Privacy Policy


About LEAPS

LEAPS is a successful and unique widening participation programme, funded by its higher education institution and local council partners to increase progression to higher education in South East Scotland. We aim to encourage and advise students who are traditionally under-represented in higher education and we currently work with state secondary schools throughout South East Scotland, supporting pupils who match LEAPS eligibility criteria. LEAPS is also supported by Skills Development Scotland and delivers the Scottish Funding Council's Schools for Higher Education Programme (SHEP) in South East Scotland. LEAPS is hosted by the University of Edinburgh.

Information about you: how we use it and with whom we share it

Please note that the information you provide, and how we use it, will depend on your level of engagement with us but it may be used by LEAPS:

  • To administer your involvement in the LEAPS programme (including our events and the LEAPS Transitions Course, if participating).
  • To provide you with personalised information, advice and guidance regarding your current, Further and Higher Education.
  • To inform you of information, activities and events that may support your interest in and transition to Further and Higher Education.
  • To inform UCAS and Further and Higher Education Institutions in the UK and abroad of your engagement in the LEAPS programme. This includes your LEAPS eligibility status (if confirmed) being included on your UCAS application, for Higher Education Institutions to see.
  • To liaise with the Higher Education Institutions you have applied to, in order to discuss any issues or queries you may have around applications and offers.
  • To allow Higher Education Institutions to speak to us on your behalf about any issues or queries you may have around applications and offers.
  • To undertake research, analysis and reporting to support the ongoing evaluation and development of the LEAPS programme.

If you are participating in the LEAPS Transitions Course, information about you may also be used by LEAPS:

  • To update the Scottish Government professional benchmarking tool  Insight, used for analysing attainment data in the senior phase (accessible by secondary schools and local authorities). We will provide individual-level data sets to the Education Analytical Services Team at the Scottish Government, who will update Insight. This will include candidate data, qualifications data, attainment data and results contribution data. Insight information will not be made publicly available at a level which allows identification of an individual.
  • To inform your school (where relevant) of your engagement in the LEAPS Transitions Course, including data relating to your participation, completion and attainment. This is so that your school can support you throughout the course.
  • To inform UCAS and Higher Education Institutions in the UK and abroad (where relevant) of your engagement in the LEAPS Transitions Course, including data relating to your participation, completion and attainment. This is so that it can be taken into consideration from an admissions perspective by Higher Education Institutions.

LEAPS uses some external companies to process information about you in order to facilitate communications. We use Dotdigital and TextAnywhere to do this. You can unsubscribe from Dotdigital emails by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the foot of the email campaign. You can unsubscribe from TextAnywhere messages by texting the word STOP back by return.

  • We are using information about you because it is in your, and our, legitimate interest for us to do so. By processing your information, LEAPS can liaise with you directly to administer your involvement in the LEAPS programme (including our events) and to support your interest in and transition to Further and Higher Education.
  • With specific regard to the LEAPS Transitions Course and the updating of Scottish Government professional benchmarking tool Insight, we are processing information about you because it is in the public interest for us to do so.

Information about you may be shared with:

  • Your school.
  • Further and Higher Education Institutions in the UK and abroad.
  • UCAS
  • Scottish Government
  • Local Authorities
  • Organisations involved in co-delivering LEAPS events. (These organisations will be outlined when you register for LEAPS events, or as soon as possible thereafter).
  • Skills Development Scotland.
  • Reference providers (as detailed by you when applying for a role with LEAPS).

International transfers

In order to provide and maintain the LEAPS service, we use a service provider located outside the EEA, based in New Zealand. New Zealand has received an “adequacy decision” from the UK Government. This means that the UK Government has decided that New Zealand's local laws ensure an adequate level of protection for your personal data, without the need for additional safeguards.

We will hold the personal data you provided us for up to 3 years. After this time all identifiable personal data will be deleted and the remaining data will be held in an anonymised format.

We do not use profiling or automated decision-making processes.

If you have any questions or you would like to change your communications preferences, please contact the LEAPS Office at leaps@ed.ac.uk.

This privacy statement is continued at:
Continued privacy notice