Privacy notice

Last updated: 17 October 2026

Who we are

The Somali Language Centre teaches the Somali language to children and adults, in person and online, and publishes Somali learning books. We decide how your personal information is used, so under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018) we are the “controller” of it.

For anything about your information, email contact@somalilanguagecentre.co.uk.

What we collect and why

When you register for classes

The registration form asks for your name, email address and phone number, who you are registering (yourself, a child or both), and for each learner their name, age and the class they want, plus any message you add. We use this to reply to you, offer a place, organise classes and keep in touch about the learner’s lessons. Our lawful basis is that you have asked us to take steps towards giving you a place (contract). Once a learner joins, we also keep a simple record of their class, attendance and progress so we can teach them well.

When you send us a message or ask about the free taster

The contact and taster forms ask for your name, email address and your message (and a subject on the contact form). We use them only to answer you and, for the taster, to tell you about the self-paced course. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interest in replying to people who contact us. You can ask us to stop at any time.

When you use the self-paced course

To sign in we ask only for your email address; we send you a one-time sign-in link. We store your email address, the name you type for your certificate, and which steps of the course you have finished. We use these only to sign you in, save your progress and print your certificate. Our lawful basis is providing the course you signed up for (contract).

When you email, phone or message us on WhatsApp

We keep what you send us, and your contact details, so we can reply and follow up. WhatsApp is run by Meta, and messages sent there are also covered by WhatsApp’s own privacy policy.

Children’s information

We only take a child’s details from a parent or carer. We ask for no more than we need to place and teach them. If you choose to tell us about something like a learning or health need so we can support your child, we keep it private and use it only for that. Children under 13 should ask a parent or carer to sign up to the self-paced course for them.

On your device: no tracking cookies

We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.

• Visitor counts. We use Vercel Web Analytics to count page visits. It does not use cookies and does not identify you.
• Your progress in games and lessons. Your progress, the name you type in some activities, and any writing practice are saved in your own browser (“local storage”), not sent to us. Clearing your browser data removes them. If you sign in to the self-paced course, your course progress is also saved to your account.
• Spam protection. Our forms use hCaptcha to check you are a person, not a robot. hCaptcha may set a cookie and see technical details such as your IP address to do this.
• Fonts and videos. Our pages load fonts from Google Fonts, so your browser connects to Google, which sees your IP address. Videos are embedded in YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode, which does not store information about you until you play a video.

Who helps us look after your information

We never sell your information or share it for marketing. These companies process it for us, only on our instructions:

• Supabase: our database for form enquiries and self-paced course accounts, stored in the European Union (Ireland).
• Web3Forms: delivers the forms on this website to our email inbox.
• hCaptcha: spam protection on our forms.
• Vercel: hosts this website and provides the cookie-free visitor counts.
• Our email provider: holds the emails you send us and that we send you.

Some of these companies, or the companies they use, are based outside the UK, including in the United States. Where your information leaves the UK, they protect it with safeguards recognised under UK law, such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or the UK–US data bridge.

We may also share information if the law requires us to, for example with the police or a court.

How long we keep it

• Enquiries that do not lead to a place: up to 2 years after we last heard from you.
• Learners in our classes: while they study with us, then 2 years after they leave, so we can welcome them back at the right level. Payment records are kept for 6 years, because the law requires it.
• Self-paced course accounts: until you ask us to delete your account.

Your rights

You can ask us to:

• give you a copy of the information we hold about you (or your child);
• correct anything that is wrong;
• delete your information, or your self-paced course account and everything with it;
• stop or limit how we use it, or object to our using it;
• give you your information in a format you can take elsewhere.

Email contact@somalilanguagecentre.co.uk. It is free, and we will reply within one month.

Keeping it safe

The website only uses secure (HTTPS) connections. Our form database accepts new enquiries from the website but cannot be read from it, and only our team can see the records.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have used your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this notice

If we change how we use your information, we will update this page and the date at the top.