1. Scope and controller
Who is responsible for your information
This policy applies to Catholic Schools Near Me at catholicschoolsnearme.com (the “Directory,” “we,” “us” or “our”), an independent directory operated from Ontario, Canada. Catholic Schools Near Me is the controller or responsible organisation for personal information submitted directly through this site.
This policy does not govern the independent websites of schools, dioceses, education authorities, mapping providers or other third parties linked from the Directory.
2. Information we handle
Only what the service needs
| Category | Examples | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Correction data | Name, email address, relationship to an institution, requested change, evidence link and message | You |
| Contact and rights-request data | Name, email address, country or region, topic, subject and message | You |
| Finder location | Latitude and longitude supplied by your browser after permission | Your device |
| Technical request data | IP address, request time, requested URL, browser headers, security events and server errors that may appear in ordinary hosting logs | Your browser and hosting infrastructure |
| Public directory data | Institution names, addresses, telephone numbers, websites, education characteristics and, occasionally, professional contact details published by an official source | Government, Catholic education, institutional and other cited public sources |
student records, health information, payment-card details, account passwords, government identifiers or confidential admissions material. Please do not include these in a correction or contact message.
3. Location finder
How “schools near me” works
The browser may ask permission to provide your current location. If you approve, coordinates are placed into the current finder request and used to sort institutions by approximate distance. We do not add those coordinates to an account, advertising profile or school record.
Because the coordinates form part of the finder URL, that URL may appear temporarily in browser history and standard hosting or security logs. Denying permission does not reduce ordinary site access—you can search by institution, city, postcode or region instead. Browser location permission can be withdrawn through your browser or device settings.
4. Purposes and legal bases
Why information is used
| Purpose | Information | GDPR / UK GDPR basis where applicable |
|---|---|---|
| Provide search, maps and distance sorting | Search terms and finder coordinates | Your request and our legitimate interest in providing the Directory; consent where required for device location |
| Review and document corrections | Correction data and supporting evidence | Legitimate interests in accurate records and responding to submissions |
| Answer privacy, accessibility, legal and technical requests | Contact and rights-request data | Legal obligation where applicable and legitimate interests in responding |
| Publish and maintain institution listings | Public directory data | Legitimate interests in providing a source-transparent public education directory |
| Secure, diagnose and operate the site | Technical request and security-log data | Legitimate interests in reliable, secure service and legal obligations where applicable |
We do not use personal information for solely automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.
6. International processing
A directory used across several countries
Service providers and linked services may process information in countries other than the one where you live. Where data-protection law requires a transfer safeguard, we rely on an applicable adequacy decision, contractual safeguard or another lawful transfer mechanism. You may request more information through the contact form.
7. Retention
We keep information only while it has a purpose
- Finder coordinates: not written to a user profile or dedicated location database. A requested URL may remain temporarily in ordinary logs and your own browser history.
- Correction submissions: kept while reviewing the request and, where reasonably necessary, afterward to document the evidence, decision and listing history.
- Contact and rights requests: kept while responding and afterward only as needed to document compliance, prevent abuse, resolve disputes or meet legal obligations.
- Server and security logs: retained according to operational, security and hosting-provider schedules, then deleted or overwritten.
Retention decisions consider the amount and sensitivity of the information, the reason it was collected, security needs, potential disputes and applicable legal requirements.
8. Security
Practical safeguards
The site uses encrypted HTTPS connections, restricted database access, secure session-cookie settings, anti-forgery tokens, form validation, request limits, security headers and access controls intended to reduce unauthorised access or misuse. No internet service can promise absolute security.
9. Your choices and rights
Access, correction, deletion and objection
Depending on where you live and which law applies, you may have rights to know whether we hold personal information about you, obtain access or a copy, correct inaccurate information, request deletion, restrict processing, object to processing, withdraw consent, request portability and complain to a regulator.
Your right to object: where processing is based on legitimate interests, you may object based on your particular situation. We do not use personal information for direct marketing.
10. Children
A family resource, not a child-data service
Children may browse public directory pages, but the site is not designed to collect personal information from children under 13 and does not knowingly do so. A child should not submit a correction or contact message without a parent or guardian. If you believe a child supplied personal information, contact us so it can be reviewed and deleted where appropriate.
11. Changes and contact
Policy updates and questions
Material changes will be reflected on this page with an updated review date and, when appropriate, an additional notice. If analytics, advertising or non-essential tracking is introduced, this policy and the applicable consent controls will be updated before activation.
For a privacy question, complaint or rights request, use the secure contact form. For a public institution-record issue, use the listing correction form.