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. We are developing a separate process that requires verifiable parental or guardian consent before any account is created for, or any personal information is collected from, a person under 15.
We do not collect personal information about you on our servers. Your lesson progress and points are stored only in your browser's local storage on your device. A random identifier may be stored locally to count visits; this stays on your device unless you consent to analytics (see section 5).
| 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). |
| Tutoring (if you subscribe to a tutor) | Your subscription tier and status; records of tutoring sessions you book and attend; messages exchanged with your tutor. We store internal payment-processor references (Stripe customer and subscription IDs) to manage billing, these are never exposed to you or other users. |
| 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. Where you consent to analytics, we also record in-app activity such as pages viewed and buttons clicked (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 |
|---|---|
| Supabase | Database, account authentication, and hosting of your account data. Hosted in Australia (Sydney). |
| "Sign in with Google" authentication; web fonts. | |
| Stripe | Payment processing for tutoring subscriptions. We pass only what is necessary to process payments; we never store your card details. |
| 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.
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.
We only collect behavioural analytics (such as pages viewed and buttons clicked) if you have given consent via our consent banner. You can change your 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, web fonts, 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected]. 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: [email protected]
New South Wales, Australia