The Association of Ringing Teachers (ART or the “Association”) is concerned about your privacy and takes active steps to protect any personal information you share with us. This policy describes how we, as the Data Controller, collect such information, what we do with it and the measures we take to protect it when you use the ART website, log into SmART Ringer, the on-line learning system or use other services provided by the Association. It forms part of a wider Data Protection Policy (www.ringingteachers.org/about/policies-and-guidelines) and conforms to the General Data Protection Regulations implemented in May 2018.
The ART websites:
are open sites available to all users of the internet. No personal data is collected when you browse the information on the sites. Anonymous data is collected by analytical programmes which record your use of particular pages or features. More information about this is given in the section on cookies below.
When visiting the ART websites you may request information or buy goods on-line through the site. If you do this you will be asked to provide personal contact details. This may include your name, email address, postal address and telephone number – whatever is required to respond to your request. Examples of this are if you post a question under “Frequently Asked Questions” or use the form on the “Contact us” pages. The information you enter on these forms goes to the Association’s Administrators and may be shared with officers, management committee members, tutors or ART members as is necessary to respond to your request. ART processes this data on the understanding that, you, having contacted the Association, ART has a “legitimate interest” in processing your data in order to fulfil the request you have made. More of your personal data will be required if you make an on-line purchase. We use a third-party agency, PayPal, to collect payments for goods if you choose not to pay by cheque or BACS. We will not share your data with other organisations or individuals without your consent.
If your ringing teacher registers you with ART as a new ringer, we will hold your details and a note of any achievements under the “Learning the Ropes” programme. In addition we will contact you and seek your consent to provide you with email communications, links to newsletters and access to on-line services which support you in learning to ring. ART has policies in place to safeguard young ringers and vulnerable adults (see http://www.ringingteachers.co.uk/art/policies/) and we normally use a parent or guardian’s email address to communicate with young ringers under 16 years of age. Users over the age of 13 with an existing Facebook account may apply to join the Learning the Ropes Facebook group. As a Ringer on the Learning the Ropes scheme details of the scheme levels you achieve will be published in ringing journals and on the ART website with your location, unless your teacher asks for you to be omitted.
When you enrol for an ART event your name and contact details will be recorded on a delegate enrolment spreadsheet. This will be shared with a tutor or workshop leader, local organisers and Authorised Volunteers or Administrators responsible for running the event. Your subsequent progress on the programme may also be recorded here by the tutor or leader.
Once you have attended an ART Training Scheme course or workshop or become a member of ART, you will be issued with an account to log into the on-line learning system, SmART Ringer. When you use the system, SmART Ringer may log some pages you view, the results of any tests you attempt and record any membership declarations and preferences you make. The information may be used by tutors and mentors to support you while you are on the Training Scheme and your test results are required to confirm that you have satisfactorily completed the programme and can proceed to accreditation. Your contact details are confidential to the Administrators, your Tutor, Authorised Volunteers and officers of the Association. During your programme and once you are an accredited member of the Association you may need to provide us with personal data about others. Examples of this are when you wish to register a new ringer that you are teaching or submit for accreditation a trainee teacher you are mentoring. This data is collected through using forms in the relevant sections of SmART Ringer and is confidential to the Administrators, Authorised Volunteers and officers of the Association. In addition, you will receive email communications and links to newsletters from ART from time to time. The processing of this data is carried out on the understanding that, by joining the ART Training Scheme or becoming a member of the Association, ART has a “legitimate interest” in providing you with these services and facilities.
As an accredited member of ART, you will be asked to give your consent for your name and location appearing in the Directory of ART Members on the ART website. If you agree to your name appearing in the ART Directory, any contact from enquirers will be made through an on-line form which maintains the security of your contact details. If you complete a Gift Aid declaration or submit a DBS disclosure, ART has a “legal obligation” to process and store that information as the law requires.
If you are a member of Facebook or Twitter you may choose to receive updates from ART through these services.
If you contact ART requesting information about where you can learn to ring, we may put you in touch with an accredited teacher who is a member of the Association. However, it may be necessary on occasions to refer your enquiry to a teacher who is not an ART member or to a local ringing association or church. We will only do this if you have previously indicated that you are willing for this to happen.
When you use the ART website and SmART Ringer you give your consent for the site to use a small number of cookies which enable you to experience the functions offered in parts of the site effectively. A cookie is a small file downloaded onto your computer or other device which allows the website to recognise you specifically. More information about cookies is available at: www.allaboutcookies.org. Examples of our use of cookies are to allow you to collect items to purchase in a shopping basket when you are buying ART goods, to record your use of objects or tests on SmART Ringer (a session cookie which is cancelled when you log out) and to remember your username when you log in.
Anonymous data about use of pages is collected by analytics software when you use the ART website. This provides us with statistics to manage and improve the site. As noted above, when you use SmART Ringer details of some of the pages you visit are recorded by the system. This information is confidential to the Administrators and authorised officers of the Association.
Other than to fulfil your requests for information, services or goods you wish to purchase or receive, we will not share your personal details with third party organisations without your consent. In fulfilling your requests we, for example, work with services such as PayPal to arrange payments for purchases or MailChimp to send you email communications.
ART’s Data Protection Policy (www.ringingteachers.org/about/policies-and-guidelines) outlines the measures we take to keep your personal information secure. All staff and volunteers working for ART receive training in data protection and the security of information stored on computers, in online databases and in paper records.
If you are a registered user of ART services, you may ask to see a copy of the personal data we hold about you. You may also request that we correct any errors in your data, do not use it for a particular purpose or delete it entirely. If you have given your consent for particular processing of your data, you may withdraw that consent at any time and ask us to stop the processing.
ART will retain information about users’ achievements earned on ART programmes permanently (unless you ask us to delete it) and we may also retain anonymised data about individuals for statistical purposes. If you have provided ART with a DBS disclosure or equivalent, details of this will be retained for the recognised validity of the disclosure (normally for 5 years). Gift Aid declarations will be retained for up to 6 years after the year to which they relate. We will hold your membership data for as long as you remain a paid-up member of the Association and for two years thereafter.
Applications for changes in your personal data should be made to: dataprotection@bellringing.org.
We may make changes to this policy from time to time. You may wish to revisit this policy page occasionally to see these updates. All registered users of ART services will be notified of any major changes to this policy or to the ways in which we process their data.
Last Modified: November 2022
Last Reviewed: March 2019
If you have any questions about this policy or data protection you are invited to contact the Association at: