Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 12 May 2026

This privacy policy explains how Physics With Keith (the “Data Controller”) collects, uses, and protects your personal data. We are committed to complying with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. About the Data Controller

Physics With Keith is a sole trader business owned and operated by Keith Dalby.

  • ICO Registration: Physics With Keith is registered as a sole trader with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
  • Credentials: Keith Dalby holds a valid, enhanced DBS certificate and professional qualifications as a Physics Teacher and Head of Department in an England state secondary school. Evidence of these certificates is available on the “About Me” page.
  • Website: Our website address is https://www.physicswithkeith.com

2. How and Why We Use Your Data

We process your data based on Performance of a Contract, Consent, and Legitimate Interests (specifically for safeguarding and educational tracking).

  • Enrolment: Managing your registration and access to course materials via the Paid Memberships Pro plugin.
  • Progress & Motivation: Using GamiPress to log attendance and participation. This allows us to reward students with points and trophies and to produce participation certificates.
  • Safeguarding & Security: Monitoring interactions to protect students from malicious messages or nefarious behavior. This includes the use of IP logging and “shadow logs” for muted users.
  • Marketing: If you have opted in, we may send you information about new courses. You can unsubscribe at any time.
  • Communication: Sending lesson links, feedback, and essential course updates.
  • Cookies: If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year. If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser. When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed. If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Our Data Guarantee: We never sell your personal data to third parties.

3. Detailed Technical Logging & Plugins

When you interact with this website, data is logged to ensure the site functions correctly and remains safe.

  • Account Management: We use Paid Memberships Pro. When you create an account, your details are synced with the WordPress.com dashboard. You may change your display name via your membership details page.
  • Interaction Logging: If you post, reply, or “like” content on the Asgaros Forum, or simply visit specific pages, GamiPress logs these actions to your user profile.
  • Simple Ajax Chat (SAC): Students can use this chat anonymously by changing their alias. However, for safeguarding, IP addresses are logged with every message.
  • Safeguarding Logs: We maintain a log of the most recent logins and visits (including IP addresses). Using custom code, we can “mute” users; messages sent by muted users are redirected to a “shadow log” along with their IP and display name so we can identify and address misbehaviour. These logs are kept for the protection of other users and the prevention of harassment. This is a legitimate interest that may override a muted user’s right to immediate erasure.
  • Storage: These logs and plugin data are stored within the user metadata on our website’s database.
  • Comments: When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
  • Media: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.
  • Embedded content from other websites: Articles and pages on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

4. Third-Party Tools & External Sites

We use external platforms to provide interactive lessons. We do not control, and are not responsible for, the cookies or data collection practices of these third parties.

  • YouTube: Used for live streams. You do not need a YouTube account to watch. Chat and comments are disabled on the platform side.
  • Whiteboard.fi: An interactive whiteboard that requires no login or registration.
  • Isaac Science: Used for homework tasks. No login is required.
  • Stripe/PayPal: Used for secure payment processing. We do not see or store your full financial details.
  • Akismet Anti-spam service: Akismet collects information about visitors who comment on the website. This includes the commenter’s IP address, user agent, referrer, and Site URL (along with other information directly provided by the commenter such as their name, username, email address, and the comment itself).
  • Complianz Privacy Suite: This website uses the Privacy Suite for WordPress by Complianz to collect and record Browser and Device-based Consent. For this functionality, your IP address is anonymized and stored in our database. This service does not process any personally identifiable information and does not share any data with the service provider. For more information, see the Complianz Privacy Statement.
  • Paid Memberships Pro: At checkout, we will collect your name, email address, username, and password. This information is used to setup your account for our site. If you are redirected to an offsite payment gateway to complete your payment, we may store this information in a temporary session variable to setup your account when you return to our site. At checkout, we may also collect your billing address and phone number. This information is used to confirm your credit card. The billing address and phone number are saved by our site to prepopulate the checkout form for future purchases and so we can get in touch with you if needed to discuss your order. At checkout, we may also collect your credit card number, expiration date, and security code. This information is passed to our payment gateway to process your purchase. The last 4 digits of your credit card number and the expiration date are saved by our site to use for reference and to send you an email if your credit card will expire before the next recurring payment. When logged in, we use cookies to track some of your activity on our site including logins, visits, and page views. We maintain logs of transactional emails sent to you for operational and support purposes. These logs include the email content, recipient address, subject line, and delivery status. Entries are automatically purged after 90 days. If you request deletion of your personal data, all email log entries associated with your account will be permanently removed.

Note: Users are entirely responsible for any information they choose to share while using these third-party services.

5. Data Security

  • Hosting: Our site is hosted by WordPress.com, which manages site security and automatic software updates.
  • Admin Access: All Administrator accounts are required to use Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) as a safeguarding and data protection precaution.
  • Encryption: Zoom recordings (where applicable for Astronomy students) are stored with end-to-end encryption and are accessible only by Keith Dalby for audit or safeguarding purposes.
  • Password reset requests: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
  • Servers outside the UK: As our site is hosted by WordPress.com, personal data may be processed on servers located outside the UK. We ensure that appropriate safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), are in place with our service providers to protect your data.

6. Storage & Retention

  • Location: Data is stored in our WordPress database and securely backed up on OneDrive or Google Drive.
  • Retention: We keep personal educational data and attendance logs for one year after your last interaction. After this, accounts and GamiPress data are deleted, unless we are legally required to keep financial records for tax purposes. If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue. For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
  • Financial transaction records: HMRC requires Us to store names, amounts and dates for six years to comply with UK tax law.

7. Children’s Privacy

Our services are for students aged 13 and over. Children under 13 are not permitted to use Physics With Keith. We encourage parents to monitor their child’s participation and achievements.

8. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to request access to your data, request corrections, or ask for your data to be erased. You can also request a copy of your participation certificate at any time.

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

To exercise these rights, contact tutor@physicswithkeith.com. We will respond within 30 days.

9. Contacting the Authorities

If you feel we have not addressed your concerns, I would prefer you to contact me first so that I can resolve the issue. However, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).