LITTLEFARM EARLY LEARNING Privacy Policy (website)
Last updated: 14 September 2026
About this Policy
Who we are
Byford Early Learning Pty Ltd ATF Byford Early Learning Trust, trading as LITTLEFARM EARLY LEARNING is referred to in this Policy as we, us or our.
Scope of this Policy
This Policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information through littlefarmel.com.au (website), our childcare enquiry and tour-booking processes, our recruitment process and related communications.
Our website does not create customer accounts, accept payments or complete childcare enrolments. We do not currently offer childcare enrolment through our website. If we later provide a link to a separate platform, that platform will operate under its own privacy practices and terms.
Compliance and consent
We comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and handle personal information that we collect in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). By providing personal information to us, you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Policy and any other arrangements that apply between us.
Key terms
Personal information means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether or not the information or opinion is true or recorded in a material form.
Personal information includes sensitive information, which is a particular category of personal information and includes health information. Other sensitive information that we may collect includes information about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs or affiliations, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual orientation or practices and criminal record.
Who the website is for
Our website is intended for parents and guardians making childcare enquiries and for people considering or applying for work. A parent, guardian or other authorised adult representative should make any enquiry concerning a child.
If you give us personal information about another person, including a child, co-parent, guardian, referee or emergency contact, you must be authorised to do so and must take reasonable steps to make them aware of this Policy.
Children’s personal information
We collect information about a child from a parent, guardian or other authorised adult, not directly from the child. We use that information only to respond to the relevant enquiry or tour, or as otherwise described in this Policy, and a parent or guardian may ask to access, correct or delete the information at any time using the process set out in this Policy.
What personal information we collect
The personal information we collect depends on how you interact with us.
We collect and hold personal information where it is reasonably necessary for one or more of our functions or activities, including for the purposes of identifying you, establishing your requirements or responding to your query.
Childcare enquiries and tour bookings
We may collect and hold personal information about you, the child and any other parent or guardian of the child, including (but not necessarily limited to):
your name, gender, address, email address, telephone number and preferred contact method
any other parent or guardian’s name, gender, address, email address, telephone number and preferred contact method
the child’s name, gender, date of birth, your relationship to the child and any other parent or guardian's relationship to the child
preferred care days, proposed start date and tour preferences
correspondence, notes, feedback and follow-up records
other information necessary for the purpose of carrying out our functions and activities, including sensitive information described below in this Policy
Please do not include health information or other sensitive information in a general website enquiry unless we specifically request it and explain why it is needed.
Employment and placement applications
We may collect and hold personal information about you including (but not necessarily limited to):
your name, age, gender, address, phone number, email address, and preferred contact method
your resume, cover letter, academic records, tertiary and professional qualifications, registrations, memberships, work history and employment preferences
your eligibility to work, role-related screening and background information, criminal and regulatory history and disciplinary record
third party reference details and information supplied by third party referees
correspondence, notes, feedback and follow-up records
other information necessary to assess your qualifications and suitability for a role with us, make observations, take references, and for the purpose of carrying out our functions and activities, including sensitive information described below in this Policy
Information about applicants who are not yet our employees may not be covered by the employee records exemption in the Privacy Act. We therefore handle recruitment information under this Policy and the applicable law.
Website and technical information
While we do not use browsing information to identify you personally, we may collect and hold personal information about you when you visit, access, use or interact with our website, including (but not be limited to):
IP address and approximate location
browser, device and operating system information
pages viewed, links selected, referring pages and visit times
cookie and analytics identifiers
interactions with forms and website features, such as whether an enquiry or tour-booking step was completed
Form fields are sent to the relevant form and enquiry provider so we can respond to a submission. We aim to configure website-measurement tools that are separate from that provider so they do not receive the contents of enquiry fields, employment and placement application fields or sensitive information.
Sensitive information
Sensitive information is a category of personal information that receives extra protection under the Privacy Act, including health information and information about racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, political opinions, sexual orientation and criminal record.
We may collect sensitive information where it is reasonably requested and you provide it to us, for example:
health information, such as allergies, medical conditions or dietary requirements, where relevant to a childcare enquiry, tour or a child’s safety and wellbeing
information about religious or cultural beliefs, where relevant to accommodating a child’s care, dietary or cultural needs
criminal record, working with children check status and other screening information, and information about professional or trade union memberships, where included in an employment or placement application
We only collect sensitive information where it is reasonably necessary for our functions or activities, and generally only where you have provided it to us voluntarily or in response to a specific request explaining why it is needed. By providing sensitive information to us, you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of it for the purpose for which it was provided and other purposes described in this Policy, unless we tell you otherwise or the law requires a separate consent.
