Privacy Policy.

1. Introduction

Aeries Tutoring (“we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your personal information when you visit our website, book tutoring sessions, and use our services. As a small business, we are not required to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) in all respects. However, we have chosen to handle your personal information in a manner that is broadly consistent with the APPs as a matter of good practice.

2. Information we collect

We collect personal information that is reasonably necessary to provide our tutoring services. This may include:

• Contact information: parent/guardian and student full names, postal address, phone numbers, and email addresses.
• Academic information: student year level, enrolled subjects, academic goals, assessment results, and ongoing session notes.
• Financial information: billing details required to process payments. All card payments are processed securely by our third-party payment processor, Stripe. We do not collect, store, or maintain your full credit card details on our own systems.
• Usage data: information about how you interact with our website and booking system, including data collected via cookies and analytics tools (see section 13).

3. How we collect your information

We generally collect personal information directly from you through:

• online forms when you book a session or use the contact form on our website;
• direct communication with us by email, phone, or text message; and
• your interactions with our website and booking system.

Where the individual is a student under 18, information is generally provided to us by a parent or legal guardian on the student’s behalf (see section 6).

4. Why we collect, use, and disclose your information

We use your personal information to operate our business and to provide you with high-quality tutoring services. Specifically, we use your information to:

• schedule, manage, and conduct enrolments and tutoring sessions;
• communicate with parents, guardians, and students about session updates, scheduling changes, and student progress;
• process payments and maintain financial records;
• provide educational materials and academic support;
• respond to enquiries and support requests; and
• comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

5. Sensitive information

Some information we hold may be considered “sensitive information” under privacy law - for example, health information relating to a learning difficulty, disability, or diagnosed condition that is relevant to a student’s learning needs. As a matter of good practice, we only collect, use, or disclose this kind of information with your consent, or where we are otherwise required to do so by law. We collect only what is reasonably necessary to support the student’s learning.

6. Children and parental consent

We provide services to students under 18 years of age. Where a student is under 18, we collect their personal information only with the consent of a parent or legal guardian. The parent or legal guardian is responsible for reviewing and accepting this policy on the student’s behalf, and for providing consent to the collection of any sensitive information. We take particular care to limit our collection, use, and disclosure of children’s personal information to what is reasonably necessary to provide our services.

7. Disclosure of your information

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We may disclose your personal information in the following circumstances:

• to our tutors, where necessary to deliver tutoring services to a student;
• to trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our business (for example, Stripe for payment processing, and our email, scheduling, and website hosting providers). These providers are bound by their own privacy obligations and, where applicable, by agreements requiring them to keep your information confidential and secure; and
• where we are required or authorised to do so by law, including in response to a subpoena or a valid request from a law enforcement or government agency.

8. Overseas disclosure

Some of our service providers store or process personal information outside Australia. This may include:

• Stripe (payment processing) - the United States, and potentially other countries in which Stripe operates;
• Netlify (website hosting) - the United States, and other countries via its global hosting infrastructure;
• Google Workspace (email and scheduling) - the United States, and other countries in which Google operates data centres.

This list reflects our service providers as at the date of this policy and may change as we update our systems. Where we disclose personal information to overseas recipients, we take reasonable steps to ensure it is handled consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.

9. Data retention

We retain personal information only for as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, or for as long as we are required to keep it by law. Financial and tax records are generally retained for 5 years, consistent with standard Australian Taxation Office record-keeping requirements. Student records and session notes are generally retained for 1 year after a student finishes tutoring with us. When personal information is no longer needed for any purpose for which it may be used or disclosed, and we are not legally required to retain it, we take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it. You may also request deletion of your information at any time (see section 14).

10. Data security

We take reasonable administrative and technical steps to protect your personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction. However, no method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. We use reputable platforms and standard digital safeguards, and sensitive payment data is handled by secure third-party providers.

11. Data breaches

If we become aware of a data breach that is likely to result in harm to any individual whose information we hold, we will take reasonable steps to assess the breach and notify affected individuals as a matter of good practice, even though we are not required by law to do so as a small business.

12. Direct marketing

From time to time we may send you information about our services. Every marketing message will include a simple way to opt out, and you can also ask us at any time to stop sending you marketing communications by contacting us using the details in section 17. We aim to handle electronic marketing consistently with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth).

13. Cookies and website analytics

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to help it function and to understand how visitors use it. We may use website analytics tools to collect aggregated usage data. You can disable cookies through your browser settings, although some features of the website may not function properly as a result.

14. Access and correction of your information

As a matter of good practice, you may request access to the personal information we hold about you and request that we correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, or misleading. To make a request, please contact us in writing using the details in section 17. We will respond within a reasonable period. If we are unable to action a request, we will explain why.

15. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us in writing using the details in section 17. We will acknowledge your complaint and aim to respond within 30 days. As we are a small business, we are not required to be subject to oversight by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), but if you remain unsatisfied you are welcome to contact the OAIC at www.oaic.gov.au or by calling 1300 363 992.

16. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will take effect when we post the updated policy on our website. Where changes are significant or affect how we use your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to notify you directly. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

17. Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact:

Aeries Tutoring
Email: contact@aeriestutoring.com.au
ABN: 496 460 223 76