Privacy Policy

LETC Institute Ltd. ("LETC," "we," "us," or "our") is an Ontario-based educational company that teaches math, science and art to students in grades 3 to 12 through live, instructor-led classes that use coding as a learning tool. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have.

It applies to:

• our website, letcinstitute.ca
• our student learning platform, learn.letcinstitute.ca
• our live online classes
• inquiries, placement assessments, progress reports and other communication with families
• programs we deliver through community organizations and other partners

We follow Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and the guidance of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, including its Children's Privacy Code.

• We collect only what we need to place, teach and report on each student.
• A parent or guardian gives consent for every student under 18, and we involve students in privacy choices as they grow.
• Live classes run online, usually on Google Meet. We record a class only when a parent or partner organization asks and every family in the class agrees.
• We never sell personal information, and we never show ads to students.
• Our website and learning platform use no analytics, advertising or tracking cookies.
• You can ask to see, correct or delete your child's information at any time by emailing info@letcinstitute.ca.

This part is for you, the student.

• We know your name and username, your grade, the projects you code, and how you are doing in class.
• Your parent or guardian said it is OK for us to have this information.
• Your classes are not recorded, unless your parent or your school or program asks. If a class will be recorded, you will be told first.
• Your instructors can see your projects so they can help you. Your parent or guardian can sign in to your account to see your work and progress.
• You can chat with your instructor while you are in a class. LETC can read those messages, to help you and keep you safe.
• If you don't sign in for a whole year, your account is switched off, but your projects are kept.
• We never show you ads, and we never sell your information.
• Your choices matter. You can ask us about your own information at any time, and as you get older, you can make more of these choices yourself.
• If something about you is wrong, or you want something deleted, tell your instructor or your parent, or email info@letcinstitute.ca.

We collect personal information from parents and guardians, students, partner organizations and website visitors, as set out below.

We do not ask students for their email address, home address, photo or date of birth. We do not collect or store credit card or bank account numbers.

We use personal information only to run our programs and our business:

• answer inquiries and book placement assessments
• place each student in the right class
• deliver live classes and run the learning platform
• follow each student's progress, send parents a progress report midway through each program and at the end, and give informal updates whenever a parent asks
• tell families about schedules, changes and billing
• issue invoices and keep financial records
• give a partner organization the platform logins, attendance and progress of the students it enrols
• improve our programs, using combined information that does not identify anyone
• keep our systems secure, for example by spotting unusual sign-ins, and meet our legal obligations

We do not use students' information for advertising, marketing profiles or automated decisions about them. Before using information for a new purpose, we will ask for consent.

A parent or guardian enrols every student under 18 and consents on the student's behalf to the uses in this policy. We also respect students' growing ability to understand their information and make their own privacy choices, as the Privacy Commissioner's Children's Privacy Code expects.

• Students under 13: we rely on a parent's or guardian's consent. We still explain to students in plain words how we use their information (section 3), and we listen to their questions and concerns.
• Students 13 to 17: a parent or guardian still enrols them. Students this age can also contact us directly to see, correct or ask about their own information, and we take their wishes into account. For major decisions, such as deleting an account, we also involve their parent or guardian.
• Anything extra needs a separate yes. We will never use a student's name, image, voice or work in marketing or testimonials, or share it publicly, without a parent's written opt-in and the student's own agreement.
• Partner programs: when a partner organization enrols students, the partner obtains families' consent to share their information with LETC. We use it only to deliver the program.
• Website forms: when you send a form, you agree to us using your details to reply and, for an assessment request, to book the assessment.

You can withdraw consent at any time by emailing info@letcinstitute.ca. We will explain what that means; for example, a student cannot attend classes without a platform account. We may still keep records the law requires, such as financial records.

All LETC classes are live and online. We usually teach on Google Meet. When a school or partner organization prefers its own video platform, such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams, we teach on that instead.

• Students join from a link that we or the partner send. We ask students to use only their first name as their display name.
• Cameras are optional. Students use their microphone and the in-call chat to take part.
• Recording: LETC does not record classes unless a parent or partner organization asks. Before recording, we get agreement from the parents or guardians of every student in the class, and we tell students at the start of the class. We share the recording only with the family or partner who asked for it, and we delete our copy when the program ends.
• Partner recordings: a partner organization that runs classes on its own platform may record them itself. Its own policies then apply to that recording.
• We ask families not to record classes themselves, to protect other students.
• The video platform processes audio, video and chat to run each call. On Google Meet, this is covered by Google's Privacy Policy. On a partner's platform, the partner's own agreement with that provider applies.

