Privacy notice

Who is responsible

Raven Design operates The Academy and is responsible for your information (the "controller"). Contact us about anything on this page at hello@theacademy.ie.

Tutorials and downloads

You can read every tutorial and download every file without giving us any details. The downloads contain only made-up example data.

When you sign up for a free class

The signup form asks for:

• your first name (or what you'd like to be called) and your email address;
• optionally, what you'd like the class to cover. Please don't include customer names, contact details or anything confidential.

We use this to keep the class list, tell you when the date is set, send you the joining details and any changes, and let you free up your place. We may use the optional question to shape what the class covers, without naming you. The legal basis is that you asked us to provide the class (steps at your request and providing the service), plus our legitimate interest in keeping the form secure.

To stop spam, the form records a scrambled (one-way hashed) version of your internet address for up to a day, to limit how many times it can be submitted. We can't turn it back into your address. Your email address is also stored as a scrambled value so we can spot a second signup from the same address.

If you come to the class, we note whether you attended, so we know how many people the class actually helped. We don't record attendees, and we don't publish names, faces, quotes or questions from a class. If we ever wanted to, we'd ask you separately, and saying no would change nothing.

No marketing. Signing up for a class doesn't add you to a newsletter or any marketing list. We'll only email you about that class.

The class platform

Classes are online. We'll name the video platform (for example Google Meet, Zoom or Microsoft Teams) on the class page and in the email with the date, before you join. That provider handles the call under its own privacy terms. We won't give it your details: you join with the link we send.

Emails

Class emails come from hello@theacademy.ie and go through our own mail server. If you email us, for example to ask about paid help, we use what you send only to reply and follow up.

How long we keep it

• Class signups (name, email, question, attendance): deleted automatically 90 days after the class. If the class never gets a date, deleted 12 months after you signed up.
• If you take yourself off a class list: deleted within 30 days.
• The text of emails we send you: removed from our system 30 days after sending.
• Emails you send us: for as long as we need them to reply and follow up, and no longer than 24 months.

Using this website

Matomo. We count visits and downloads with Matomo, which we host ourselves. It records things like pages viewed, files downloaded, approximate location and device type, with internet addresses anonymised.

Google Analytics. The home page also uses Google Analytics 4 to measure visits. Google may process that data outside the EU. The tutorials, class pages and the signup form don't use it.

The signup form itself uses no analytics at all.

Who sees it

Only the small team running The Academy. The site, database and email are hosted by webworld.ie in Ireland. We don't sell or share your information with anyone else, unless the law requires it.

Earlier versions of this site

Until 2 October 2026 this site took applications to volunteer on our projects. Nobody applied before it closed, so we hold no applications. An even earlier version had an application form run by Tally, which has also closed. If you sent either and want to know what we hold, or want it deleted, email hello@theacademy.ie.

Your rights

You can ask to see what we hold about you, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, or get a copy to take elsewhere. Email hello@theacademy.ie and we'll reply within a month.

If you're not happy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the Data Protection Commission.

Changes

If we change how we use your information, we'll update this page and its version number. Class signups are handled under the version that was current when you signed up.