We treat sensitive information with additional care and take extra steps, where appropriate, to limit who can access it and how long we retain it.
How we collect and hold personal information
We will generally only collect personal information:
directly from you through our website, online forms, emails, telephone calls, tours, interviews and other communications
from a parent, guardian or other person authorised to provide it
from referees, recruitment providers or publicly available professional sources for employment and placement applications
automatically through cookies and similar website technologies
from service providers that help us operate the website, manage enquiries, arrange tours, communicate with you, recruit staff, analyse website use or advertise our services
Where required, we will provide a collection notice at or before the time particular information is collected. This Policy provides broader information about our privacy practices.
Our website may also utilise user behaviour tracking technologies to better understand how our website is used. These technologies may passively collect a number of signals while you browse our website, including keyboard input and mouse movement. If collected, this data may be stored for later examination in connection with the purposes for which we collected data as described in this Policy.
How we hold personal information
We generally hold personal information electronically in systems used for website forms, enquiries, tour arrangements, recruitment, communications, document storage, security and business administration. These systems may be operated for us by authorised service providers.
Some information may also be held in email, text-message or telephone records, on access-controlled business devices, in backups, or in limited paper records if information is printed or created in physical form. Paper records, where used, are kept in secure premises or storage.
Why we collect, use and disclose personal information
Where we hold personal information that was collected for a particular (primary) purpose we will ordinarily use or disclose it only for that purpose and not for any other (secondary) purpose unless you have consented, or we are otherwise permitted or required to do so under the APPs, the Privacy Act, or another law.
The personal information that we collect is used primarily for the purpose of carrying out our functions and activities and related purposes, as well as the operation and functionality of our website, including (but not necessarily limited to):
responding to enquiries
arranging, confirming, changing or following up tours
understanding care preferences and possible availability
communicating about an enquiry or next steps
providing a link to an external enrolment platform if appropriate
receive, assess and respond to employment and placement applications
contacting third-party referees and carrying out lawful recruitment checks
operating, securing, maintaining and improving our website and our processes
measuring website performance
sending marketing communications where we have obtained your consent or where permitted by law
preventing misuse, investigating incidents and protecting our rights and the safety of others
adhering to our legal, regulatory, insurance and record-keeping obligations
obtaining professional, technical or legal assistance or advice
Cookies, analytics and advertising
We use cookies, tags and similar technologies on our website. These technologies can recognise your browser and device, measure the length of your visits and record the nature of your interactions. We use these technologies to improve our website and to help us protect our website and forms against spam and abuse. You can use browser settings, provider controls and any consent controls made available on the website to limit or disable some of these technologies, but our website may not work as intended for you if you do so.
We also use service providers to manage enquiries, communications and social media content. These providers may handle personal information collected under their own privacy policies. The services currently used in connection with our website, enquiries, communications and social media include:
Squarespace, our website platform and native form service
our connected enquiry, booking and communications system, which receives and manages information submitted through our forms
Google reCAPTCHA Enterprise, which helps protect forms against spam and abuse
Rella, which we use to plan and manage social media content
We endeavour to review our provider list and tracking configuration when our website, form or service-provider configurations are changed.
Marketing communications
Submitting a childcare enquiry, booking a tour or applying for a role does not by itself mean that you agree to receive unrelated marketing.
Where we ask for marketing consent, the choice should be separate and optional. If you receive electronic marketing from us, you can unsubscribe using the link or instructions in the message or contact us. We will action valid unsubscribe requests within the period required by law.
We may still send service communications that are reasonably necessary to respond to your enquiry, manage a tour or progress an employment or placement application.
Who we disclose information to
We may disclose personal information to:
our directors, employees and authorised contractors who need it for their work
website hosting, form, enquiry management, tour-booking and communications providers
recruitment, screening and reference-checking providers
website-measurement and technology providers
professional advisers, insurers and auditors
government agencies, regulators, courts, law enforcement bodies or other parties where required or authorised by law
another party involved in a proposed or completed restructure, sale or transfer of our business, subject to appropriate safeguards
relevant federal, state or territory authorities, for the purpose of investigating a health or safety issue, including a workplace health and safety matter or a child protection matter
a responsible person, such as a guardian or emergency contact, when conveying information about an individual, unless you have requested otherwise
We will never sell your personal data to third parties for commercial purposes. We will not disclose your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes without your consent.
