The Disability and Dyslexia Service offers a confidential service to all disabled students, applicants and enquirers.

As an applicant or student, you are encouraged to disclose information about your impairment and support needs to the Service, secure in the knowledge that this information will be dealt with confidentially and sensitively.

It is not necessary for you to disclose the details of your impairment or specific learning difficulty to teaching staff in order to have your needs met. For example, a frequent recommendation by the Service to Schools is that the ''student may need to be absent for genuine medical reasons''. This means that you will not be penalised for non-attendance, and that specific reason for this has not been disclosed.

In the first instance it is our practice to deal with all enquiries directly with the individual concerned. Where there are valid reasons for discussions to take place with others, such as parents or guardians, these will only take place with the student's or applicant's explicit consent.

In exceptional circumstances, where a student is considered to pose a serious risk to themselves or others, we will inform the Student Services Manager.

• Confidentiality Statement

Data Protection

We process all personal and sensitive data in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

The Disability and Dyslexia Service keeps any information provided by students confidential unless consent has been given by the student or, in exceptional circumstances, where we are required to do so by law.

The files kept by the Disability and Dyslexia Service are stored securely and destroyed after 6 years.

Students of the service have the right to access their file. Ten working days' notice is required.