Privacy policy

Who we are

Avantus is a service of SDG Services Pty Ltd (ACN 664 897 429). It turns a school's own assessment marks into projections of HSC marks and ATAR outcomes. This policy explains how we handle personal information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Contact our Privacy Officer, Scott Gilbert, SDG Services Pty Ltd, by email at hello@avantus.com.au.

When a school uses Avantus, we handle the school's data on its behalf. The school decides what is in Avantus and who can see it.

What we collect

• Students: name, year group, house, subjects, assessment marks and ranks, earlier results (including NAPLAN) as percentiles and bands, the projections Avantus calculates (including a dated copy of each Year 12 student's projections kept from before HSC results are released, so the school can compare them with the results), the ATAR the school holds for the student, with how the school came to hold it (shared through UAC or given by the student with their consent) and the date, goals they set, Year 10 subject choices, vocational course progress, and how often they use Avantus. Also any groupings the school chooses to send, which can include sensitive information such as an EAL/D or equity group.
• Year 10 interests questionnaire, where the school switches it on (off by default): the student's answers to 60 activities and the results worked out from them. The careers adviser, VET coordinator, principal and deputy see the results, including the activities the student said they would like most, but not every answer. The answers are deleted three years after the questionnaire; the six area scores and a summary of them (how many activities in each area the student liked, how many they were unsure about, and the overall pattern) are kept with the student's record. A student or their family can ask the school to remove them at any time. Results of an earlier interest sort are kept with the record. Where the questionnaire is done in a supervised session: answers saved page by page so the student can carry on (deleted when they finish, or 30 days after the catch-up window closes), progress (started, finished, when last active) that the supervising teacher sees without any answers or results, and the student's "About you" answers (what they might do after school, subjects they enjoy and feel confident in, what matters most to them in a job, and any career ideas they write, at most 300 characters), seen by the same staff and never by other students; the written ideas are deleted three years after they were given.
• Abstract reasoning puzzles (a pilot), where the school switches it on (off by default): which answer the student chose for each puzzle, whether it was correct, and how long each puzzle took. Only school staff see the analysis, and it is never used to make suggestions to the student.
• Earlier students: their results, Year 9 NAPLAN percentile, ATAR and the projections kept for them before their results, used to calibrate and check projections. Names are removed and the student number is replaced with a code. This data is pseudonymised, not anonymous, so we treat it as personal information.
• Parents and carers: name, email address, and the student they are linked to.
• School staff: name, email address, role, faculty and classes.
• Everyone who signs in: when they signed in, the network address and browser used, and a record of which student records they opened and changed.
• People who contact us: details you give us when you make an enquiry or email us.
• People invited to our demonstration: if Scott invites you to try our demonstration, we hold your name, email and school (with the pages you visit in it), and your demo access ends on the date we set.
• School staff we may write to: name, role, school and work email address.

How we collect and hold it

We collect it from the school (from its student information system or a file it uploads), from the school's Microsoft or Google sign-in, from you when you use Avantus or contact us, and, for school staff we may write to, from public sources such as school websites. We hold it electronically. School data and our contacts system are stored in Sydney, Australia.

We take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, loss and unauthorised access. Inside a school, access follows the roles the school sets, and each school's data is kept separate from every other school's.

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for these purposes, then delete or de-identify it. Backup copies are deleted within 98 days.

A copy of the projections made before HSC results is kept for six HSC years, then deleted.

A class that has finished Year 12 keeps its names until the end of February after its HSC year. Then we de-identify its records.

Why we collect, use and disclose it

• To provide Avantus to the school: to show each person what their role allows, to calculate projections from the school's own past cohorts, and to send notices.
• To show the school's own staff how its students' results compared with the projections made before results were released, and to check and improve how projections are calculated. ATARs are shown only to the school's staff, never published by Avantus, and not combined with other schools' data unless the school agrees.
• To keep the service secure.
• To reply to enquiries and to run the demonstration for people we invite.
• To introduce Avantus to school staff by email. To stop receiving these emails, reply to one or write to us, and we will stop.

Projections are statistical estimates; staff and students use them as one input, and no decision about a student is made by the system alone.

We disclose personal information to the services that run Avantus for us (those that handle school data are listed at avantus.com.au/subprocessors) and to the overseas services below, and otherwise only where the law requires it or the Australian Privacy Principles allow it. We do not sell personal information, and we never use student information for advertising or marketing.

Information that leaves Australia

School and student data is stored, processed and decrypted only in Australia. Some other personal information is handled outside Australia:

• Google, in the United States and elsewhere, holds our company email, including messages sent to us, and counts visits to our public marketing pages (Google Analytics).
• Anthropic, in the United States, receives a school's public information and a staff contact's name and role when we use it to help draft emails to schools. It never receives student information.

Seeing and correcting your information

You can ask to see or correct the personal information we hold about you, free of charge. For school data, please ask your school first, because the school is in charge of it. You can also write to us, and we will work with your school. If we refuse a request, we will tell you why in writing and how to complain.

Complaints

Email our Privacy Officer at hello@avantus.com.au. We will look into your complaint and reply in writing within 30 days. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.

Changes

We update this policy when our practices change. The version is shown below, and signed-in users are asked to acknowledge it whenever we make a material change.