The Charter Schools Educational Trust
Last updated: 2 October 2026
Next review: October 2027
This policy explains how The Charter Schools Educational Trust ("the Trust", "we", "us") uses cookies and similar technologies on our website at chartertrust.org.uk and tcset.org.uk. It tells you what we use, why we use it, and how you can control it.
This policy sits alongside our privacy notices and our Data Protection Policy, which you can find on our Policies page.
1. What cookies are
Cookies are small text files that a website saves on your computer, phone or tablet when you visit. They let the site remember things about your visit, such as your choices, or help us understand how people use the site.
This policy also covers similar technologies, such as information saved in your browser's local storage. Where we say "cookies" below, we mean all of these.
Some cookies are set by us ("first-party cookies"). Others are set by other organisations whose services we use on our site, such as video players ("third-party cookies").
2. The law we follow
We use cookies in line with:
- the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025
- the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018
- guidance from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on cookies and similar technologies
In short, this means we only set cookies that are not essential if you have agreed to them, and we tell you clearly what each one does.
3. Your choices
When you first visit our website, a banner asks whether you accept or deny non-essential cookies. Both options are equally easy to choose. If you click Deny, we will not load Google Analytics.
We save your choice in your browser so we don't ask you on every page. It stays saved until you clear your browser data or change your choice.
Changing your mind
You can change your choice at any time by clicking Cookie settings in the footer of any page. This brings the banner back so you can choose again. If you withdraw consent, we stop using analytics cookies from that point.
Using your browser settings
You can also block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Help pages for the most common browsers:
If you block all cookies, some parts of our website may not work as expected.
4. The cookies we use
Strictly necessary
These are needed for the website to work and to remember your cookie choice. The law does not require your consent for these, and they cannot be switched off.
cookieConsent
- Set by: The Trust (browser local storage)
- What it does: Remembers whether you accepted or denied non-essential cookies, so the banner doesn't keep appearing
- How long it lasts: Until you clear your browser data or change your choice
Analytics (only with your consent)
We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how people find and use our website, for example which pages are visited most and how people move between them. This helps us improve the site for families, staff, job applicants and partner schools.
These cookies are only set if you click Accept. Google Analytics does not tell us who you are.
_ga
- Set by: Google Analytics
- What it does: Tells one visitor apart from another by giving your browser a random ID
- How long it lasts: 2 years
_ga_[ID]
- Set by: Google Analytics
- What it does: Keeps track of your visit (session) on our site
- How long it lasts: 2 years
We have set Google Analytics to keep data for 14 months and to not share it with Google for advertising. Google may process this information in the United States, under the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. You can read more in Google's privacy policy and about how Google uses information from sites that use its services.
You can also opt out of Google Analytics on all websites by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
Embedded videos (third party)
Some pages show videos hosted by Vimeo, including background videos on our homepage and on the Our Culture, Our Impact, Hear From Our Team, Working Here and Flexible Working pages. When these videos load, Vimeo may set its own cookies on your device. These can include:
vuid
- Set by: Vimeo
- What it does: Collects analytics about how the video is watched
- How long it lasts: Up to 2 years
__cf_bm
- Set by: Vimeo (via Cloudflare)
- What it does: Security. Helps tell real visitors apart from automated traffic
- How long it lasts: 30 minutes
_cfuvid
- Set by: Vimeo (via Cloudflare)
- What it does: Security and load balancing
- How long it lasts: End of browsing session
player
- Set by: Vimeo
- What it does: Remembers your video player settings
- How long it lasts: Up to 1 year
Vimeo controls these cookies, not the Trust. Vimeo may process information in the United States. For more detail, see Vimeo's cookie policy and privacy policy.
5. Other services that don't set cookies
To make our website look and work as it should, we load some files from other providers. These do not set cookies on your device, but your browser does share basic technical information with them (such as your IP address) so they can deliver the files to you:
- Webflow, which hosts our website, and its content delivery network
- Adobe Fonts and Google Fonts, which provide our typefaces
- jsDelivr, cdnjs (Cloudflare), unpkg and Google Hosted Libraries, which provide code used for animations, sliders and page features
Contact forms
When you send us a message through a form on our site, the details you enter are sent to Webflow, which stores them on our behalf. Forms do not set cookies. How we use the information you give us is explained in our privacy notices.
6. Links to other websites
Our website links to other websites, including our schools' own sites, MyNewTerm (for job vacancies and our Talent Pool), FlippingBook (for The Charter magazine and safeguarding newsletters) and Google Maps. Once you leave our website, those sites' own cookie and privacy policies apply. We are not responsible for them, so please check their policies.
7. Changes to this policy
We review this policy every year, and whenever we add or remove a service that uses cookies. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.
8. Contact us
If you have a question about this policy or how we use cookies, please contact:
Director of Operations
Shalene Varcoe
svarcoe@tcset.org.uk
Data Protection Officer
Judicium Consulting Limited
72 Cannon Street, London, EC4N 6AE
dataservices@judicium.com
0203 326 9174
The Trust
The Charter Schools Educational Trust, Red Post Hill, London SE24 9JH
info@tcset.org.uk
020 7346 6600
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or by calling 0303 123 1113. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first, so please contact us before going to the ICO.
The Charter Schools Educational Trust is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Company number 07338707. Registered office: Red Post Hill, London SE24 9JH.
Policy owner: Director of Operations. Review cycle: annual.
