HiveMind Privacy Notice
HiveMind is an A-level Psychology learning and revision platform. It records learning activity so students can track their progress and teachers can support revision. This notice explains what information HiveMind collects, why it is used, who can see it, and how research/evaluation use is handled.
Who This Notice Is For
This notice is for students, parents/carers, teachers, and school data protection staff. HiveMind is currently used in a limited school pilot with students aged 16 or over.
What HiveMind Collects
HiveMind may collect and store:
- Student name, school email address, account ID, and class membership.
- Login, signup, and account information needed to run the platform.
- Questions answered, responses, accuracy, Test Zone results, and confidence ratings.
- Learning-stage progress, spaced repetition history, revision sessions, active study time, and timestamps.
- Streaks, badges, rewards, avatar/economy choices, and HiveMind Verified Score information.
- Limited leaderboard information, designed to avoid exposing every student's full rank.
- Live lesson responses, confidence checks, and confused flags where live classroom tools are used.
- Student goals or reflection information entered into the platform.
- Teacher-uploaded assessment results, such as scores, grades, ranks, dates, and topic/AO scores where used.
- Diagnostic and error logs used to keep the system working safely.
Why HiveMind Uses This Information
HiveMind uses this information to provide the learning platform, help students understand their progress, support spaced repetition and revision planning, allow teachers to monitor learning, and help teachers identify where support may be useful.
Assessment data may be used by the teacher to understand how revision activity relates to academic progress. Research or publication use should be treated separately from routine classroom use.
Who Can See The Information
Students can see their own learning information. The teacher can see information for students in their class so they can support learning and monitor progress. Authorised administrators may access data where needed to run, secure, or maintain the platform.
Other students should not see a student's full individual record. Leaderboard features are intended to use limited visibility, such as Top 3 or personal-best style information, rather than exposing every student's low rank.
Research And Evaluation
HiveMind data may be used to evaluate whether the platform supports learning. Routine classroom use and research/publication use may be treated separately.
If data are used for research or publication, the aim is to use anonymised outputs wherever possible, so individual students cannot be identified. Working datasets may need to be pseudonymised before analysis. Pseudonymised data should still be treated as personal data where re-identification is possible.
Students and parents/carers can ask how research use works, whether an opt-out is available, and how withdrawal requests are handled before data have been fully anonymised.
How HiveMind Protects Information
HiveMind uses Firebase Authentication, role-based teacher/admin permissions, security rules, and server-side processing for key learning and score calculations. The current pilot is limited to a small number of classes and one teacher/admin.
The platform is still under data protection review. The school DPO/data protection lead should confirm the lawful basis, retention periods, processor arrangements, and any DPIA requirements before wider rollout or research publication.
How Long Information Is Kept
Retention periods should be agreed with the school DPO/data protection lead. As a draft position, identifiable operational data should only be kept for as long as needed for teaching, support, assessment review, security, and approved evaluation. Older data should be deleted, aggregated, or anonymised where possible.
Questions, Corrections, And Research Opt-Out
If a student or parent/carer has questions about HiveMind data, believes information is incorrect, or wants to ask about research use, they should contact the teacher or the school's data protection contact.
School/DPO contact: To be confirmed by the school.
HiveMind contact: To be confirmed before publication of this notice.
Important Note
This is a draft privacy notice for school/DPO review. It should be checked against the school's final lawful basis, controller/processor roles, retention policy, and research/publication arrangements before being treated as the approved notice.