Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Welcome to Markella. We are committed to protecting your privacy and being transparent about how we handle your personal data. This policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard information when you use our Welsh exam prep platform, in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

2. Data We Collect

To provide our exam practice services, we collect the following types of information:

• Account Details: Name, email address, and account password.
• Academic Profile: Subject choices, target grades, and year group.
• Performance Data: Your answers to mock papers, quiz scores, and progress through revision modules.
• Uploaded Content: Any documents or notes you upload to the Study Helper.
• Technical Data: IP address, browser type, and device information.

Lawful Basis for Processing

We process your data under the following legal bases:

• (a) Contract performance — to provide the exam preparation services you have signed up for.
• (b) Legitimate interests — to improve our platform and ensure security.
• (c) Consent — for optional analytics cookies and marketing communications.

For users under 18, we take additional care to ensure processing is in their best interests.

3. How We Use Data

We process your data for specific purposes that help you succeed in your exams:

• To create and manage your personal study dashboard.
• To provide personalized feedback on your "exam-board style" practice answers.
• To track your progress and identify areas for improvement.
• To communicate important service updates or response to support requests.
• To improve our AI algorithms for better educational guidance.

4. AI & Data Processing

Our AI Help and marking tools process your academic input to provide guidance. We ensure that:

• AI guidance is strictly limited to explaining concepts and providing hints.
• Your personal identity is never shared with third-party AI model providers.
• We do not use your data to "train" public AI models in a way that could identify you.
• Human oversight is maintained to ensure educational accuracy.

5. Student Protections

As an education platform, we take extra care with student data:

• We do not display public profiles or allow unsolicited contact between users.
• Our marketing is strictly educational and never targets students with non-academic products.
• We provide parent/guardian controls where applicable for younger users.
• We comply with all UK and Welsh Government education data protection guidelines.

6. Data Storage

All personal data is stored on secure servers located within the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area (EEA). We use industry-standard encryption (AES-256) to protect your data both at rest and during transmission.

Some of our service providers (including AI processing and payment services) may process data outside the UK. Where this occurs, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the ICO.

7. Data Sharing

We never sell your personal data. We only share information with:

• Service Providers: Secure cloud hosting and email delivery partners.
• Payment Processors: To handle subscriptions securely.
• Legal Authorities: Only when required by UK law.

8. Payment Security

Financial transactions are handled through Stripe, our PCI-DSS compliant payment partner. Markella does not store your full credit card details on our own servers. For more information, please refer to the Stripe Privacy Policy.

9. Cookies & Tracking

We use essential cookies to keep you logged in and functional cookies to remember your study preferences. Analytical cookies help us understand how students use the platform to improve the learning experience. You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings.

10. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your data:

• Access: Request a copy of the data we hold about you.
• Correction: Ask us to fix inaccurate information.
• Erasure: Request that we delete your account and data.
• Restriction: Ask us to stop processing your data temporarily.
• Portability: Request your data in a machine-readable format.
• Object: Right to object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Automated Decisions: Right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing, including profiling.

11. Data Retention

We keep your data as long as your account is active. If an account remains inactive for more than 24 months, we will contact you before securely deleting your performance data. We may retain anonymized data for research purposes to improve education outcomes in Wales.

12. Policy Updates

We may update this policy to reflect changes in our service or legal requirements. We will notify you of any significant changes via email or a prominent notice on our website.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact our Data Protection Officer at:

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed.