Your privacy on Discia

This page is for you, the student. It says what Discia keeps about you, who can see it, and what you can do about it. Your parent or carer has a longer version, our privacy policy.

The short version

If you are under 13, or you just want the quick bit, read this.

• Discia is a website for practising maths.
• If you are under 13, your parent or carer set up your account and said yes for you. If you are 13 or over, it is your choice, and we ask you when you first sign in. If you are 13 or over, you can also make your own account with a code your tutor gives you.
• We keep your name, your birthday, the answers you type or draw, and your marks.
• Your parent and your tutor can see your answers and your marks. The Seen by box on your pages shows their names. If you are 13 or over, a parent only sees your work if you say yes.
• We use your answers to pick your next questions. That is our best guess, and your tutor can change it.
• When you play the quick-fire games signed in, we keep your scores and the questions you got wrong, so you can see your scores go up. Your parent and tutor can see them too.
• If we know you are doing the Foundation paper, we only pick practice questions that are on that paper. Your tutor can still set you other ones.
• We never sell what we know about you, and we never show you adverts.
• You can ask us to show you what we keep, fix it, or delete it.

Who are we?

Discia is run by Mashdup Limited, a small company in the UK. When this page says "we", it means us.

What do we keep about you?

• Your name and your username.
• Your date of birth. We use it to check whether you are under 13.
• Your email address, if your account has one.
• Each practice session you do: the questions, the answers you type or draw, your marks, and when you did it. A drawing is saved while you are making it, so we keep it even if you never press submit.
• Which GCSE paper you are doing, Foundation or Higher, if we have been told.
• Who your parent and your tutors are on Discia, and when you added a tutor and they said yes. If you made your own account, the email and birthday you typed when you signed up.
• Monthly reports your tutor may send your parent about how you're doing. You can read them too, on your home page. A report never shows your tutor's marks, only how sure we are about each topic.
• Your scores in the quick-fire games, when you play them signed in: the score, the date, and the questions you got wrong, with their answers. We don't keep what you typed in a game. Game scores never change how sure we are about a topic. If you play a game without signing in, we keep nothing about you: your score just goes into a count with everyone else's, so we can tell you how your round compares.
• When you signed in, so that signing out really signs you out.
• Homework your tutor sets you, and notes your tutor may write after a lesson. The notes are private to your tutor: you and your parents can't read them in the app, but you can ask us for a copy of them, like anything else we keep about you. They are deleted if your account is.
• Whiteboards your tutor uses with you in lessons. They belong to your tutor: only your tutor can open them, and they are deleted if your account is.

Who can see it?

• You.
• Your parent or carer, if they have a Discia account linked to yours. If you are 13 or over, only if you said yes to them.
• Your tutors, if you or your parent added them with their code, or we linked you. Your tutor can also mark your answers.
• The people who run Discia, so they can fix things when they go wrong.

Nobody else can see it. Other students can't see it.

The Seen by box on your home page shows who can see your work. It has a link called See what your parent sees. That opens the same page your parent sees when they look at your work.

What does Discia work out about you?

From your answers, Discia guesses how sure you are on each maths topic. It uses that guess to pick your next question, and to draw the charts you, your parent and your tutor see.

If we know you are doing the Foundation paper, the practice questions Discia picks for you are ones that are on the Foundation paper. Work your tutor sets you is given to you just as they set it.

It is only a guess, and it can be wrong. One bad day does not make you "weak" at something. Your tutor can always choose different questions. The guess is never used to decide anything big about you, like your exams or your school.

Do we share it with anyone?

We don't sell it, we don't use it for adverts, and we don't give it to other companies to use. A few companies run things for us, like the computer that Discia lives on and the place we keep our backup copies. They are only allowed to store it for us. They are not allowed to use it for anything else.

How long do we keep it?

We keep it while your account is open. If you close your account, or your parent asks us to, it is closed straight away and nobody can see it. We delete it 30 days later, and our backup copies of it are gone within 14 days after that.

If nobody uses your account for a whole year, we delete it too. We email your parent 30 days before, and you if we have your email. Signing in keeps it.

What can you do?

• Ask to see what we keep about you.
• Ask us to fix it if something is wrong.
• Ask us to delete it.
• Close your account yourself, if you are 13 or over, on the Your choices page. If you are under 13, ask your parent.
• Add your tutor yourself, if you are 13 or over: type the code they give you on your Your choices page. They can see your work only after you say yes and they accept. You can remove them any time, and your work stays yours. Discia doesn't check tutors — it's OK to ask to see their DBS certificate.
• If your tutor stops being your tutor on Discia, they can't see your work any more, and your work stays yours.
• Stop a parent seeing your work, if you are 13 or over, on the Your choices page. It happens straight away. When you turn 18 it stops by itself.
• Tell us if you are not happy about who can see your work.

You can ask your parent or carer to help, or you can email us yourself at privacy@discia.org. You won't get into trouble for asking. If you are still not happy, a grown-up can help you complain to the ICO, who make sure companies follow the rules about information.

Two things to remember

• Sign out on a shared computer. If you use a computer at school or one your family shares, press Sign out when you finish.
• Answer boxes are for maths. Your parent and your tutor can read what you type there. If something is worrying you, talk to a grown-up you trust, or call Childline free on 0800 1111.