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Santa Cecilia Youth Symphony Orchestra respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal information of our students, parents, guardians, volunteers, donors, sponsors, partners, staff, and website visitors.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal information through our website, registration forms, programme communications, events, fundraising activities, and other official Santa Cecilia activities.

For the purpose of this policy, “Santa Cecilia,” “we,” “our,” or “us” refers to Continental Children & Youth Choir Symphonic Orchestra Santa Cecilia Ventt, operating publicly as Santa Cecilia Youth Symphony Orchestra in Trinidad and Tobago.

Santa Cecilia aims to handle personal information responsibly, transparently, and only for clear educational, safeguarding, administrative, communication, reporting, and organisational purposes.

1. Information We Collect

We may collect personal information when you:

• Visit or use our website.

• Complete a student registration form.

• Register for programmes, camps, workshops, rehearsals, or events.

• Contact us by email, website form, social media, or other official communication channels.

• Donate, sponsor, volunteer, or partner with us.

• Give consent for photos, videos, testimonials, student stories, or event participation.

The information we may collect includes:

• Name of student, parent, guardian, donor, volunteer, or contact person.

• Date of birth or age of student.

• Parent or guardian contact details.

• Email address and general home/community location.

• Emergency contact information.

• Relevant medical, allergy, accessibility, disability, or safeguarding notes.

• School, musical experience, instrument interest, attendance, and participation information.

• Programme registration details and consent forms.

• Photos, videos, audio recordings, testimonials, and performance documentation, where consent has been given.

• Donation, sponsorship, contribution, or payment-related information.

• Website usage information, such as pages visited, browser type, device type, and general analytics data.

We only collect information that is necessary for our educational, administrative, safeguarding, communication, fundraising, reporting, and organisational purposes.

2. Information About Children and Young People

Santa Cecilia works with children and young people. Because of this, we take additional care when collecting and using information related to minors.

For students under 18 years old, we require information to be provided by a parent or legal guardian, or with parent/guardian consent. This may include student registration details, emergency contact information, medical notes, accessibility needs, permission to participate, and media consent.

We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children without appropriate parent or guardian involvement.

Medical, safeguarding, emergency, and accessibility information will only be accessed by authorised persons who need it for student safety, supervision, accessibility support, safeguarding, or emergency response.

3. How We Use Personal Information

We may use personal information to:

• Register students for Santa Cecilia programmes, camps, rehearsals, workshops, and events.

• Communicate with parents, guardians, students, volunteers, donors, sponsors, and partners.

• Manage attendance, student progress, class placement, rehearsals, performances, and programme participation.

• Support student safety, supervision, emergency response, accessibility, and safeguarding.

• Provide music education, ensemble training, choir activities, and related programming.

• Organise concerts, recitals, community events, family engagement activities, and student showcases.

• Share updates about programme schedules, changes, opportunities, and events.

• Prepare internal reports, attendance summaries, impact reports, and funding reports.

• Process donations, sponsorships, programme contributions, volunteer interest, and partnership enquiries.

• Improve our website, communications, registration systems, and programme planning.

• Promote Santa Cecilia’s work through authorised photos, videos, testimonials, and stories, where consent has been granted.

• Meet legal, administrative, accounting, safeguarding, insurance, or reporting requirements.

We do not sell personal information.

4. Photos, Videos, Audio, and Student Stories

Santa Cecilia may take photos, videos, audio recordings, or written testimonials during rehearsals, classes, camps, performances, recitals, and community events.

These materials may be used for:

• Website content.

• Social media posts.

• Reports to donors, sponsors, funders, partners, or community stakeholders.

• Promotional materials.

• Funding proposals.

• Programme documentation.

• Internal training, monitoring, and evaluation.

We will only use identifiable images, videos, recordings, or student stories of minors where parent or guardian consent has been given.

Parents and guardians may choose not to give media consent. Refusing media consent will not affect a student’s ability to participate in Santa Cecilia programmes.

We will avoid publishing full names, home locations, school details, migration status, medical information, financial need, family circumstances, or personal safeguarding details of minors in public materials.

Consent may be withdrawn by contacting us using the details listed in this policy. Please note that materials already printed, published, or shared before withdrawal may not always be fully removable, but we will make reasonable efforts to stop future use.

5. Donors, Sponsors, Funders, and Programme Reporting

Santa Cecilia may prepare reports, updates, proposals, presentations, or promotional materials for donors, sponsors, funders, partners, and community stakeholders.

Donors, sponsors, and funders will generally receive aggregated or anonymised programme information, such as student numbers, attendance, activities delivered, general outcomes, programme needs, and overall impact.

Identifiable student information, images, videos, testimonials, or personal stories will only be shared with specific parent/guardian consent.

Santa Cecilia will not share sensitive student information, including medical notes, safeguarding details, home addresses, migration status, or private family circumstances, with donors, sponsors, or funders for promotional purposes.

6. Digital Platforms, Online Forms, and Social Media

Santa Cecilia may use digital tools and platforms to support registration, communication, storage, reporting, payment processing, website management, and programme promotion. These may include email, online forms, cloud storage, website tools, social media platforms, payment systems, and other digital services.

Some of these services may store or process information outside Trinidad and Tobago. When we use these services, we aim to choose reputable providers and take reasonable steps to protect personal information.

Santa Cecilia will seek parent or guardian consent for the use of digital platforms where student personal information, student media, or programme documentation involving minors is collected, stored, or shared.

Registration and consent forms should include clear consent options for:

• Student participation.

• Emergency contact and medical information.

• Use of online forms and digital communication.

• Use of student photos, videos, audio, testimonials, or stories.

• Public sharing of approved media on the website, social media, reports, or promotional materials.

