Privacy policy

1. Who is responsible

Varcombe Ventures Limited (company no. 17394715, registered office 82a James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St Edmunds IP28 7DE) is the controller of personal data collected through SchoolFacts. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). For any privacy question, or to exercise your rights, contact info@varcombeventures.com.

2. What we collect

We keep the amount of personal data to a minimum:

• Account details: your email address and a password, which is stored only as a secure hash by our authentication provider, never as plain text.
• Purchase status: whether you hold an active season pass, its expiry, and a customer reference from our payment provider. We never see or store your card details.
• Information you enter into tools: for example a postcode you type into the odds or address-check tool, which is sent to a postcode-lookup service to find its approximate location.
• Technical data: standard server and security logs (such as IP address and request details) generated when you use the site.
• On-device data: your shortlist and some preferences are stored in your browser's local storage and stay on your device; we do not receive them.

3. Why we use it, and our lawful basis

• To provide your account and premium features, and to take payment: performance of our contract with you.
• To keep the service secure, working and improving: our legitimate interests in running a safe, reliable service.
• Where we ask for your consent (for example for any non-essential cookies), we rely on that consent, which you can withdraw at any time.

4. Who processes it for us

We use a small number of trusted providers who process data on our behalf under contract:

• Supabase: account, authentication and database hosting (EU / London region).
• Stripe: payment processing. Stripe collects your card details directly; we receive only a confirmation and a customer reference.
• Netlify: website hosting and delivery.
• postcodes.io: turning a postcode you enter into an approximate location.
• OpenFreeMap: supplying the map tiles shown on the map page.
• Plausible Analytics: privacy-friendly, cookieless visitor statistics (EU-hosted). It does not use cookies, does not collect personal data, and does not store your IP address.

Some providers may process data outside the UK; where they do, appropriate safeguards (such as UK or EU approved transfer mechanisms) apply. We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

5. Cookies, local storage and analytics

SchoolFacts does not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. We use only strictly necessary storage to keep you signed in and to remember functional preferences and your shortlist (held in your browser).

For visitor statistics we use Plausible Analytics, a privacy-friendly tool that counts page views and aggregate usage without cookies and without collecting personal data or storing IP addresses. Because it holds nothing that identifies you, there is no consent banner and nothing to withdraw; if you prefer, you can still block it with any browser content blocker.

6. How long we keep it

We keep account and purchase records while you have an account and for a reasonable period afterwards to meet legal, accounting and fraud-prevention obligations, then delete or anonymise them. Server logs are kept for a short period. You can ask us to close your account at any time.

7. Your rights

You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or erased, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to receive it in a portable form. To exercise any of these, email info@varcombeventures.com. If you are unhappy with how we handle your data you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk), though we would appreciate the chance to put things right first.

8. Children

SchoolFacts is aimed at parents, carers and other adults researching schools. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children.

9. Changes

We may update this policy; the "last updated" date above shows when. Significant changes will be highlighted on the site.