LETC creates each student's account with a name and username; students do not need their own email address.

• What it stores: the student's code and projects, progress and assessment results, the subject vocabulary they use in their work (such as math terms), chat messages with their instructors, and staff notes about their learning.
• Parent access: a parent's or guardian's email can be added to the account, so the parent can sign in and see their child's work and progress.
• Who can see it: the student, their instructors, LETC's administrator, the parent or guardian, and, for students enrolled through a partner, that partner organization.
• Chat: students can ask their instructors for help and message them while they are in a class, and for 7 days after it ends. LETC's administrator can read all chats, to support learning and keep students safe.
• After a program ends: students can keep using the platform, and their account stays open. A parent or guardian, or the partner organization that enrolled the student, can ask us to close or delete it at any time.
• Inactive accounts: if no one signs in to a student's account for 12 months, it is switched off automatically. The student's work is kept, and we can switch the account back on. We never delete accounts automatically; we delete them only when asked.
• Sign-in records: each sign-in records the device, IP address and approximate location, shown under Active sessions on the Profile page. We use these to spot unusual sign-ins.
• Private by default: there are no public profiles, no ads and no sharing with third parties for their own use. Nothing a student makes is published outside the platform without the opt-in described in section 6.
• Browser storage: the platform keeps a sign-in token in your browser so you stay signed in, and remembers your light or dark theme choice. Neither is used for tracking.

We never sell or rent personal information. We share it only in these cases.

Service providers that help us run LETC. They may use the information only to provide their service to us.

Partner organizations. When a student is enrolled through a partner, we share that student's platform login, attendance, progress and program reports with the partner, as our agreement sets out. We do not share information about families who enrol with us directly.

When the law requires it, or when we believe it is needed to protect someone's safety.

If LETC's business is sold or merged, personal information may transfer to the new owner, who must protect it as this policy describes.

Our website and learning platform do not use analytics, advertising or social media tracking.

• letcinstitute.ca stores only your light or dark theme choice in your browser.
• learn.letcinstitute.ca stores only a sign-in token and your theme choice in your browser (section 8).
• Our web server keeps standard logs (IP address, browser type and pages requested) to keep the sites secure and fix problems.

If we ever add analytics, we will update this policy first.

Some of your information is stored and processed outside Canada.

• Our website and learning platform run on a Hostinger server in Boston, United States.
• Our contract web developer works outside Canada and may access that server to maintain and improve the platform.
• Google may store and process email, documents and Google Meet data in Canada, the United States or other countries. A partner's video platform may do the same with class audio, video and chat.

Information stored outside Canada is protected by our agreements with these providers, but it may be accessed by courts, law enforcement or national security authorities in those countries under their laws.

We keep personal information only as long as we need it, then delete it or make it anonymous.

A parent or guardian, or the partner organization that enrolled the student, can ask us to delete a student's information at any time.

We protect personal information with safeguards suited to how sensitive it is, especially children's information.

• Only staff and instructors who need information for their work can access it.
• Platform accounts are password-protected, and our sites use encrypted (HTTPS) connections.
• The administrator account uses two-step sign-in with an authenticator app.
• Staff passwords are stored in a form no one can read. Student passwords are stored encrypted, so LETC can give them to the student's parent or guardian, or to the partner organization that enrolled the student.
• Every LETC instructor is trained on privacy and keeping student information confidential.
• Our service providers must protect the information they handle for us.

No system is perfectly secure. If a privacy breach creates a real risk of significant harm, we will notify the affected families and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as soon as we can, and we keep a record of every breach.

You can make any of these requests by emailing info@letcinstitute.ca, and we will reply within 30 days.

• See your information: ask what we hold about you or your child, and get a copy.
• Correct it: ask us to fix anything inaccurate or incomplete.
• Delete it: ask us to delete it. We will, except for records the law requires us to keep.
• Withdraw consent: as described in section 6.

Students can make these requests too, through their instructor, their parent or by email. We take students' own requests seriously, and for younger students we also involve their parent or guardian. We may need to confirm who you are before we act. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

We send program emails to parents and guardians, and promotional emails only with consent.

• Program emails (schedules, changes, progress reports, invoices) go to the parent or guardian on file, as part of the service.
• News about new programs goes only to people who have agreed to receive it, as Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) requires. Every such email has an unsubscribe link.
• We never send marketing messages to students.

We will update this policy when our practices or the law change, and post the new version with its effective date. For significant changes, we will email families before the changes take effect.

Questions, requests or concerns:

Privacy Officer, LETC Institute Ltd., Ontario, Canada

Email: info@letcinstitute.ca