Privacy Policy

Phonics to Physics ("we", "I", Chris) is committed to protecting your privacy and that of your child. This policy explains what personal data we collect, why, who we share it with, and your rights under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Who we are

Phonics to Physics is a sole-trader tutoring service based in the UK and is the data controller for your information. For any privacy question or request, contact hello@phonicstophysics.com.

What we collect

• Enquiries:parent/guardian name, email, optional phone number, the child's year group, subjects of interest and your message.
• Account & children: your name, email and phone; and for each child, the minimum needed to tutor them — typically a first name and year group.
• Learning data: lesson bookings, learning targets, homework and progress, and messages you exchange with Chris in the portal.
• Payments & lesson credits: a record of purchases, lesson-credit balances and bookings. Card payments are processed entirely by Stripe — we never see or store your card details, only a reference to your Stripe customer and payment.
• Bootcamp bookings: the name, email and phone provided at checkout, and your booking/payment reference.
• Technical: a secure sign-in cookie to keep you logged in, and basic server logs (for security and to keep the site running).

How we use it & our lawful bases

• To reply to your enquiry — legitimate interests.
• To provide tutoring, run your account, take payment and manage bookings — contract.
• To send service emails (confirmations, reminders, messages, receipts) — contract / legitimate interests.
• To keep the service secure and prevent spam and fraud — legitimate interests.
• Where the law requires consent, we'll ask for it first.

We do not use your data for advertising, and we do not sell it. We don't send marketing emails without your consent.

Who we share it with

We use a small number of trusted providers to run the service. They only process data on our instructions:

• Supabase— secure database & sign-in (stores account, children, lessons and messages).
• Stripe — payment processing (card details go directly to Stripe).
• Cal.com — lesson scheduling and booking.
• Vercel — website hosting.
• Namecheap Private Email — sending our emails.
• hCaptcha — anti-spam checks on the contact form.

Some providers are based outside the UK/EEA. Where data is transferred internationally, it is protected by appropriate safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Standard Contractual Clauses.

Cookies

We only use essential cookies — a secure, http-only cookie that keeps you signed in to the portal. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies, so there's no cookie banner to click through.

Children's data

The account holder is always an adult (parent/guardian). We hold only minimal information about children (typically a first name, year group, their targets and homework), it is never shown publicly, and messaging is between the parent and Chris only. See also our safeguarding statement.

How long we keep it

Enquiries that don't become clients are deleted within 12 months. Account and learning records are kept while you're a client and for a reasonable period afterwards. Payment records are kept for at least 6 years to meet UK tax and accounting rules.

Your rights

You can ask to access, correct, delete or export your data, or object to or restrict its use. Email hello@phonicstophysics.comand we'll respond within one month. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).

Changes

We may update this policy from time to time; the latest version is always published here.