Legal information
Privacy Policy
This page explains how The Dress English Academy handles personal data. It covers what we collect when you use this site, why we hold it, who else may see it, and how you can ask us to change or delete it. It is written as a plain reference, not as marketing copy.
What we collect
The list below follows the two ways people reach us: reading this website, and sending us a course enquiry. Nothing is collected quietly for a purpose that is not written here.
- Website visits Pages you open, the device and browser you use, and the approximate region your connection comes from. This is used to keep the site working on different screens and to see which pages readers find useful.
- Course enquiries When you send an enquiry about a general, business or exam-preparation course, we hold your first name, last name, email address and phone number so a member of staff can reply and discuss the right pathway for you.
- Enrolment details If you go on to enrol, we add the details your course needs: the level you are joining, your start date, and the contact point we should use for class or timetable changes.
- Messages to us Anything you write in an enquiry, plus the reply we send back, kept together so the next person helping you can see what was already discussed.
Why we hold it
We keep personal data for a small number of practical reasons. If a purpose is not on this list, we do not use your data for it.
Answering your enquiry and arranging your course
Your name, email and phone number let us reply to your question, suggest a level that fits your current English, and confirm a start date if you decide to enrol. Without them, we cannot send you a timetable or contact you about a class change.
We do not use your contact details for unrelated marketing, and we do not sell them to anyone.
Keeping the site reliable
Visit records show us which pages break, which load slowly, and where readers give up. They are used for maintenance, not for profiling individual visitors.
Meeting our own records duties
Course bookings create a small amount of paperwork we are expected to keep — for example, confirming what was agreed with a student. That record is held for the period the law or our accounting requires, then removed.
Retention and sharing
How long we keep it, and who else sees it
We hold enquiry details while your question is live and for a short period afterwards, so that a follow-up message reaches the right person. If you enrol, course and payment records stay for as long as our accounting rules require.
Access inside the academy is limited to the staff who need it: the person handling your enquiry, the tutor who will teach you, and the office staff who manage timetables and payment records.
- Providers we rely on Our website hosting and email services process data on our instructions. They may not use it for their own purposes.
- Payment records If you pay for a course, the payment provider handles the card details. We see the confirmation, not your full card number.
- When the law asks We may have to hand over records if a regulator or court requires it. We will tell you if we are allowed to.
- A note on cookies See the Cookie Policy for what is stored on your device and how to change your browser settings.
Your choices about your data
You do not need to give a reason to ask about your record. Write to us at info@thedress.digital or call +44 20 7973 6574 during office hours, and we will confirm what we hold.
If you are enquiring on behalf of someone else, please make sure they know you are passing their details to us.
What you can ask for
- A copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Correction of anything inaccurate, such as a phone number that has changed.
- Deletion of your enquiry record where we are not required to keep it.
- A stop on further contact about courses you are not planning to take.
- A written explanation of how a decision about your enquiry was made.
We reply to data requests in writing. If we cannot do what you asked, we tell you why and what you can do next.
Questions people ask us
Short answers to the points that come up most often when someone reads this page alongside a course enquiry.
Do I have to give my phone number to ask about a course?
Phone is the fastest way for staff to talk through levels and timetables, but you can write to us by email only and we will reply the same way. If you later ask us to remove the number, we will.
Will I be added to a mailing list after enquiring?
No. We use your details to answer the question you sent and to manage a course if you enrol. If we ever want to send a termly newsletter, we will ask separately and you can decline without it affecting your enquiry.
Is my data sent outside the United Kingdom?
Our office is in London and the people who read your enquiry work here. Some software we use for hosting and email may store copies on servers in other countries; where that happens, we rely on the provider's safeguards and keep the list of providers under review.
My details have changed. Can I update them?
Yes. Email us with the correction and we will update your record, then confirm in writing that it is done. If you have enrolled on a course, please mention your start date so we find the right file.
If you have not found your answer
This privacy policy covers the website and course enquiries run by The Dress English Academy from our London office at 48 Bedford Square, Bloomsbury. If something here is unclear, or you want to know what we hold before you decide to enrol, contact us and we will reply in writing during office hours.