Privacy policy

Food Resilience School NZ ("we", "us", "our") is operated by Vector Group Charitable Trust (registration CC45966) and built by Te Puke Digital. We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020 (New Zealand). This policy explains what we collect on https://foodresilience.school.nz, why we use it, and your choices.

Our parent charity also publishes a VGCT privacy policy covering wider programmes. Use this page for the school learning platform specifically.

Information we collect

• Account details — when you sign up or sign in (including via Google), we store your email address, display name, optional username, avatar, and role assignments needed to run courses and cohorts.
• Learning activity — course enrolments, lesson progress, quiz responses, reflections, SCORM completion data, and certificates you earn on the platform.
• Community content — posts, comments, likes, and community subscriptions when you use the feed, browse communities, or receive notifications.
• Enquiries and feedback — name, email, and message content when you submit the contact or feedback forms (including bug reports and feature requests).
• Creator applications — if you apply to teach, we store your application details (expertise and course pitch are kept for admin review; approved public profile fields such as organisation and profile links may be published as described below).
• Events — RSVP status and reminders for workshops you register for.
• Technical data — IP address, browser type, device information, and pages visited, collected through hosting logs, essential cookies needed to keep you signed in, and optional analytics (Google Analytics with IP anonymisation) to understand site use.
• Optional notifications — if you enable web push (PWA), we store subscription endpoints to send reminders you opt into.

How we use your information

• To provide courses, workshops, cohorts, and certificates.
• To operate the community feed, communities, and mentor/admin tools.
• To review creator applications and publish approved provider profiles.
• To sync public workshop listings with Kai Resilience and partner directories when staff publish events.
• To improve content, fix errors, and report on programme outcomes (often in aggregate for grant reporting).
• To respond to enquiries and comply with legal obligations.

Public profiles and feed

If you set a public username, your profile page at /u/your-name may show your display name, avatar, engagement level, and learning stats. Approved creator profiles may also show organisation name and profile links you supplied in your application. Feed posts and comments in community spaces are visible to members of those communities (and staff). Do not post personal information you do not want others in a community to see.

Cookies and sign-in

We use session cookies and similar technologies so you can stay signed in and use protected pages securely. You can block cookies in your browser, but parts of the site (including lesson players and the feed) may not work without them.

Service providers

We use trusted providers to run the platform, including hosting (Vercel), database and authentication (Supabase), email delivery (e.g. Resend for contact and feedback notifications), analytics (Google Analytics), and optional AI or knowledge tools for staff course building. These providers process data on our behalf and are required to protect it. Google Sign-In is subject to Google's Privacy Policy when you choose that login option.

Storage and security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information on managed, access-controlled infrastructure. No online service can be guaranteed completely secure, but we work to prevent loss, misuse, and unauthorised access.

Children and youth programmes

Some VGCT programmes involve young people. If you are under 16, use the platform with a parent, caregiver, or school coordinator's knowledge. Contact us if you need an account removed or corrected.

Your rights

Under the Privacy Act 2020 you may request access to, or correction of, personal information we hold about you. You can update much of your profile in Settings. For deletion requests or privacy questions, use our contact page (programme and privacy enquiries). For site bugs or broken features, use Feedback.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (privacy.org.nz).

Changes

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top will change when we do. Continued use of the site after changes means you accept the updated policy.