Our approach
ML4Schools is built for schools, which means it's built for the students, teachers and families who trust us with their information. We collect as little as possible, keep it in Australia, never sell it, and design for students' best interests.
Where your data lives
- Hosted in Australia: Google Cloud's Sydney region (
australia-southeast1). Student and teacher information is primarily stored and processed in Australia. - Three narrow exceptions: sign-in (Firebase Authentication) runs on Google's global infrastructure and may route authentication data through overseas data centres; our transactional emails (such as contract-signing invites) are delivered by Resend via servers in Japan, carrying only the recipient's name and email address; and a global provider such as Google or Microsoft may occasionally access information from outside Australia for support or administration. In each case we rely on the provider's Data Processing Addendum (with Standard Contractual Clauses) so the information is handled to Australian Privacy Principle standards.
How we protect it
| Encryption | In transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest in Google Cloud |
| Access control | Role-based, least-privilege; only the two founders can reach the admin systems |
| Authentication | Sign-in through your school's Google or Microsoft identity provider; MFA enforced on our staff and admin systems |
| Audit logging | Administrative and system activity is logged |
| Automatic deactivation | Student access is revoked automatically when a school's contract ends, and student personal information is deleted within 180 days, or sooner on request |
Privacy by design
- Data minimisation: we collect only name, email, school identifier, year group and learning activity, with no sensitive information and nothing for advertising.
- We never sell student data and show no advertising to students.
- Machine learning runs in the browser: in our ML lab activities, the data students experiment with is processed on their own device and isn't sent to our servers. Students learn how AI works with their information staying with them.
Who we work with (sub-processors)
| Provider | What they do | Data disclosed | Where | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google LLC (Firebase / Firestore / Cloud Storage) cloud.google.com/privacy | Hosting, database, authentication, file storage | Student and teacher names, email addresses, school identifier, year group, class membership, learning progress and submitted work | Australia (Sydney); authentication on Google's global infrastructure | Google Cloud DPA + Standard Contractual Clauses |
| Google (Google Calendar / Google Meet) policies.google.com/privacy | Calendar entry and video meeting link for walkthroughs you book with us | Booking contact's name, email address, meeting time and any notes; no student information | Google's global infrastructure | Google terms of service |
| Wonde Pty Ltd wonde.com/legal/privacy | School MIS roster sync, with your school's authorisation | Student and teacher names, email addresses, school identifier, year group, class membership | Australia | Wonde DPA; authorised by the school |
| Microsoft (Microsoft 365) microsoft.com | Support and notification email | Names and email addresses of school contacts | Global (Microsoft's DPA applies) | Microsoft DPA |
| Resend, Inc. resend.com/legal/privacy-policy | Transactional email delivery (contract-signing invitations, service notifications) | Recipient name and email address, school contract contacts only; no student information | Japan (AWS ap-northeast-1) | Resend DPA + Standard Contractual Clauses |
Electronic contract signing is handled by DocuSeal, which we self-host on our own infrastructure, so it isn't a third-party sub-processor. We give schools at least 30 days' notice before changing sub-processors.
Verifying it's really us
Fake e-signature emails are one of the most common phishing tricks. Ours are easy to check, because the process always looks the same:
- Contract-signing emails come from one address only:
[email protected]. - Signing links always begin with
https://signing.ml4schools.com.au. Signing happens on our own domain, on infrastructure we host and control ourselves. We never use third-party signing sites, link shorteners, or links inside attachments. - You'll know it's coming. Your ML4Schools contact will tell you a signing request is on its way before we send it. An unexpected signing request is a red flag, so check with us first.
- We will never ask for your password or payment details in a signing email, or ask you to "log in to verify your account".
If anything doesn't match (a different sender, a different link, an unexpected request), don't click it. Contact your ML4Schools representative directly, or forward the email to [email protected] (Email us) and we'll confirm within one business day.
Data breaches
If a breach ever occurs that's likely to cause serious harm, we contain and assess it immediately, notify the affected school within 72 hours, and support any notification required under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.
Our compliance posture
- We handle personal information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles, by choice and by contract with every school, regardless of our size.
- We're preparing for the Children's Online Privacy Code (registers December 2026).
- We're working toward a Safer Technologies 4 Schools (ST4S) assessment, the national schools security-and-privacy standard.
Talk to us
Security or privacy questions: [email protected] (Email us). We're happy to walk school IT and procurement teams through any of the above, and to share our Data Map and policies on request.
See also our Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, AI Use Statement and Accessibility Statement.