privacy

1. Who is responsible for your data?

The data controller is:

Pieter de Planque

Pieter's Experimental Language School (PELS)

Hoofdweg 301-3, 1057CZ, Amsterdam

pieter@pels-school.nl

2. What personal data do we collect?

We collect the following personal data when you sign up, contact us or book a meeting:

First and last name
Email address
Phone number (if provided)
Course preferences (level, group size)
Any messages or questions you send us

We do not collect any sensitive personal data (such as health information, nationality or financial details beyond what is needed for payment).

3. Why do we collect your data?

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To process your registration or waitlist sign-up for a PELS course
To contact you with information about your course, schedule or enrollment
To send updates about upcoming pilots and new courses (only if you have signed up for the mailing list)
To process payments for course fees
To improve our courses and teaching methods based on your feedback

We only use your data for the purposes listed above. We will never use your data for unrelated marketing or sell it to third parties.

4. Legal basis for processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases under the GDPR:

Contract: processing is necessary to fulfill your course registration or enrollment
Legitimate interest: to contact you about your course and send relevant updates
Consent: for the mailing list, we only send updates if you have actively signed up

5. How long do we keep your data?

We keep your personal data for as long as necessary for the purposes described above:

Student enrollment data is kept for up to 2 years after the end of your course
Mailing list data is kept until you unsubscribe
Payment records are kept for 7 years in accordance with Dutch tax law

After these periods, your data will be securely deleted.

6. Who do we share your data with?

We use a small number of trusted third-party tools to run PELS. Your data may be processed by:

Google (Gmail, Google Drive, Google Forms) — for communication, file storage and anonymous feedback forms. Google is GDPR compliant.
Calendly — for scheduling introduction meetings and private lessons. Calendly is GDPR compliant.
Mollie or Knab Betaalverzoek — for processing course fee payments. These providers are GDPR compliant and subject to Dutch financial regulations.

We do not share your data with any other third parties. We do not sell your data.

7. Your rights under the GDPR

As a data subject, you have the following rights:

Right of access: you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct any inaccurate data
Right to erasure: you can ask us to delete your personal data
Right to restriction: you can ask us to limit how we use your data
Right to object: you can object to us processing your data for certain purposes
Right to data portability: you can ask us to provide your data in a portable format

To exercise any of these rights, please send an email to pieter@pels-school.nl. We will respond within 30 days.

8. Mailing list

If you sign up for the PELS mailing list, you will receive occasional updates about new pilots, course announcements and school news. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email or by emailing pieter@pels-school.nl.

9. Cookies

The PELS website (pelsschool.nl) may use basic cookies for website functionality. We do not use tracking cookies or third-party advertising cookies. If this changes in the future, we will update this policy and ask for your consent where required.

10. Data security

We take appropriate measures to protect your personal data against unauthorized access, loss or misuse. Access to your data is limited to Pieter de Planque only. All third-party tools we use (Google, Calendly, Mollie) apply their own security measures in line with GDPR requirements.

11. Complaints

If you have a complaint about how we handle your personal data, you can contact us at pieter@pels-school.nl. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) at www.autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The most recent version will always be available on our website at pelsschool.nl. The date at the top of this document indicates when it was last updated.

Questions about this policy? Contact Pieter at pieter@pels-school.nl

Privacy Policy