Cookie Policy

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files stored on your device when you visit our platform. They help us provide essential features, maintain security, and ensure a safe educational experience for students and teachers.

How We Use Cookies

Whitespace uses cookies strictly for:

• Security: Maintaining secure sessions and preventing unauthorised access
• Authentication: Keeping users safely logged in
• Functionality: Remembering preferences and settings
• Safety: Supporting our safeguarding features

We do not use cookies for advertising, marketing, or tracking student behaviour.

Types of Cookies We Use

Essential Cookies (Always Active)

These cookies are necessary for the platform to function and cannot be disabled:

Functional Cookies

These improve your experience but can be disabled:

Performance Cookies

With school consent, we use these to improve our service:

All performance data is:

• Fully anonymised
• Never linked to individual students
• Aggregated at school level only
• Used solely for platform improvement

Third-Party Cookies

We use carefully vetted services that may set their own cookies:

Authentication Provider (Clerk)

• Purpose: Secure teacher and admin authentication
• Cookies: Session management and security tokens
• Privacy: GDPR compliant, no data sharing

Hosting Provider (Vercel)

• Purpose: Platform delivery and performance
• Cookies: Technical performance monitoring
• Privacy: No personal data collection

Cookies We Never Use

We never use cookies for:

• ❌ Advertising or marketing
• ❌ Social media tracking
• ❌ Cross-site tracking
• ❌ Student profiling
• ❌ Behavioural analytics
• ❌ Third-party data sharing
• ❌ Commercial purposes

Cookie Lifespans

• Session cookies: Deleted when browser closes
• Student sessions: Automatically expire after 2 hours
• Teacher sessions: Persist for up to 7 days
• Preferences: Retained for up to 1 year
• Safety cookies: Session only for maximum security

Managing Your Cookie Preferences

For Schools

School administrators can manage cookie settings through:

1. Admin Dashboard → Settings → Privacy
2. Contact your account manager
3. Email: darren@coxon.ai

For Individual Users

You can control cookies through your browser:

• Chrome: Settings → Privacy and Security → Cookies
• Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies
• Safari: Preferences → Privacy → Cookies
• Edge: Settings → Privacy → Cookies

Note: Disabling essential cookies will prevent platform access.

Student Privacy

Special protections for student cookies:

• No persistent tracking cookies
• Sessions expire quickly (2 hours)
• No cross-session tracking
• No behavioural profiling
• Parent/school control over all settings

Legal Basis

We use cookies under the following legal bases:

• Essential cookies: Legitimate interests (platform functionality)
• Functional cookies: Consent (obtained via school agreement)
• Performance cookies: Consent (opt-in via school settings)

Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Know what cookies we use
• Opt out of non-essential cookies
• Request deletion of cookie data
• Withdraw consent at any time

Updates to This Policy

We may update this policy to reflect:

• Changes in technology
• Legal requirements
• Platform improvements

Schools will receive 30 days' notice of material changes.

Contact Us

For cookie-related queries:

Data Protection Officer Kompass Education Limited Email: darren@coxon.ai Address: 4th Floor, Silverstream House, 45 Fitzroy Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 6EB

Information Commissioner's Office Website: ico.org.uk Phone: 0303 123 1113

Last updated: 27 September 2025