Overseas (cross border) disclosure
We may engage external service providers who are located overseas and/or who store information outside of Australia. For example, our data storage providers or web hosts may use servers, systems, and cloud computing facilities located outside of Australia.
Whilst the use of overseas service providers will not always involve a disclosure of personal information, by providing us with your personal information, you consent to the possibility that it may be shared with overseas service providers and/or stored on overseas servers. We will also send your personal information overseas if you specifically ask us to.
Prior to knowingly disclosing or allowing disclosure of personal information to overseas recipients, we will:
take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient does not breach the APPs; or
seek to establish a reasonable belief that the overseas recipient is subject to protections which, overall, are at least substantially similar to those in the APPs (and which can be enforced).
We will, where practicable, update this Policy to list the countries in which any overseas recipients are likely to be located.
You may contact us if you do not want us to disclose your information to overseas recipients.
If in the future our cross-border disclosure practices change, this will occur only in accordance with the requirements of the Act and the APPs.
Separate enrolment platform and external links
We do not currently link to an external childcare enrolment platform from this website. If we later provide a link to an external platform, following it will not create a website account with us, and information entered into that platform will be collected by the platform or organisation identified there.
We are not responsible for a third party's privacy practices. We recommend you read the privacy policy and terms presented by that third party before providing information.
Photographs and images of children
Our website may include photographs, videos or images of children who attend the centre. These photographs are obtained separately from the website, generally as part of our enrolment or photography consent process, with the consent of the relevant parent or guardian. Some images displayed on the website may instead be stock or illustrative images that do not depict a child currently enrolled at the centre.
Where we use a photograph or image of your child, we will only do so with your consent, and you may withdraw that consent at any time by contacting us using the details in this Policy.
Use of the website, including any photograph, video or image displayed on it, is governed by our Terms of Use, which restrict visitors from copying, screenshotting or republishing a photograph, video or image of a child for any purpose other than their ordinary, personal, non-commercial use of the website.
If you are a parent or guardian and have a question or concern about a photograph or image of your child, including a request for it to be reviewed or removed, please contact us using the details in this Policy. We will consider your request as soon as reasonably practicable.
Data quality
We take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information we collect is accurate, up to date and complete. Before using or disclosing personal information, we also take reasonable steps to ensure it is accurate, up to date, complete and relevant for that purpose.
You can help by giving accurate information and telling us when important details change. You may also request access or correction using the process below.
Security
We use administrative, technical and physical safeguards that are reasonable in the circumstances to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
No internet transmission or storage system is completely secure. If an eligible data breach occurs, we will assess and respond to it in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme and other applicable obligations.
Retention and deletion
We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably required for the purposes described in this Policy and to meet legal, insurance, safeguarding and record-keeping obligations.
When information is no longer required and the law does not require us to keep it, we take reasonable steps to destroy it or de-identify it. Different information may have different retention periods, including enquiries, tour records, unsuccessful employment and placement applications and technical records.
Accessing your own data
You have the right to access the personal information that we hold about you.
To do so, a formal request can be sent to us. We may need to verify your identity before actioning your request. We will always endeavour to meet your request within a reasonable timeframe.
In some circumstances, your request for access may be denied in which case we will give you written reasons. Relevant circumstances to refuse your request may include (but are not necessarily limited to):
if we no longer hold any personal information about you;
if your request is frivolous or vexatious;
if the information requested relates to existing or anticipated legal proceedings and would not ordinarily be disclosed as part of those proceedings; and
if providing access would be unlawful, or the denying of access is required or allowed by law.
We may charge you a reasonable fee for access to some types of information, limited to the amount necessary to recover the costs incurred by us in complying with your request. Charges may include document retrieval, photocopying and delivery costs.
Correcting your personal information
It is important that the personal information we hold is accurate, up-to-date, and complete.
If you consider any of the personal information held by us may be incorrect or outdated, you may request we correct or update the information.
We may need to verify your identity before actioning your request and we may ask for additional information to confirm any requested amendments are accurate. We will endeavour to respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.
Changes to this Policy
We reserve the right to change this Policy as we may deem necessary from time to time or as may be required by law. Any changes will be immediately posted on our website and you are deemed to have accepted the terms of the Policy on your first use of the website following the alterations.
Contact us
If there are any questions, disputes, or grievances regarding this Policy or our handling of personal information, you may contact us at director@littlefarmel.com.au
If you are contacting us in relation to a privacy concern or complaint, please include the following information in your correspondence:
Explain the issue and the outcome you are seeking.
Provide enough information for us to investigate, but do not send unnecessary sensitive information.
We strive to resolve all issues in an appropriate timeframe.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).