1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Acorn Nurseries is a company duly registered in Qatar (CR number 51927) with the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, and hereinafter referred to as “Acorn”.
1.2 Acorn is committed to protecting the privacy of its users and the purpose of this Privacy Policy is to describe to you how Acorn will use personal information about you.
1.3 By providing your personal information to Acorn (whether verbal, written, electronic or through interaction with our website(s)), you consent to the collection and use of it in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
1.4 Acorn may revise this Privacy Policy at any time by posting an update on its website(s). Please ensure that you check this website from time to time to review the then current Privacy Policy and to update your preferences. This Privacy Policy was last updated in April 2020.
2. COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
2.1 The types of personal information collected and stored by Acorn might include your name, your children’s names, dates of birth, e-mail address, postal and P.O. box address, telephone number, mobile number, passport copies, Qatar ID number, immunisation records and health history.
2.2 Acorn (or any of its sub-contractors) may collect personal information about you in the following ways:
(a) any data which you provide when you complete and submit an application form or other communication to Acorn, whether in paper or electronic format;
(b) any other data which you provide to Acorn when you enquire about our activities, email, telephone or write to us or otherwise provide us with personal information; and
(c) data you provide Acorn during any transaction with us.
2.3 Acorn (or any of its sub-contractors) may also receive information about you from third parties, for example through referrals by people who may know you.
3. STORAGE AND RETENTION OF YOUR INFORMATION
3.1 Acorn will keep your information private and use it only for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
3.2 Acorn will keep some of your information on a secure server. The technology that Acorn uses and the security policies which Acorn has implemented are intended to safeguard your information from unauthorised access and improper use.
3.3 Acorn will keep certain information in hard copy (paper format). This will be kept in a locked filing cabinet, with access restricted to authorised staff only.
3.4 If at any time you wish to review or change your personal information, or change any consent you have given as to how that information may be used, please contact the Acorn Office. We will provide a Student Data Sheet on request: this states all the personal information we hold on you and your child, together with any consents you may have given, so that you can amend it as you require.
4. USE OF YOUR INFORMATION
4.1 Acorn will never sell your personal data.
4.2 Acorn may use your personal information for the following purposes:
(a) in connection with any service for which you have provided your information, including any email alerts, transactions with us and competitions and promotions that you take part in;
(b) responding to any enquiry you make;
(c) subject to your consent, sending you newsletters and/or alerts and information regarding Acorn's or any third party's future services; and
(d) for generating aggregated statistics about users, traffic patterns etc. of the Acorn website(s) and other services and developing Acorn's marketing plans.
4.3 Acorn may also disclose your information as follows:
(a) to the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Administrative Development, as required by Qatar regulations;
(b) to third parties selected by Acorn as part of aggregated and anonymised statistics about users, traffic patterns etc. of the Acorn website(s);
(c) to such individuals and/or bodies as necessary to ensure Acorn's compliance with any applicable law, regulation, legal proceeding or governmental request;
4.4 In the event that Acorn (or a relevant part of Acorn) is acquired by or merges with another company, your personal information may be passed to the purchasing/merging company amongst the transferred business assets. This will enable your relationship to continue with the relevant Acorn business despite the change of ownership. Your personal information may also be passed (on a confidential basis) to companies with whom Acorn is negotiating such a sale/merger as part of the verification exercise carried out on Acorn by the third party.
5. COOKIES
5.1 When you visit an Acorn website(s), Acorn uses “cookie” technology to make that experience simple, personalised and meaningful. Cookies are small pieces of information which are issued to your computer or any similar device you use to access the internet.
5.2 Acorn uses cookies to:
(a) create a specific log-in session for a visitor to an Acorn website in order that page requests by that visitor are delivered in an effective, secure and consistent manner;
(b) recognise when a visitor to an Acorn website has visited before; this means we can identify the number of unique visitors we receive to the website and allows us to make sure we have enough capacity for the number of users that we get;
(c) customise elements of the promotional layout and/or content of the pages of the website;
(d) improve the website(s) and learn which parts are most popular to visitors. To do this, we gather anonymised statistical information about how our visitors use the website(s) and technical device-specific data.
5.3 Some of the cookies used by Acorn websites are set by us, and some are set by third parties who are delivering services on our behalf. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but, if you prefer, you can change your browser to prevent that or to notify you each time a cookie is set.
6. THIRD PARTY WEBSITES
6.1 Please be aware that Acorn does not control and is not responsible for websites that are referred to or linked from its own websites and that use of your personal information on these websites is not subject to this Privacy Policy.
7. GENERAL
7.1 In the event that any provision of this Privacy Policy are held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remainder of this Privacy Policy shall remain valid and enforceable.
7.2 These Terms & Conditions shall be governed by the laws of the courts of Qatar who shall have exclusive jurisdiction.