This Privacy Policy explains how Kyle James (trading as HSCScience) ("we", "us", "our"), operator of HSCScience (the "Service"), collects, uses, discloses and protects your personal information. We are committed to handling personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
HSCScience is an independent educational resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) or the NSW Government.
The Service is designed for school students, including students who are minors. We follow a principle of data minimisation: you can use all lessons anonymously without giving us any personal information, and every account is given a system-generated nickname ("codename") so you can take part in features like leaderboards without revealing your identity.
Accounts are currently limited to people aged 15 or older. If you are under 15, you may continue to use lessons anonymously, but you cannot yet create an account. Our account and contact forms ask you to declare your age group before entering contact details. This is a self-declaration, not identity verification; we do not collect your date of birth. Under-15 students must not join our email lists or submit personal details. A parent or guardian may contact us using their own details to ask about tutoring for a younger student. If we learn that an under-15 student has supplied personal information, we will stop optional communications and arrange appropriate removal or parental handling.
You can read lessons without supplying your name or email address and without creating an account. Your lesson progress and points are stored in your browser's local storage on your device. Our hosting and security providers may receive technical information when you connect, as described in section 2.4.
We also record a limited set of pseudonymous usage events, such as page visits, button clicks and quiz completion. These use random visitor and session identifiers, together with page, device category and acquisition information. An identifier can recognise the same browser over time; it is not the same as removing all possibility of identification. If you later sign in and consent to account-linked analytics, activity may be associated with your account. See section 5.
Some parts of the Service let you send us your details without creating an account, for example asking us to email you a free study resource, or making a tutoring or program enquiry. If you do this, we store what you submit on our servers so we can reply to you.
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Free resource requests | Your email address, and your first name if you choose to give it. We use these to email you the resource you asked for and, where you have agreed, occasional HSC study resources and information about our programs. |
| Tutoring and program enquiries | The contact and enquiry details you submit, such as your name, email address, the subject and year you are asking about, and your message, so we can respond. |
You can ask us to stop sending you email at any time, using the unsubscribe link in our marketing emails or by contacting us (section 13). We do not sell your information or pass it to third parties for their own marketing.
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Account identifiers | Email address (via Google sign-in or a one-time email link); a self-declaration that you are 15 or older. |
| Profile | System-generated codename; optional chosen display handle; optional first name (first name only, we do not store surnames); year level; subjects you study. |
| Learning & activity | Lessons visited and completed; study streaks; experience points (XP), coins, and a record ("ledger") of points awarded; weekly quiz results (when available). |
| Paid tutoring and programs (if you enrol) | Which program you are enrolled in and your enrolment status; records of sessions you book and attend; work you submit for marking and the feedback given; messages exchanged with your teacher. Tutoring is arranged and paid for directly with us, and we do not store your card or bank details. |
| Consent records | What you consented to and when (e.g. this policy, analytics, appearing on leaderboards), and any withdrawal of consent. |
| Optional, opt-in (later releases) | School name and postcode (only if you choose to join school/suburb leaderboards); cosmetic items you unlock. |
We do not copy your full name from your Google account into our database. Your email and basic Google profile data are held by our authentication provider (see section 4).
Like most online services, our providers may automatically receive technical information such as your IP address, browser type and device information when you connect. We also record the anonymous usage events described in section 2.1, and, if you are signed in and have consented, we may link that in-app activity to your account (see section 5).
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.
We use trusted service providers ("processors") who handle data on our behalf under contract:
| Provider | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Website hosting, content delivery and security. |
| Supabase | Database, account authentication, and hosting of your account data. Hosted in Australia (Sydney). |
| "Sign in with Google" authentication. Web fonts are hosted on our own site. | |
| jsDelivr (CDN) | Delivery of common code libraries used by the site. |
| PeerJS | Connection brokering for multiplayer games (a later feature). |
We may also disclose information if required by law, or to protect the rights, safety and security of users and the Service.
Our Year 12 Biology and Chemistry Module 5 video cards link to YouTube. These cards do not load YouTube players, thumbnails or other YouTube resources when you open a lesson or module page. Following a video link opens YouTube, a Google service, which may receive technical information such as your IP address and browser information. That external service is covered by the Google Privacy Policy and YouTube Terms of Service.
We use your browser's local storage to make the Service work (for example, to remember your progress and settings). This is functional, not advertising tracking.
Usage events. Our own analytics measure page visits, engagement and selected actions using the identifiers described in section 2.1. This is event analytics, not session replay or a recording of typed keystrokes. We do not sell these events or share them with advertisers. You can opt out in your profile settings or use your browser's Do Not Track setting.
If you are signed in, we only link behavioural analytics to your account if you have given consent, and you can change that choice at any time in your profile settings. Lesson progress needed to run your account is not optional analytics, it is core functionality covered by your acceptance of this policy at sign-up.
Our account database and authentication are hosted in Australia (Sydney) via Supabase. Other providers (such as Google sign-in and content delivery) may process data in the United States. By using the Service and creating an account, you acknowledge that some information may be handled by these overseas processors. We take reasonable steps to ensure all providers protect your information to a standard consistent with the APPs.
We use technical measures to protect your information, including access controls (database row-level security so users can only access their own data) and encryption of data in transit. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, loss, and unauthorised access.
If you have an account, you can:
You can also contact us at kyle.a.james33@gmail.com to make an access or correction request. We will respond within a reasonable time.
Where we rely on your consent (for example, analytics, or appearing on leaderboards), you can withdraw it at any time in your profile settings. Withdrawing consent will stop the relevant collection or display going forward; it does not affect anything done before you withdrew.
We keep your account information for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we delete your associated personal information within 30 days, except where we are required to retain certain records by law. We also delete accounts that have been inactive for 24 months, after attempting to notify you first.
If you have a concern about how we handle your personal information, please contact us at kyle.a.james33@gmail.com. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au.
We may update this policy as the Service changes (for example, when we launch school/suburb leaderboards, multiplayer, or the under-15 process). We will update the "last updated" date and, where changes are significant, take reasonable steps to notify you.
Kyle James (trading as HSCScience)
Email: kyle.a.james33@gmail.com
New South Wales, Australia