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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 25 August 2026

This policy explains what Penny collects about you and your family, why, and what rights you have over it. We've tried to write it the way we'd want to read it ourselves - if anything is unclear, tell us and we'll fix the wording.

Who's responsible for your data

Penny is provided by TODO: controller legal name, of TODO: registered address ("we", "us"). We are the data controller for the information described below. You can reach us about anything privacy-related at TODO: contact email.

What we collect

• Your Google account identifiers - a stable internal reference to your Google account (not your Google password, which we never see) and the email address attached to it.
• Contact details - the email and phone number you give us on the sign-up form, and anything you tell us while your access request is pending.
• Your children's details - a first name or nickname, school, year group and class, as you enter them when registering a child.
• What you ask Penny - your questions and Penny's answers, kept as your conversation history.
• School documents - letters, newsletters and term dates your school (or you, on WhatsApp previously) has shared, which Penny uses to answer questions.
• Basic technical logs - standard web request logs (IP address, timestamps) kept briefly for security and abuse prevention.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

• To provide the service you asked for - answering questions and keeping track of registered children (lawful basis: performance of a contract with you, or your consent where no contract exists yet, e.g. while an access request is pending).
• To keep the beta small and safe - approving access requests one at a time (legitimate interest in controlling a small beta responsibly).
• To contact you about your request - only where you've ticked the consent box on the sign-up form (consent).
• To keep the service secure and working - technical logs, abuse prevention (legitimate interest).

Children's data

Penny stores a first name or nickname, school, year and class for each registered child - never a full name, date of birth, or any other identifying detail, and we ask parents to keep it that way. A child does not use Penny themselves; every account belongs to and is controlled by a parent. We don't knowingly collect any information directly from a child.

Who we share it with

We don't sell your data or share it for marketing. It passes through a small number of service providers who help us run Penny, each only seeing what they need to do their job:

• Google - for signing in with your Google account.
• Cloudflare - for routing traffic to our server securely and filtering spam/abuse on the sign-up form.
• AI model providers (currently Google Gemini and Cerebras) - process your question and the relevant school documents to generate an answer. They do not receive your name, email or phone number.

Nothing you tell Penny, and nothing about your family, is ever shared with your school or with another family using Penny.

How long we keep it

• Conversation history fades to a short summary after around 6 months, rather than being kept in full indefinitely.
• Registered children stay on your profile until you remove them yourself, or until your account is closed.
• Waitlist submissions that are never approved are kept for a reasonable period to prevent abuse, then deleted.
• Technical logs are kept briefly and then rotated out automatically.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you have the right to:

• ask what data we hold about you and get a copy of it;
• ask us to correct anything inaccurate;
• ask us to delete your data (we don't yet have a self-serve button for this - see the guide's FAQ - but we'll action a request manually);
• object to, or ask us to restrict, certain uses of your data;
• withdraw consent at any time where we're relying on it;
• complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you think we've got something wrong - we'd genuinely rather you told us first, though.

Our ICO registration number is TODO: ICO registration number.

Security

Access to the admin console and to your family's data is restricted and logged. Passwords are never stored by us at all - sign-in is entirely through Google. We keep our systems patched and monitored, but as with any young beta, please don't share anything highly sensitive (medical details, safeguarding concerns, financial information) through Penny - see the guide's own note on this under before you start.

Changes to this policy

If we make a material change, we'll update the date at the top of this page and, where practical, let approved families know directly.

Contact us

Questions about this policy, or a request relating to your data: TODO: contact email.