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Privacy Notice

Last updated: 11 September 2026

This notice explains what personal data Particle Playground collects, why, and what rights you have. It sits alongside our Terms of Service & EULA. Contact us about anything in it at support@particle-playground.com.

1. Who is responsible for the data

  • Pupils using the service through a school: the school (or trust) decides how pupil data is used and is the data controller. We act as a processor on the school's instructions.
  • People who sign up on their own: we are the controller for that account.
  • Running the service: we are the controller for the limited data needed to operate, secure, support and improve the platform.

2. Accounts are for ages 13 and over

You must be 13 or over to hold an account, and we ask schools not to create accounts for pupils under 13. If we learn that an under-13 account exists, we will delete it.

3. What we collect

  • Account details: email address, display name, sign-in method (Google, Microsoft or email), and role (student, teacher, administrator).
  • Class information: which class you belong to, the class code you used, and which teachers are assigned to that class.
  • Learning data: question attempts and outcomes, topic and specification progress, exam attempts and scores, streaks and achievements, Equation Architect progress.
  • AI Lab Assistant conversations: the questions you ask and the replies given, plus daily usage counts.
  • Support and issue reports: what you send us, and the account it came from.
  • Technical data: basic diagnostic and error information needed to keep the service working and secure.
  • Usage activity: which main areas of the service are used, visit times, device category, and an estimate of focused active time while the site is visible. This helps administrators support users and understand which learning activities are practised or avoided. We do not use advertising trackers.

We do not collect special category data, we do not sell data, and we do not show advertising.

4. Why we use it, and our lawful basis

  • Providing the learning experience and saving progress — contract (individual accounts); the school's public task or legitimate interests, on its instructions (school accounts).
  • Showing teachers their class's progress and reports — the school's instructions as controller.
  • Answering support requests and issue reports — legitimate interests.
  • Keeping the service secure, stable and free from misuse — legitimate interests.
  • Improving question quality and the product overall — legitimate interests, using aggregated or de-identified information wherever possible.
  • Supporting users and monitoring engagement — legitimate interests and, for school accounts, the school's instructions. Authorised administrators can review account, class, learning and focused-activity summaries.

5. Who we share it with

We use a small number of vetted providers, each bound by a data processing agreement and permitted to use the data only to provide their service to us:

  • cloud hosting and database services, which store account and learning data;
  • the AI provider that generates AI Lab Assistant replies, which receives the text of the message and question context — this is why you should not type personal information into the assistant;
  • an email delivery provider, for sign-in and service emails.

Teachers and co-teachers of your class can see your learning data, as described in the terms. We may also disclose data where the law requires it.

6. Where data is stored

Data is stored on cloud infrastructure within the UK or European Economic Area wherever possible. Some providers, including the AI provider, may process data outside the UK. Where that happens we rely on the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the EU Standard Contractual Clauses with the UK Addendum, or an adequacy decision.

7. How long we keep it

  • Account and learning data: for as long as the account is active, then deleted within 30 days of a deletion request, or within 12 months of the account becoming inactive.
  • AI Lab Assistant conversations: retained for up to 12 months so we can investigate misuse and quality problems, then deleted.
  • Support and issue reports: up to 24 months.
  • Technical and error logs: up to 90 days.
  • Focused activity records: up to 12 months, after which they are deleted or converted into statistics that no longer identify a person.

When an account is deleted we remove the account, its class links and its learning records. Aggregated statistics that cannot identify anyone may be retained.

8. Your rights

You have the right to be told how your data is used, to get a copy of it, to have inaccurate data corrected, to have data deleted, to restrict or object to certain uses, and to ask for your data to be transferred. There is no automated decision-making that has a legal effect on you; the marks and progress figures you see are calculated from your own answers.

How to exercise them: if your account came from your school, ask your school first — they are the controller and we act on their instructions. Otherwise email support@particle-playground.com. We reply within one month.

9. Information stored on your device

We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. We do store a small amount of information on your own device so the service works:

  • your sign-in session, and whether you chose to stay signed in;
  • guest progress, which never leaves the device;
  • small preferences such as dismissed tours, the last area you were working in, and daily streak markers.

You can clear all of this by signing out and clearing your browser's site data for this website.

10. For schools: data processing agreement

We can provide a written data processing agreement for your school or trust, covering the subject matter and duration of processing, categories of pupil data, our obligations as processor, the sub-processors listed above, security measures, breach notification, assistance with data subject requests, and deletion or return of data at the end of the agreement. Request one from support@particle-playground.com.

11. Security

Access to pupil data is restricted by account role and enforced at the database level, so a teacher only sees their own classes and pupils only see their own work. Sign-in is handled by established identity providers, and data is encrypted in transit.

12. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk, or to your local supervisory authority in the EEA.

13. Changes to this notice

We update this notice as the service develops. The date at the top shows the current version, and significant changes are recorded on our System Status & Trust page.