Privacy Notice
McFRY Education Consultancy
Last updated: September 2026
1. Who I am
McFRY Education Consultancy provides independent education consultancy services to families seeking advice and support with school choice, including independent and boarding school searches and placements.
McFRY Education Consultancy is responsible for deciding how and why your personal information is used. For the purposes of UK data protection law, McFRY Education Consultancy is the data controller.
You can contact me at:
2. Information I may collect
The information I collect will depend on the support you ask me to provide. It may include:
your name and contact details;
information about your child, including their name, age, current school and school year;
your family's requirements, circumstances and preferences relating to school choice;
information about prospective schools, applications, visits, offers and placements;
information relevant to boarding, travel, Armed Forces mobility or Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA);
correspondence between you, McFRY and, where appropriate, schools or other relevant organisations;
information you choose to provide about your child's educational, pastoral or additional needs.
Where relevant to finding suitable educational provision, you may also choose to provide information about your child's health, disability, neurodivergence or other needs. Some of this may be classed as special category personal data and receives additional protection under data protection law.
I will only ask for information that is relevant to the service I am providing.
3. How I collect information
I may collect personal information:
directly from you through the McFRY website, email, telephone calls, meetings or other correspondence;
through documents or information you choose to provide;
from schools or other education professionals where this is necessary to provide the service and appropriate permission has been given; and
from publicly available sources where relevant to researching schools and educational options.
4. How I use your information
I may use personal information to:
respond to enquiries and arrange discovery calls;
understand your child and family's requirements;
research and assess potential schools;
provide school search, placement, consultation or second-opinion services;
communicate with schools on your behalf;
support school enquiries, visits, applications, offers and placements;
maintain appropriate records of the advice and services provided;
manage fees, invoicing and any school placement or introduction fees;
comply with legal, regulatory, safeguarding or insurance requirements; and
operate and improve McFRY Education Consultancy.
I do not sell personal information.
5. My lawful basis for using personal information
Under UK data protection law, I must have a lawful basis for using personal information.
Depending on the circumstances, I may rely on:
Contract – where processing is necessary to provide services you have asked for, to take steps at your request before entering into an agreement, or to fulfil an agreement with you.
Legitimate interests – where it is necessary for the reasonable operation of McFRY Education Consultancy, for example maintaining appropriate business records, responding to enquiries and managing professional relationships, provided those interests do not override your rights and interests.
Legal obligation – where I need to process information to comply with the law.
Consent – where you have given specific consent for a particular use of your information.
The ICO confirms that contract can cover processing needed when somebody asks a business to take steps before entering into a contract, such as providing a requested service or quotation. Legitimate interests can also be appropriate where processing is reasonably expected and has limited privacy impact, but the business must balance its interests against the person's rights.
6. Special category information
Information about health, disability and certain other personal characteristics may be classed as special category data.
Where you choose to provide special category information that is relevant to the educational advice or service you are asking McFRY to provide, I will normally rely on your explicit consent to process that information.
You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting hello@mcfryeducation.co.uk. Withdrawal of consent will not affect processing that has already taken place lawfully, but it may affect my ability to provide some services where that information is necessary to assess suitable educational provision.
The ICO identifies explicit consent as one of the permitted Article 9 conditions for processing special-category information.
7. Information about children
Much of McFRY's work involves children and young people. I take particular care with their personal information and only use information that is relevant to providing the requested education consultancy service.
Parents or those with parental responsibility will usually provide information about a child. Where appropriate, I will also take account of the child's age, understanding and views.
Personal information about children will not be used for unrelated purposes.
8. Sharing information
Where necessary to provide the service you have requested, I may share relevant information with:
schools and their admissions or relevant pastoral, academic or SEND staff;
education professionals or other organisations involved in an agreed school search or application;
professional advisers such as accountants, insurers or legal advisers where necessary;
service providers used to operate McFRY, such as website, email, cloud-storage or administrative systems; and
regulators, authorities or other organisations where disclosure is required by law or necessary for safeguarding.
I will only share information that is reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.
9. School placement and introduction fees
Some schools may pay McFRY Education Consultancy a placement or introduction fee when a family introduced by McFRY subsequently joins the school.
Where this applies, I will be transparent with you. Whether a school pays McFRY a fee does not determine whether it is considered or recommended.
Information relating to a placement will only be shared where necessary to manage the introduction, application or placement and any associated fee.
10. How long I keep information
I will not keep personal information for longer than is reasonably necessary.
How long information is retained will depend on why it was collected, the nature of the service provided, whether a family becomes a client, and any legal, accounting, insurance or safeguarding requirements that apply.
Enquiries that do not lead to an ongoing client relationship will normally be deleted when they are no longer reasonably required.
Client records may be retained for an appropriate period after the work has ended where necessary for legal, professional, insurance or record-keeping purposes.
The ICO requires privacy information to explain either the retention period or the criteria used to determine it.
11. Keeping your information secure
I take reasonable organisational and technical measures to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure.
I use reputable service providers and restrict access to personal information to those who need it for legitimate business purposes.
12. Website and service providers
The McFRY website is hosted using Squarespace. Other reputable technology providers may also be used for email, document storage, communications and administration.
Some technology providers may process information outside the United Kingdom. Where personal information is transferred internationally, I will rely on appropriate safeguards or other lawful transfer mechanisms required by UK data protection law.
13. Cookies
The McFRY website may use cookies and similar technologies necessary for the website to function and, where enabled, to understand how visitors use the site.
Further information is available in the Cookie Policy.
14. Your data protection rights
Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis being used, you may have rights including the right to:
ask for a copy of the personal information held about you;
ask for inaccurate information to be corrected;
ask for information to be deleted in certain circumstances;
ask for the use of your information to be restricted;
object to certain uses of your information;
receive certain information in a portable format; and
withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
These rights are not absolute and may depend on the circumstances and the lawful basis for processing.
To exercise any of these rights, contact:
15. Complaints
If you have concerns about how McFRY Education Consultancy handles your personal information, please contact me first so that I can try to resolve them.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator.
16. Changes to this Privacy Notice
I may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes in the services McFRY provides, the technology I use or applicable legal requirements.
The latest version will always be published on this website with the date it was last updated.
Questions about your data?
If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or how McFRY Education Consultancy uses your personal information, please contact: