Data privacy
We only store what we need to run the learning experience: an account, your progress on questions, and basic profile details like a display name. We do not sell student data and we do not show adverts.
Trust & transparency
System Status & Trust
This page is kept up to date by the Particle Playground team. It explains how we look after student data and what we have changed recently. It describes the controls we have in place today and is not an independent certification.
Compliance
We follow UK GDPR principles: a clear reason for using your data, keeping only what is necessary, and giving you the right to see, correct or delete it. If your school needs a Data Processing Agreement, please get in touch.
Pedagogical standards
All questions are matched to the AQA GCSE Physics specification. Feedback is designed to teach the underlying idea — not just mark an answer right or wrong — and we review reported issues quickly.
What's changed
A plain-English record of the bigger updates, fixes and privacy changes we have made.
| Date | Category | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Jul 2026 | Compliance Update | Sign-up now asks you to agree to the EULA and Terms of Service after you choose a sign-in method, with the full agreement available on a dedicated page covering licensing, intellectual property and UK GDPR data protection. |
| 30 Jul 2026 | Feature | Introduced the AI Lab Assistant. Stuck on a question? Tap "I don't understand this question" in the Lab and a built-in tutor walks you through the physics behind it, step by step. It never gives the answer away and only discusses the question on screen. Fair-use limit of 20 messages per day, and it's available to signed-in students. |
| 12 Jul 2026 | Feature | New questions have been added across the Lab to address poorly represented specification points, and a fix has been applied in the Equation Architect so that 'ohm' or 'ohms' can be used as a valid unit for resistance, alongside the Ω symbol. |
| 12 Jul 2026 | Feature | Added a brand-new KS3 Science track alongside the existing GCSE Physics app. A curriculum gateway lets you switch between GCSE and KS3, with a Floating Island dashboard, KS3 Lab and Observatory covering Biology, Chemistry and Physics against the National Curriculum. Progress in each track is kept fully separate. |
| 12 Jul 2026 | Feature | KS3 gets a brand-new Avatar-inspired sky theme. Dashboard, Lab, Observatory and the curriculum gateway now sit against a deep sky-to-twilight gradient with a warm gold Spark Crystal and glassmorphism panels. GCSE Physics visuals are unchanged. |
| 9 Jul 2026 | Fix | Unified the mastery percentage shown on the Lab and the Dashboard so both surfaces now report the exact same course-scoped number. Memory decay still surfaces as a 'fading' overlay on the mastery bar, but no longer pulls your headline mastery down — credit for what you've learned sticks. |
| 8 Jul 2026 | Fix | Slowed down memory decay so topics stay 'fresh' for a full week and only fade over about six weeks. This stops students being handed an overwhelming pile of review questions after a short break. |
| 8 Jul 2026 | Feature | Added an AQA Physics Equation Sheet inside the Lab. Tap the datapad to browse every equation you need for Combined and Triple Science, matched to the official AQA sheet. |
| 1 Jul 2026 | Feature | Introduced Core Stability — a tug-of-war style health bar that goes up when you answer well and down when you struggle, giving a clearer real-time picture of how confident you are on each topic. |
| 30 Jun 2026 | Feature | Launched Memory Review and the Unstable Core in the Lab. If you have been away for a while, the Lab now surfaces a short set of stabilization questions on the topics most at risk of being forgotten, so revision stays little and often. |
| 30 Jun 2026 | Feature | Redesigned the dashboard into a dynamic command centre that reacts to your state — a smart hero button that sends you straight to the most useful next session, and live status of your progress and stability. |
| 26 Jun 2026 | Fix | Made the Knowledge Nebula mind map much smoother on phones and tablets by lowering its frame rate and simplifying the physics on smaller screens. |
| 25 Jun 2026 | Feature | Rebuilt the Teacher Dashboard as an analytics console backed by proper database tables, so teachers get faster, more accurate views of class progress, mastery and recent answers. |
| 24 Jun 2026 | Fix | Tidied the header on phones: the logo no longer gets squashed, and the Lab, Architect, Exam and Progress links now sit inside a tap-to-open menu. |
| 24 Jun 2026 | Compliance Update | Added this System Status & Trust page so students, teachers and parents can see how we handle data and what has recently changed. Linked from the footer and the account menu. |
| 24 Jun 2026 | Compliance Update | Introduced role-based accounts for students, teachers and admins. Roles are stored in a dedicated, server-controlled table so they cannot be changed from a student's device. |
| 23 Jun 2026 | Fix | When an admin tries to remove someone else's admin rights, the site now asks 'Are you sure?' first to stop accidental changes. |
| 22 Jun 2026 | Feature | Added an Equation Architect section to the Progress page. You can now see your Copper, Silver, Gold and Platinum ingots filling up, and tap the new forge cluster to see your tier and points at a glance. |
| 20 Jun 2026 | Feature | Equation Architect now has 'New Learning' and 'Practice All' buttons, just like the Lab. 'New Learning' only asks questions you have not seen before. |
| 18 Jun 2026 | Feature | The Equation Architect progress bar now stays in the same place when you start a question, with smoother point-counting, particle effects, and a brighter glow as you reach each new tier. |
| 15 Jun 2026 | Fix | Refreshing the page while signed in no longer briefly shows the sign-in screen. |
| 12 Jun 2026 | Feature | Teachers can now click into each student to see the topics they have mastered, the topics they are working on, and their most recent answers. |
| 8 Jun 2026 | Compliance Update | Checked our database security rules to make sure students can only see and change their own progress, and that staff permissions are stored safely on the server, not on each student's device. |
| 5 Jun 2026 | Feature | Launched the Knowledge Nebula map on the Progress page — an interactive view of the GCSE Physics topics that shows what you have mastered and what is still to come. |
| 1 Jun 2026 | Fix | Fixed equations being cut off in question cards on iPhones and iPads. |
| 28 May 2026 | Feature | Added a small 'Report a problem' button on every question so students and teachers can flag mistakes. Reports go to the admin team for review. |
| 22 May 2026 | Feature | Released Exam mode: timed practice papers with a results page showing your score by topic and the chance to review every question you got wrong. |
| 15 May 2026 | Compliance Update | Updated how people sign in. Accounts now use either email and password or Google sign-in, and accidental anonymous sign-ups are turned off. |
Contact for support
Teachers, data managers and parents can get in touch to raise a privacy concern or ask how we handle student data. We aim to reply within 5 working days.