This page has two parts. The first part is written for the child using ShamBits Academy, in plain, friendly language. The second part is a short explanatory note for the parent or guardian who manages the account. This is not simply a shortened copy of our Main Privacy Notice — it's written from scratch to explain things the way we'd want a young learner to actually understand them.

Part 1 — For you, the learner

Hi! Welcome to ShamBits Academy.

This page tells you what we know about you when you use ShamBits Academy, and why.

What is ShamBits Academy?

It's a place where you can have online lessons with a teacher, one-on-one, over video call — a bit like a video chat, but for learning.

Who set up my account?

Your parent or guardian did. They created your profile and they're the one who manages it — you don't have your own separate login to sign in with. If you ever want to change something about your profile, ask them, and they can update it or reach out to us.

What do we know about you?

Things like your name, your age, what language you speak, what you're learning, and the lessons you have booked. If your parent added a photo of you, we have that too. We also keep track of things that happen while you're learning, like when your lessons happened and what you and your teacher covered.

Why does my teacher need to know some of this?

So they can plan a lesson that's right for you — the right level, the right topic, and (if your parent asked for it) a teacher of a particular gender.

What about video and audio during my lesson?

Your teacher can see and hear you during the lesson, just like on any video call, so they can teach you properly.

Are lessons recorded?

Lessons are normally recorded. This isn't because we don't trust you or your teacher — it's so that a grown-up at ShamBits can check a lesson if there's ever a question about what happened, and to help keep everyone safe. Recordings are only looked at by ShamBits staff when there's a good reason to, and we don't keep them forever — we delete them after a little while (no more than 30 days). Every now and then, a lesson might not get recorded properly because of a technical problem — that's rare, and if it happens, your lesson still carries on as normal.

What about the chat messages during a lesson?

If you or your teacher type messages in the lesson chat, we keep those too, for the same safety reasons as the recording.

Does my teacher write anything about my lesson?

Yes — after each lesson, your teacher writes a short note about what you learned, which your parent can read.

Who can see my information?

Your teacher can see what they need to teach you — but they can't see any lesson recordings; only a small number of trusted people who work at ShamBits can look at those, and only if they need to. Those same trusted staff can see your other information too if they need to — for example, to help with a question your parent asks, or to keep everyone safe. We don't show your information to other students, and we don't sell it to anyone or use it for adverts.

Could my teacher be in a different country?

Yes, teachers can be based in different countries. Wherever your teacher is, we only let them start teaching real students once we've checked that country meets our rules for keeping your information safe.

What if something feels wrong?

If anything during a lesson — or anywhere on ShamBits — makes you feel unsafe, uncomfortable, or worried, tell your parent or guardian straight away. They can contact us, or you can ask them to help you do it. You won't be in trouble for speaking up.

What if I or my parent have questions?

Your parent can email us any time at hello@shambits.com — about anything, including asking to see what information we have about you, or asking us to change or delete it.

Part 2 — A note for parents and guardians

This section explains, in a bit more detail, how we handle your child's personal data, since you're the one managing their account and exercising their privacy rights on their behalf.

Who's responsible for your child's information: Shambits LTD (company number 14700340, 86-90 Paul Street, London, EC2A 4NE) is the data controller. Contact us at hello@shambits.com.

What you provide, and what we separately collect as your child uses the service: when you set up your child's profile, you provide their name, date of birth, gender, relationship to you, country, time zone, native language, learning goals, and (optionally) a photo. Separately, as your child then uses the service, we collect information generated by that use: lesson schedule and attendance, lesson recordings and chat, lesson reports, and private feedback. We use all of this to deliver, personalise, and safeguard the tutoring service, and to assign a suitable teacher (including using your recorded gender preference/requirement and your child's age).

Recording: lessons are configured to be recorded, for safeguarding, quality, and dispute-review purposes, as a standard part of how the service is delivered — not something you or your child opt in or out of per lesson. Recordings that are successfully created are accessible only to authorised ShamBits administrators — never the teacher — and are kept for up to 30 days before permanent deletion. Occasionally a technical failure means a lesson isn't successfully recorded, or a recording stops partway through; the lesson still goes ahead as normal when this happens. Full detail is in our Main Privacy Notice and our Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy.

Overseas teachers: teachers may be based outside the United Kingdom. We only allow a teacher based outside the UK to access live student data once we've completed an internal compliance review of their country and put an appropriate safeguard in place — see our Main Privacy Notice for detail. Teachers never have access to lesson recordings regardless of where they're based.

Your rights on your child's behalf: as the account owner, you can ask us to give you access to, correct, or delete your child's information, or to restrict or object to how we use it, by contacting hello@shambits.com. We aim to respond within one calendar month, subject to any extension the law allows for complex or numerous requests. Because your child doesn't have their own login, you exercise these rights on their behalf.

Legal basis, in short: we rely mainly on the fact that processing your child's data is necessary to provide the tutoring service you've asked for, and on our legitimate interest in keeping children safe during one-to-one online lessons.

For full detail, see our Main Privacy Notice and our Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy.