Privacy Policy

01Introduction & Scope

Study Bee (“we”, “us”, or “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals who use our website and tutoring services in Australia (collectively: “Services”). This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, store, and manage personal information in compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

This Policy applies to all personal information entrusted to us, whether collected electronically (e.g., via website forms) or offline (e.g., paper or digital enrollment forms), and whether processed by us or by authorised service providers on our behalf.

02Definitions

Personal Information: Information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not.

You / Your: Any individual who uses our Services (students, parents/guardians, website visitors, tutors, freelance staff).

Consent: Your voluntary agreement for us to collect, use, or disclose your personal information for specified purposes. Consent can be express or implied.

Child / Minor: Under Australian privacy guidelines, individuals under the age of 18 are generally considered minors. Where a student lacks the capacity to understand our data practices, consent must be provided by a parent or guardian.

03What Information We Collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

• Identity and Contact Details: Name, date of birth, age, school year level, email address, phone number, and residential address.
• Parent/Guardian Details: Name, phone number, email address, and billing address (required when the student is a minor).
• Academic and Educational Information: School name, subjects studied, past academic performance, tutoring preferences, learning goals, and session scheduling preferences.
• Usage and Administrative Data: Records of tutoring sessions booked/attended, emails, text or chat messages, feedback, and student progress notes.
• Payment and Billing Data: Payment history, billing contacts, and invoicing information. Note: Third-party secure gateways process our credit card payments; we do not directly store full credit card numbers or account credentials.
• Technical and Website Data: IP address, device/browser type, operating system, and data collected via cookies or analytics tools (see Section 10).

04Purposes for Collection, Use & Disclosure

We collect, use, and disclose personal information only for purposes that are reasonably necessary for, or directly related to, our functions and activities as a tutoring business. These include:

• Providing, managing, and administering our tutoring services (scheduling, curriculum planning, tracking progress, and reporting).
• Communicating with you or your guardian regarding booking confirmations, session reminders, administrative updates, and support.
• Processing payments, issuing invoices, and managing accounting records.
• Improving our Services through quality monitoring, client feedback, and operational analysis.
• Complying with any applicable Australian laws, regulations, or legally binding requests from law enforcement or regulatory bodies.

05Consent & Parental/Guardian Consent for Minors

We will typically handle your information on the basis of your consent or because it is necessary to provide our Services to you.

Minors: For students under 18 who do not have the capacity to make their own privacy decisions, we require a parent or legal guardian to provide consent on their behalf.

Withdrawing Consent: You (or your guardian) may withdraw consent for us to use or hold your data at any time. If you do so, we will cease processing it, unless we are legally required or authorised to retain it. Please note that withdrawing consent may mean we can no longer provide tutoring services to you.

06Data Quality, Retention & Disposal

We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we collect is accurate, up-to-date, complete, and relevant. We will only retain your personal information for as long as it is required to satisfy the purposes for which it was collected, or to meet our legal, tax, or accounting obligations under Australian law. When no longer needed, your information will be securely destroyed or permanently de-identified.

07Data Security & Protection Measures

We hold personal information in a combination of secure electronic databases and paper files. We take reasonable, proactive steps to protect your information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. Security measures include:

• Restricted access controls ensuring only authorised staff and tutors can see sensitive data.
• Secure software platforms, password protection, and encryption where appropriate.
• Confidentiality and data protection expectations applied to any contracted third-party providers or freelance tutors.

While we implement rigorous security safeguards, no data transmission over the internet or storage system can be guaranteed 100% secure.

08Overseas Data Transfers

We generally store your data within Australia. However, we may use overseas cloud service providers, IT platforms, or communication tools (e.g., international servers for email, hosting, or video conferencing).

Before disclosing personal information to an overseas recipient, we take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient handles that information in accordance with standards comparable to the Australian Privacy Principles, or we will explicitly seek your consent first.

09Your Rights: Access, Correction & Complaints

Access and Correction

You (and your authorized parent/guardian) have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you, and to request corrections if you believe the information is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant, or misleading. We will respond to access or correction requests within a reasonable period (usually within 30 days) and will not charge a fee for making the request.

Complaints Handling

If you believe we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles or mishandled your data, please contact our Privacy Officer at [email protected]. We will investigate your complaint promptly and provide a written response explaining our decision and any remedial action.

If you are not satisfied with our internal resolution, you have the right to escalate the matter to the regulator:

10Cookies, Analytics & Tracking

Our website may use cookies and digital tracking tools to optimize site performance and user experience.

• Cookies track items like browser types, pages visited, and date/time of visits.
• You can configure your browser settings to reject cookies, though some features of our website may function less effectively as a result.
• Data collected via these tools is treated as personal information if it can be used to identify an individual.

11Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme (NDB)

In accordance with the Australian Notifiable Data Breaches scheme under the Privacy Act, if we have reasonable grounds to believe an "eligible data breach" has occurred (unauthorised access, disclosure, or loss of information likely to result in serious harm to any individual), we will:

• Immediately take steps to contain the breach and assess the risk of harm.
• Prepare a formal statement and promptly notify the affected individuals and the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) with details of the breach and recommended steps you should take.

12Policy Transparency & Updates

We review and update our privacy practices and this policy dynamically to reflect current business operations and changes in Australian law. Any revised policy will be published on our website with an updated “Effective Date.”