Privacy Policy

Last updated: 13 October 2026

Siembamba Kleuterskool (“Siembamba”, “the school”, “we”, “us” or “our”) is a pre-school in Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) that cares for and teaches young children from toddler age to Grade R. Families trust us with information about their children and themselves, and we take that responsibility seriously.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use, share and protect it, and what rights you have. It is written to comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”) and applies to information we receive through enrolment, our daily operations, our communication channels and this website.

1. Who we are and who to contact

For the purposes of POPIA, Siembamba Kleuterskool is the responsible party for the personal information described in this policy.

• Name: Siembamba Kleuterskool 
• Physical address: 40 Luneville Road, Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) 
• Email: siembambapreschool@gmail.com
• Telephone: 076 586 0811

2. Personal information we collect

We only collect information that we need to enrol, care for and educate your child and to run the school. Depending on your relationship with us, this may include:

About your child

• Full name, preferred name, date of birth and home language
• A copy of the birth certificate or ID document
• Enrolment details such as class group, starting date, attendance times and the primary school and language of instruction you plan for Grade 1
• Health information, including immunisation records, chronic illnesses, medication, allergies (including food allergies), emergency medicine permissions, family doctor details and medical aid details
• Care and development information, such as toilet-training stage and notes about wellbeing, development and behaviour recorded in the communication book
• Your choice on whether your child may attend Bible lessons
• Photographs and video recordings (see section 6)

About parents and guardians

• Names, ID numbers and copies of ID documents
• Home address, work address, cell phone numbers and email addresses
• Home language, marital status, occupation and employer
• Information about any court interdicts relevant to the collection or safety of your child
• Fee and payment information, such as proof-of-payment records and account history
• Signatures on the enrolment form and school contract
• How you heard about Siembamba and why you chose us

About other people

• People authorised to collect your child or to be contacted in an emergency: full name, cell number and the vehicle they will use; their ID document is checked at collection
• Visitors to our premises, and anyone captured by our CCTV system (see section 7)

Website visitors

Our website does not contain an online enquiry or application form. If you contact us by email, phone or WhatsApp, we receive the details you choose to share. See section 12 for information about cookies and third-party services on this website.

3. Children’s information and special personal information

Most of the information we hold relates to children under 18. POPIA only allows us to process a child’s personal information with the consent of a competent person (normally a parent or legal guardian) or where another lawful ground applies. We therefore collect children’s information from, and with the consent of, their parents or guardians.

Some information we hold is “special personal information” under POPIA, namely:

• Health information, such as allergies, chronic illness, medication and immunisation records, which we need to keep your child safe and to act in an emergency;
• Religious beliefs, reflected in your choice about Bible lessons, as we follow a Christian ethos; and
• Information about legal proceedings, such as court interdicts, which we need to protect your child.

We process this information only with your consent or where POPIA otherwise allows it, and we limit access to the staff who need it.

4. How we collect your information

• Directly from you when you complete the application form and sign the school contract
• From the documents you provide, such as ID documents, birth certificates and immunisation records
• Through day-to-day contact, including the communication book, phone calls, emails, WhatsApp messages and meetings
• From our staff’s observations while caring for and teaching your child
• Through photographs, video and our CCTV system
• From your payment records and proof-of-payment notifications

5. Why we use your information

We use personal information to:

• assess and process applications and enrol children;
• care for, supervise, teach and support each child’s development;
• protect children’s health and safety, including administering first aid and permitted medicine, handling allergies and acting in medical emergencies;
• make sure children are only released to authorised people;
• communicate with parents about their child, school events, notices and emergencies;
• manage school fees, payments and holiday-care bookings;
• keep our premises safe and secure;
• comply with our legal and regulatory obligations; and
• understand how families find us, so that we can improve our school.

Our lawful grounds

We process personal information on one or more of the grounds allowed by section 11 of POPIA: your consent; the need to conclude and perform our contract with you; compliance with legal obligations; protecting the legitimate interests of your child; and our legitimate interests in running a safe and well-managed school.

