Privacy Policy

Last updated October 2026

This policy explains what personal data Arrival Academy collects, why, and your rights over it. The data controller is Arrival Academy Ltd, Flat 4, 18 Cavendish Road, BH1 1RF. For any privacy request, email hello@arrivalacademy.com.

What we collect

Account details — your name, email, password (stored encrypted), nationality, and optionally your first language and destination university.
From your education agent — when an agent issues you an access code they record your name and nationality so the code can be prepared for you.
From your university or school — if it added you, what it gives us: your name and email, and optionally your nationality, programme, study level and arrival date.
Your university's page — if your university added you: which of its steps you have ticked, when you open its page and which parts, which of its buttons and calendar links you use, and, when something you ask in its Ask box matches nothing on the page, the main words of what you asked.
Your documents — copies you choose to upload of your own documents, such as your passport or visa letter (see below).
Learning activity — your progress through lessons, quiz results, and course completion, so we can save your place and issue your certificate.
AI study assistant — the messages you send to the assistant, which are processed to generate a reply. We don't keep the conversation. If you report one of its answers in our app, we keep that answer, the question you asked before it and the reason you chose, so we can review it; we keep this while your account is active and delete it with your account. Your university or school doesn't see it.
Notifications — the notifications we send you (announcements from your university, reminders, and messages timed to your arrival), whether you have opened them (in the app, or by clicking the button in an email), and the notification settings you choose.
Our app — if you use the Arrival Academy app and allow notifications: the address Apple or Google gives your phone for notifications, the app version, your phone's model and its time zone. If you turn on Face ID or fingerprint lock, your phone checks it; we never receive your face or fingerprint.
Essential technical data — a login (session) cookie, and basic security and operational logs.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

To provide the course, save your progress and issue certificates — to perform our contract with you.
To personalise your pronunciation practice using your first language — on this basis and with your choice to provide it.
To send you notifications about your preparation and your university, and to email you about announcements, new events and your university's steps when a notification can't reach your phone (for example, you don't use the app) — to provide the service, and in our legitimate interest in helping you arrive prepared. Phone notifications are only sent if you allow them on your phone, and you can turn any of them, or the emails, off in the app (each email also has a link to stop them). If you turn phone notifications off in the app, we don't email them instead.
To keep the service secure and prevent misuse, and to run our business — our legitimate interests.
To meet legal, tax and accounting obligations — to comply with the law.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only with the service providers that run the platform for us, under contract and only as needed:

Supabase — secure database, sign-in and file storage.
Bunny Stream — delivers the course videos.
Resend — sends transactional emails (e.g. account notices and notification emails).
Apple and Google — deliver notifications to your phone if you use our app (Apple Push Notification service and Firebase Cloud Messaging). They receive the notification and your phone's notification address.
Vercel — hosts the website.
Anthropic — powers the AI study assistant; your messages to it are processed to produce answers.
Your education agent — if you redeemed their code, they can see that it was redeemed, for their own records.
Your university or school — if it added you, or you joined with its sign-up code (see below).

Some providers may process data outside the UK/EEA. Where they do, appropriate safeguards (such as UK/EU approved contractual clauses) are in place.

If your university or school added you

If your university or school added you to Arrival Academy, or you joined with its sign-up code, it is the controller of your personal data and we process it on its behalf, under an agreement with it. It can see:

whether you have activated your account, and when you last used it;
your progress through the lessons, and which steps of your arrival checklist are done (not what you write in them);
which of the university's own steps you have ticked;
when you open the university's page and which parts, and which of its buttons and calendar links you use;
what students search for on its page that the page doesn't cover: the main words only, shown once two or more students have searched for the same thing, and never who searched;
whether a parent or guardian is linked to your account;
for each message timed to students' arrival, how many were sent, how many were opened and how many students went on to do what it asked: totals, not who;
if it offers the wellbeing check-in, how students are feeling overall, and your name, email, mood and note only if you ask it to contact you (see below).

It cannot see the details you write in your own checklist, what you ask the AI study assistant (beyond those counted searches) or what it answers, or your notifications and notification settings. To ask how your university uses your information, contact the university directly; you can also email us.

Wellbeing check-ins

Some universities offer a wellbeing check-in on their page. It is optional for the university and for you, and it is not an emergency service: if you need help now, call 999, NHS 111 or Samaritans on 116 123, or your local emergency number if you are not in the UK yet.

If you only say how you are feeling, we keep your answer without your name or any link to your account. Your university sees only totals for its students, and only once there are five or more.
If you ask your university to get in touch, we keep your answer and anything you write with your name, and pass your name, email, how you are feeling and your note to your university's wellbeing team. We do this only with your explicit consent, which you give each time by ticking the box; because this can be information about your health, that consent is our lawful basis.
Only your university's owners and managers can see a request, on its portal. If it gives us a team email address, we tell that address a request has arrived, never who sent it or what it says.
Your university decides what happens next and how long it keeps what it copies; we keep a request while your account is active, and erase it when your account is deleted. You can ask us to delete a request at any time.

Meeting other students

Some universities let their incoming students meet each other before they arrive. It is optional for the university and for you, and you can leave at any time.

If you join, other students in your intake at your university see your first name, country and course (from your university’s records), and your halls if you choose them.
You give one way to be reached: an email address, Instagram username or WhatsApp number. It is shown to another student only after you have both asked to connect.
There are no messages or posts in Arrival Academy. You need to be 18 or over to join.
Your university can see whether this is switched on and how many students have joined, not who has connected with whom.
If you leave, your profile and every request to or from you are deleted straight away.

Copies of your documents

On your details page you can keep a copy of your own documents, such as your passport photo page, CAS statement, visa letter or eVisa screenshot. It is optional.
Only you can open them, through a link that works for one minute. Your agent, your parent and your university cannot see them, and we never look at them unless you ask us to help with one.
They are stored privately with Supabase, our database and file storage provider, like the rest of your account. Delete any of them at any time; all of them are erased when your account is deleted.

How long we keep it

We keep your personal data while your account is active. You can delete your account at any time from your account page: it enters a 30-day grace period (so you can change your mind), after which your personal data is permanently erased — your progress, certificates and details are removed.

Notifications are kept, as your inbox, while your account is active. A phone stops receiving them when you sign out of the app on it while it is online, or turn its notifications off.

Where the law requires us to keep a record of a transaction (for example, for tax and accounting), we retain only anonymised records that no longer identify you.

Your rights

Under UK/EU data protection law you have the right to:

access the personal data we hold about you;
correct anything that is inaccurate;
have your data erased (you can do this yourself from your account page);
restrict or object to certain processing;
receive your data in a portable format;
withdraw any consent you have given.

To exercise any of these, email hello@arrivalacademy.com. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).

Cookies

We use only essential cookies — the one that keeps you signed in. We do not use advertising or third-party tracking cookies.

In our app, your sign-in is kept in your phone's secure storage (the iOS Keychain or Android Keystore), and the screens you have opened are saved on your phone so they work offline. Signing out removes both.

Younger students

The service is intended for students preparing to study abroad. If you are under 18, please use it with a parent or guardian's agreement.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time; the date at the top shows when it last changed. Significant changes will be brought to your attention.