• Sharing approved student media or stories with donors, sponsors, funders, or partners.

7. Donations, Sponsorships, Contributions, and Payments

If you make a donation, sponsor a programme, pay a programme contribution, or support Santa Cecilia financially, we may collect information needed to process and record the transaction.

This may include your name, contact details, donation amount, payment confirmation, and related communication.

Santa Cecilia does not collect or store full card numbers, CVV codes, or online banking passwords. Payments processed by third-party providers are handled according to those providers’ privacy and security policies.

Financial records may be kept where needed for accounting, audit, legal, reporting, or administrative purposes.

8. Programme Contributions and Access

Santa Cecilia is committed to making music education as accessible as possible for children and young people.

The regular orchestra programme and the Summer Music Camp may have different funding models. Where a contribution is requested, Santa Cecilia will aim to keep access affordable and may seek sponsorship support for families with financial need.

Programme contributions, where applicable, help support basic operational costs such as learning materials, coordination, venue-related expenses, instruments, maintenance, supervision, and programme delivery.

9. Website Cookies and Analytics

Our website may use cookies or similar technologies to improve user experience, understand website traffic, and monitor how visitors use the site.

Cookies may help us:

• Understand which pages are visited.

• Improve website content and navigation.

• Monitor website performance.

• Support basic security and functionality.

You can adjust your browser settings to refuse or delete cookies. Some parts of the website may not function properly if cookies are disabled.

10. How We Share Information

Santa Cecilia may share personal information only when necessary, appropriate, and connected to a clear purpose, including with:

• Programme staff, music educators, facilitators, coordinators, and authorised volunteers.

• Parents or guardians, where relevant to student participation or safety.

• Venues, event partners, or community partners, where needed for programme delivery, safety, access control, or event coordination.

• Service providers who support our website, communications, registration, payments, design, reporting, storage, or administrative systems.

• Legal, regulatory, safeguarding, emergency, medical, or law enforcement authorities where required or permitted by law.

We require anyone who handles personal information on our behalf to treat it responsibly and use it only for the intended purpose.

We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information to third parties.

11. Safeguarding and Emergency Situations

Student safety is a priority. In safeguarding, medical, emergency, or child protection situations, Santa Cecilia may use or share relevant personal information where necessary to protect a student, contact a parent or guardian, seek medical assistance, report an incident, or comply with legal or safeguarding responsibilities.

In child protection emergencies, Santa Cecilia may contact the parent/guardian, emergency services, police, medical services, or the Children’s Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, as appropriate.

The Children’s Authority of Trinidad and Tobago may be contacted to report child abuse or maltreatment through its hotline numbers: 996 or 800-2014.

Safeguarding or incident-related records will be kept securely and accessed only by authorised persons with a legitimate safeguarding, legal, or organisational need.

12. How We Protect Personal Information

We take reasonable organisational, technical, and administrative steps to protect personal information from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure.

These steps may include:

• Limiting access to authorised team members.

• Keeping registration and consent records in controlled locations or secure digital systems.

• Using passwords and access controls where appropriate.

• Avoiding unnecessary sharing of student information.

• Reviewing media consent before publishing identifiable student content.

• Keeping emergency and medical information accessible only to those who need it for student safety.

• Training staff and volunteers to handle information responsibly.

• Separating public promotional information from confidential student records.

No website, email, messaging platform, or digital system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. However, we work to protect personal information using reasonable safeguards.

13. How Long We Keep Information

We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including programme administration, safeguarding, reporting, accounting, legal, historical, or organisational recordkeeping purposes.

As a general guide, Santa Cecilia may keep records as follows:

Type of RecordGeneral Retention Period

Student registration and consent forms3 to 5 years after participation ends

Emergency, medical, allergy, and accessibility notesReviewed or updated annually and removed when no longer needed

Attendance and student progress records3 to 5 years after participation ends

Financial records, donations, sponsorships, and contribution recordsKept according to accounting, audit, legal, or reporting requirements

Media consent recordsKept while related photos, videos, testimonials, or stories remain in use

Photos, videos, testimonials, and programme documentationKept while useful for programme history, reporting, promotion, or archives, unless consent is withdrawn where removal is practical

Incident or safeguarding recordsKept securely according to safeguarding, legal, or professional advice

When information is no longer needed, we will delete, anonymise, archive, or securely dispose of it where appropriate.

14. Your Rights and Choices

Depending on the circumstances and applicable law, you may request to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you or your child.

• Correct inaccurate or outdated information.

• Update contact, medical, emergency, accessibility, or consent details.

• Withdraw media consent for future use.

• Ask questions about how your information is used.

• Request that certain information be deleted, where this is legally and practically possible.

To make a request, please contact us using the details below. We may need to verify your identity before responding to certain requests.

15. Links to Other Websites

Our website or social media pages may include links to third-party websites, platforms, sponsors, partners, payment providers, or resources.

Santa Cecilia is not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or security of third-party websites. We encourage visitors to review the privacy policies of any external websites they visit.

16. Updates to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our programmes, website, legal requirements, digital tools, or organisational practices.

The updated version will be posted on our website with a revised “Last updated” date.

Where a policy update materially changes how we use student information, media, or sensitive personal information, Santa Cecilia will seek updated parent or guardian consent where appropriate.

17. Contact Us

For questions about this Privacy Policy or how Santa Cecilia handles personal information, please contact:

Santa Cecilia Youth Symphony Orchestra
Legal/Registered Name: Continental Children & Youth Choir Symphonic Orchestra Santa Cecilia Ventt
Location: Trinidad and Tobago
Email: info@santaceciliaorchestra.org
Website: www.santaceciliaorchestra.org