River Bible School Student Privacy Notice

What information we process

Depending on your relationship with River Bible School, we may process identity and contact details, application and admissions information, student and academic records, attendance, ministry-requirement progress, tuition and payment information, Student Portal account and security information, administrative or disciplinary records, and technical/security logs.

Because River Bible School is a Christian ministry school, applications and school administration may also involve information revealing religious beliefs, testimony, church involvement, calling, or ministry activity. This can be special-category personal data under Article 9 GDPR.

Why we process it and our legal bases

We use personal data to administer enrollment and the student relationship, deliver classes, record attendance and academic progress, manage tuition, communicate necessary school information, enforce school policies, protect River Platform, meet legal obligations, and establish or defend legal claims.

For enrolled students, processing necessary to perform the student relationship will generally rely on Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. Processing required by a specific legal obligation may rely on Article 6(1)(c). Appropriate legitimate interests may apply to matters such as platform security, fraud prevention, institutional administration, and legal claims where the required balancing test supports that basis.

For religious or other special-category data of enrolled students, Article 9(2)(d) GDPR may apply because of the student's continuing relationship with the religious non-profit organization, where its conditions are met. Where consent is the appropriate basis, it must be separate, affirmative, and voluntary.

Photos, video, testimonials, and marketing

Enrollment does not automatically authorize public photo, video, testimonial, marketing, or promotional use. Where River relies on consent for identifiable public media, that consent is handled separately. Where the material reveals religious beliefs, the applicable special-category consent requirements also apply. Optional marketing is separate from communications necessary to operate the school.

Who can access your information

Access is limited according to role and legitimate operational need. A spouse, parent, family member, pastor, employer, church leader, ministry leader, or friend does not automatically have a right to access an adult student's River Bible School records. We disclose information only where the student authorizes it or another valid legal basis permits or requires disclosure.

Service providers and international transfers

River uses service providers necessary to operate River Platform. This includes Hetzner for hosting and backup/storage infrastructure, Laravel Forge for server provisioning and deployment operations, and Resend for transactional email delivery. Resend's processing may involve the United States and subprocessors such as Amazon Web Services. Applicable processor agreements and transfer safeguards, including Standard Contractual Clauses where required, are used for these relationships.

Provider access and locations may change as services change. River reviews material provider or transfer changes and updates its compliance documentation and this notice where required.

How long we keep information

• Applications from people who do not enroll are normally deleted after six months unless another lawful reason requires longer retention.
• For enrolled students, ordinary admission and contractual records are normally retained until the end of the third calendar year after graduation or withdrawal.
• Religious narratives such as testimony or calling are normally retained during enrollment and for no more than six months afterward unless another continuing purpose and legal basis is documented.
• A limited long-term academic record, such as identity, student number, enrollment/completion dates, grades, final status, transcripts, and certificates, may be retained longer where continuing academic-verification necessity is documented.
• Routine administrative notes and minor disciplinary matters are ordinarily deleted no later than one year after the student relationship ends. Serious final disciplinary decisions may be retained until the end of the third calendar year after the relationship ends, subject to restricted access.
• Security and audit logs are normally retained for 12 months unless an investigation, legal claim, incident, or legal obligation requires longer retention.
• Tuition and accounting records are retained according to the German statutory period applicable to the relevant document category.
• Legal holds, safeguarding matters, criminal allegations, litigation, or reasonably anticipated proceedings may require case-specific longer retention under human review.

Private Student Journal

My Journal is designed as a private student area and is not intended for ordinary administrative reading. Former students are given an opportunity to export their journal, and journal data is subject to the approved post-exit deletion lifecycle.

Security

River uses technical and organizational safeguards appropriate to the risk, including authentication, server-side authorization, role permissions, validation, secure sessions, backups, audit/security logging, and access controls. No security measure eliminates all risk, but River reviews and improves these controls as part of platform operations.

Your GDPR rights

Subject to applicable law and any relevant limitations, you may have rights to access, correction, erasure, restriction, objection, portability, and withdrawal of consent where consent is used. You may also lodge a complaint with the competent data-protection supervisory authority.

River may request reasonable identity verification before releasing or changing protected personal data. Graduation, withdrawal, dismissal, or loss of Student Portal access does not remove applicable privacy rights.

Security incidents and legal requests

River documents and responds to personal-data incidents and makes notifications required by Articles 33 and 34 GDPR. Where Article 33 requires supervisory-authority notification, the applicable deadline is generally within 72 hours after River becomes aware of the breach.

River does not automatically disclose student data merely because a government body, police body, regulator, court, or other authority requests it. River verifies the requester and legal authority, limits disclosure appropriately, and documents disclosures where appropriate.

Changes and contact

River may update this notice when River Bible School operations, River Platform, service providers, legal requirements, or processing practices materially change. Material changes are versioned so the applicable notice can be identified.

Questions and data-protection requests: info@riverfrankfurt.com.