6. Photographs, videos, WhatsApp and Facebook

We take photos and videos of children in the classroom and on the playground. With your permission, given on the school contract, we:

• share them with parents in our class WhatsApp groups so you can be part of your child’s day; and
• publish some of them on our Facebook page, “Siembamba Kleuterskool”.

We use a school WhatsApp group as our main channel for notices, reminders, newsletters and emergency messages. Messages and photos shared in these groups are visible to other parents in the group.

You may withdraw your permission for photos at any time by contacting us. Withdrawal applies from then on; we will remove photos from our Facebook page on request, but we cannot recall images that other parents have already saved.

We ask parents not to photograph other people’s children at the school without permission.

Unless otherwise stated, all photographs, images and graphics on this website are the property of Siembamba Kleuterskool and may not be copied, reproduced or used without written permission.

7. CCTV and on-site safety

For the safety of children, staff and visitors, our premises are monitored by security cameras, and our boundary walls and entrances are also monitored. Parents are informed of this monitoring in the school contract.

To protect the privacy of all children, footage is only made available in the case of serious problems or injuries, or when required by a court order or by law.

8. When we share information

We do not sell personal information. We only share it where necessary and lawful, for example with:

• doctors, hospitals and emergency services when your child needs medical help;
• the people you have authorised to collect your child or to be contacted in an emergency;
• our bank, to process fee payments;
• service providers we use to communicate and operate, such as email, WhatsApp, Facebook and website hosting providers;
• government departments, law enforcement or courts where the law requires it or where it is needed to protect a child; and
• professional advisers, such as auditors or attorneys, under a duty of confidentiality.

9. Information stored or processed outside South Africa

Some of the services we use, such as Gmail, WhatsApp and Facebook, are operated by international companies whose servers may be outside South Africa. Where personal information is transferred across borders in this way, we rely on the protections allowed by section 72 of POPIA, such as the recipient being subject to adequate data protection laws or agreements, or the transfer being necessary for our contract with you.

10. How we protect your information

We take appropriate and reasonable technical and organisational measures to prevent loss of, damage to, or unauthorised access to personal information, as required by section 19 of POPIA. Access to children’s records is limited to staff who need it to do their work.

If we believe that personal information has been accessed or acquired by an unauthorised person, we will notify the Information Regulator and the affected people as required by POPIA.

11. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the purposes described in this policy, or for as long as the law requires, for example for tax and financial records. When it is no longer needed, we destroy, delete or de-identify it securely.

12. Our website, cookies and third-party services

Our website is mainly informational. It does not have an online application or contact form; the application form is a downloadable document.

Like most WordPress websites, our site may use cookies that are needed for it to work, for example for logged-in administrators. Some pages load content from third parties, which may receive your device’s IP address and may set their own cookies:

• Google Fonts, used to display the website’s typography;
• Google Maps, embedded on our Contact page; and
• links to our Facebook page and WhatsApp, which, when you follow them, are governed by those providers’ own privacy policies.

13. Your rights

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• know whether we hold personal information about you or your child, and request access to it;
• ask us to correct, update or delete information that is inaccurate, out of date, excessive or unlawfully obtained;
• object to the processing of your information on reasonable grounds, where processing is based on legitimate interests;
• withdraw your consent at any time, for example for photographs or Facebook posts, without affecting processing that took place before you withdrew it;
• not receive direct marketing without your consent; and
• lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details below. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request. Requests for access to records are handled in line with the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA).

14. Complaints

If you have a concern about how we handle personal information, please contact us first so that we can try to resolve it.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa). Current contact details and complaint forms are available on the Regulator’s website: inforegulator.org.za.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example when our practices or the law change. The latest version will always be published on this page with the date it was last updated. Where changes are significant, we will also inform parents through our usual communication channels.

16. Contact us

For questions about this policy or your personal information, please contact:

• Email: siembambapreschool@gmail.com
• Telephone: 076 586 0811
• Address: 40 Luneville Road, Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha)