Privacy Policy

Follow The Science Last updated: August 2026

 

This policy explains what personal information we collect when you use the Follow The Science website and the Inner Circle membership, what we do with it, and what rights you have. We have tried to keep it in plain English.

 

 

 

1. Who we are

Follow The Science is a sole trader business owned and run by Iz Clarke.

 

• Address:  30 Kensington Place Brighton 

• Email: izclarke@followthescience.co.uk

• Website: followthescience.co.uk

 

For data protection law, Follow The Science is the "data controller" — meaning we decide what information is collected and why.

 

We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), registration number [ICO NUMBER].

 

 

 

2. What we collect

When you join the membership or buy from us:

 

• Name and email address

• The student's first name and year group or exam board, where you give it

• Billing details and payment records (card details go straight to our payment provider — we never see or store your full card number)

• Your membership status, renewal dates and payment history

 

When you use the members' area:

 

• Login details and account activity

• Which content you have opened and your progress through the programme

• Attendance at live sessions and any questions you type into them

 

When you use the website or open our emails:

 

• IP address, browser and device type, pages visited

• Whether you opened an email or clicked a link in it

• Cookie data — see section 6

 

When you contact us:

 

• The content of your emails or messages, and our replies

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3. Why we use it, and our legal basis

Under UK GDPR we have to tell you our "lawful basis" for each use. Ours are:

 

What we use it for

Lawful basis

Giving you access to the membership you paid for

Performance of a contract

Taking payment and managing renewals

Performance of a contract

Running live sessions and answering questions

Performance of a contract

Emailing you about your membership (renewals, timetable changes, access problems)

Performance of a contract

Marketing emails about our other courses and offers

Consent — you tick an optional box when you join. Where you are already a customer we may also rely on the "soft opt-in" rules, and every email has an unsubscribe link

Keeping accounting and tax records

Legal obligation

Understanding how the site is used so we can improve it

Legitimate interests

Protecting our content from unauthorised sharing

Legitimate interests

 

You can withdraw consent to marketing at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email, or by emailing us. That will not affect the emails we need to send you about your actual membership.

 

We only send marketing to the adult account holder. We never send marketing emails to students.

 

 

 

4. Students under 18

The Inner Circle is designed for GCSE Physics students, so most members are under 18.

 

• Accounts are bought and held by a parent or guardian, who enters into the contract with us.

• A student aged 13 or over may hold their own login. We do not create accounts for anyone under 13.

• Where a member is under 18, we take it that a parent or guardian has agreed to them joining and to this policy. If you are a parent and you would rather we did not hold your child's information, email us and we will sort it out.

• We collect as little information about students as we reasonably can — we do not need a home address, a date of birth, a school name or a photograph, and we do not ask for them.

• Students do not appear in recordings. Cameras and microphones stay off in live sessions, students take part by typing, and sessions are set up so that student cameras, microphones and the participant list are not captured. Recordings are of the teaching material and the teacher. We take care not to identify a student by name in a recording.

• We never sell or share students' information with anyone, and we never send marketing to students or target advertising at them.

 

A parent or guardian can ask to see, correct or delete their child's information at any time — see section 9.

 

 

 

5. Who we share it with

We do not sell your information. We do share it with the companies that help us run the business:

 

Who

What they handle

Wix

The website, member logins, the members' area and our email newsletters

Stripe

Card payments and subscription billing

Zoom

Live sessions

Heyzine

The digital books and resources inside the membership

YouTube / Vimeo

Hosting video content

Meta (Facebook and Instagram)

Advertising, and measuring whether our ads work

Our accountant

Tax and bookkeeping records

 

Most of these act on our instructions and under a contract with us. Two work differently, and it is only fair to say so:

 

• Stripe also uses payment data for its own fraud prevention and legal compliance purposes, as an independent controller.

• Meta and Follow The Science are joint controllers for ad targeting and measurement. Our advertising is aimed at parents, and we do not target ads at under-18s. You can control this through the cookie banner on our site and through your own Facebook and Instagram ad settings.

 

We may also share information where the law requires it. We do not sell your information to anyone.

 

 

 

6. Cookies

Our website uses cookies — small files stored on your device.

 

Type

What they do

Set without asking?

Essential

Keep you logged in, remember what is in your basket, keep the site secure

Yes — the site cannot work without them

Analytics

Tell us which pages people visit, so we can improve them

No — only if you agree

Advertising

Let us show ads on Facebook and Instagram to people who have visited us, and measure whether those ads work

No — only if you agree

 

When you first arrive you will see a cookie banner. Nothing but the essential cookies is set until you choose. You can accept or reject the rest, and change your mind at any time through the cookie settings link in the footer. Rejecting them will not stop you using the site or the membership.

 

Most cookies last between a few minutes and 24 months depending on their purpose. Full details are in the cookie settings panel.

 

 

 

7. How long we keep it

• Membership and account information: while you are a member, and for [12/24] months after you leave, in case you come back.

• Payment and invoice records: six years, because tax law requires it.

• Marketing contacts: until you unsubscribe, or after [24] months of no engagement.

• Emails to and from us: [24] months.

 

After that we delete it or strip out anything that identifies you.

 

 

 

8. Where your information is stored

Our providers are based in the UK, the EU and the United States. Where information is transferred outside the UK, it is protected by the safeguards UK data protection law requires — usually an adequacy decision or standard contractual clauses.

 

 

 

9. Your rights

You have the right to:

 

• Ask for a copy of the information we hold about you

• Have it corrected if it is wrong

• Have it deleted, where we do not need to keep it

• Object to us using it, or ask us to restrict how we use it

• Ask us to send it to you or another provider in a portable format

• Withdraw consent to marketing at any time

 

To do any of these, email [SUPPORT EMAIL]. We will respond within one month, and there is normally no charge. If a request is unusually complex we may take up to two further months, and we will tell you within the first month if that happens.

 

 

 

10. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first — we would rather fix it. If you are still unhappy you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

 

 

 

11. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy we will update the date at the top, and if the change is significant we will email members to let them know.

 

 

 

 

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