region is Frankfurt, Germany. Hosting and backups involve processing personal information.
- IONOS: provides our academy email service.
- WhatsApp and Google Meet: are used for remote lessons and related communication. Depending on the service and settings, they handle account/contact details, messages, meeting information, audio, video and technical connection data. Other participants can see or hear what you share during a lesson.
LessonBoard itself does not record audio or video. Recording or transcription in a separate lesson platform is a separate activity: the academy must explain its purpose, access, retention and applicable basis before using it. This notice does not give blanket permission to record lessons.
Providers also process information under their own applicable terms and privacy notices: Render, IONOS, Google and WhatsApp. The account or product used can affect which terms apply.
International access
Our teachers work in the United Kingdom, Czech Republic and other European countries. Information needed for your lessons may be accessed from your teacher's country. Providers may also process information internationally; Frankfurt hosting does not mean all processing stays in Germany.
Contact us for the location of your assigned teacher and information about the arrangements applicable to your lessons. Where a restricted international transfer occurs, the academy must establish the applicable lawful transfer arrangement and any required safeguards. The provider notices linked above describe their own arrangements; they do not by themselves establish safeguards for access by an academy teacher.
How long we keep records
We apply the following retention policy, with manual reviews rather than automatic deletion:
- Enquiries that do not become bookings: delete or anonymise within 12 months of the last meaningful contact.
- Unused, revoked or expired teacher invitations: delete within 90 days after expiry or revocation, unless needed for an ongoing security investigation.
- Unsuccessful teaching applications: delete within 6 months of the decision, unless a specific dispute or legal obligation requires relevant records for longer.
- Profiles, scheduling and learning notes: keep during the relationship and review at least annually. Delete or anonymise non-financial information within 2 years after the relationship ends unless there is a documented reason to retain it longer.
- Invoices, teacher-pay records and minimum supporting lesson/identity details: keep for the applicable statutory accounting or tax period, taking account of the record type, relevant financial year and any continuing enquiry or claim. Remove unrelated learning notes or contact information when no longer needed.
- Routine security records under academy control: review and remove after 90 days unless needed for a documented investigation. Provider logs may follow different service-specific periods.
- Backups and exports: track copies and expiry dates, limit access and apply the relevant retention rule to exports. Backups expire according to their configured rotation; deletion requests must also be considered if a backup is restored.
The administrator is responsible for monthly retention reviews and arranging deletion or anonymisation, including relevant email, messaging and exported copies under academy control. A specific legal duty, safeguarding matter or actual dispute may require relevant information to be kept longer; the reason and review date should be documented.
Archiving is not deletion. LessonBoard's archive controls remove records from normal active views but retain their contents. Linked financial records and backups need to be considered when carrying out deletion requests. The retention policy does not mean that records are deleted automatically.
Cookies and security
LessonBoard uses essential cookies for sign-in, session management and protection against forged form submissions. The application does not include advertising or analytics trackers. Separate websites and lesson platforms have their own cookie practices.
We use HTTPS, hashed passwords, access controls and protections against repeated failed sign-ins and invitation attempts. Keep your password and private invitation or cancellation links confidential. No system can guarantee absolute security.
Your rights and questions
Depending on the circumstances and applicable law, you may request access, correction, erasure, restriction or a portable copy of your information. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests. Rights have limits, including where records must be kept to meet a legal obligation. If we separately rely on consent for an activity, you may withdraw it without affecting the lawfulness of earlier use.
Email info@englishconnectacademy.com to make a request. We may need proportionate information to verify your identity or authority. You may complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office, or the relevant data-protection authority in your country where applicable.
We will update this notice's date when it changes and explain material changes where appropriate.