Privacy Policy
Who we are
Configur Academy is run by Orgesa Meli, trading as Configur Academy, based in Twickenham. Sessions run at Patch, 42 York Street, Twickenham TW1 3LJ. Configur Academy is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office as a data protection fee payer. For anything about your information, contact configuracademy@gmail.com or 07414 962803. This policy explains what we collect, why, and what your rights are, in plain English on purpose.
What we collect, and why
When you join a club. Your child's full name, your name and email, and the clubs chosen, so we can set up the membership and hold the place. Payment is collected by Direct Debit through GoCardless, who hold your bank details; we never see or store them.
On the consent form. Your child's date of birth, school and year group, your mobile number, 2 emergency contacts, the adults allowed to collect your child, any medical conditions and dietary requirements, and your choices on snacks and photographs. We ask for medical and dietary information so we can keep your child safe at sessions, and we hold it only with your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time. We cannot admit a child to sessions without a completed consent form, because we would not be able to keep them safe without it.
Emergency contacts and named collectors. You give us these people's names, relationships and phone numbers, so please make sure they are happy for us to hold them. We use their details only to keep your child safe, for example in an emergency or at collection, and they are welcome to contact us about their information at any time.
At the market. Stall applications collect the applicant's name, email and a card payment, processed by Stripe, who hold the card details; we never see them.
Competition entries. The Rise to Lead Young Speakers entry form collects your child's first name, surname and age, whether they are a Rise to Lead member, an optional talk title, and your name, email and phone number, so we can run the final and confirm the place. The entry fee for non-members is paid by card through Stripe, who hold the card details; we never see them.
Waitlist and interest forms. These collect your name, email and the clubs, days or times you are interested in, so we can contact you when places open. Nothing else is done with them.
The newsletter and feedback. The weekly newsletter runs on Beehiiv, and your email is added when you join a club unless you opt out on the consent form, or you can subscribe directly on the site. Every newsletter contains an unsubscribe link. Feedback forms are read by Orgesa and used only to improve the clubs.
Photographs. Only ever according to the choices you make on the consent form, and children are never named publicly. You can change your photo choices at any time by emailing us.
The legal bases
We rely on: our contract with you, for running the membership, sessions and payments; your consent, for photographs and for the extra family members you ask us to send updates to; your explicit consent, for medical and dietary information; our legitimate interests, for keeping registers, holding emergency contact details, replying to enquiries, improving the clubs through feedback, and adding club families to the newsletter on the soft opt-in basis, with an opt-out at joining and in every email; and our legal obligations, for keeping financial records.
Who we share information with
Nobody, for marketing, ever. To run the Academy we use a small number of services who process data on our behalf: GoCardless for Direct Debits, Stripe for card payments, Google for our forms, records and email, Google Analytics for anonymous visitor statistics, only when you accept the optional cookie, Beehiiv for the newsletter, Cloudflare for hosting the website, and WhatsApp for short logistical messages to parents who choose to join the group. If you message us on WhatsApp, including through the Message us button on this site, the conversation happens on WhatsApp under WhatsApp's own terms. Some of these providers are based in the United States; where information leaves the UK it is protected under UK adequacy decisions or the international data transfer safeguards built into those providers' terms, as UK data protection law requires.
How we look after it
Your information is held in password-protected accounts with 2-step verification, is accessible only to Orgesa and, where needed for a session, the coach delivering it, and is never sold or shared for marketing.
How long we keep it
Membership and consent records are kept while your child is a member and for 12 months after they leave, then deleted. Records of any accident, injury or safeguarding concern are the one exception: these are kept until the child turns 21, because the law allows a young person to bring a claim about their childhood until then, and keeping the record protects them as much as us. Financial records are kept for 6 years after the tax year they relate to, because tax law requires it. Photographs are kept only while your consent stands. Feedback is kept for up to 2 years. You can ask for deletion sooner at any time, and we will delete everything we are not legally required to keep.
Your rights
You can ask to see the information we hold about you or your child, correct it, delete it, restrict how we use it, object to our using it, or receive a copy in a portable format to take elsewhere. You can withdraw any consent at any time. To do any of these, email configuracademy@gmail.com and we will respond within 1 month.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, email configuracademy@gmail.com with the word complaint in the subject line. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and respond without undue delay, as the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 requires. If you remain unhappy, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
Children
All information about children is given to us by their parents and carers. The website is written for adults, we never market to children, and no child's details are ever entered into any AI system, which you can read more about on the Configur AI Junior page. We do not use automated decision-making or profiling. Our use of cookies and similar storage is explained on the cookies page.
Orgesa Meli trading as Configur Academy · configuracademy@gmail.com · 07414 962803 · www.configuracademy.com