Privacy Policy

Lightbulb Learning ("Lightbulb", "we", "us") is operated by Philip Halpin, trading as Lightbulb Learning, 204 Winchmore Hill Road, London N21 1QR. We are the "data controller" for the personal data described in this policy. You can contact us at hello@lightbulblearning.co.

We take privacy seriously — especially because Lightbulb is used by children. This policy explains what we collect, why, and the choices and rights you have. We handle personal data in accordance with UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), and we design the service with the ICO's Age Appropriate Design Code (the "Children's Code") in mind.

1. Who this policy covers

• Parents and guardians who create and pay for accounts.
• Students (typically school Years 7–11) who use Lightbulb to revise. Accounts are set up and managed by a parent or guardian; where we rely on consent in relation to a child under 13, we ask for it from the parent or guardian.

2. What we collect

Account and profile information

• Parent/guardian email address and password (passwords are handled by our authentication provider and never visible to us).
• The student's first name, school year group, key stage, exam board(s), chosen subjects, and study level preferences.

Learning activity

• Revision sessions started and completed, topics studied, quiz scores, flashcard results, and progress over time.
• Written answers the student submits to marked practice questions, together with the automated feedback given. We treat this as the most personal data we hold and restrict it accordingly (see section 6).

Payments

• Payments are processed by Stripe. We receive confirmation of subscription status and billing events; we never see or store full card details.

Technical and usage data

• Basic analytics about how the service is used (pages visited, features used) and error/diagnostic data, to keep Lightbulb working and improve it.

We collect only what the service needs. We do not collect precise location, contacts, photos, or device identifiers beyond what is technically necessary, and we never ask children for more information than the service requires.

3. Why we use it (lawful bases)

• To provide the service (contract): creating revision sessions matched to the student's year, board, and subjects; tracking progress; managing subscriptions.
• To keep the service safe and improve it (legitimate interests): security, debugging, understanding which features help students learn, preventing misuse. We balance these interests against users' rights, applying extra weight because our users include children.
• With consent: optional emails such as our early-access list, and any cookies that are not strictly necessary. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligations: keeping records we are required to keep (e.g. for tax).

We do not show advertising, sell personal data, or use children's data for marketing profiling. Ever.

4. AI-generated content

Lightbulb creates revision content and marks practice answers using artificial intelligence. To do this, information such as the topic requested, the student's year group, exam board, and the text of answers submitted for marking is processed by our AI provider, Anthropic, to generate the lesson or feedback. Under our agreement with Anthropic, this data is not used to train their AI models. We send the minimum needed to generate good content, and we do not send the parent's contact details or payment information to the AI provider.

5. Who we share data with (processors)

We use a small number of trusted service providers who process data on our instructions:

Some of these providers are based in, or process data in, the United States. Where personal data leaves the UK we rely on appropriate safeguards recognised under UK law, such as the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the UK's International Data Transfer Agreement/Addendum.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or as part of a business transfer (in which case this policy would continue to protect the data).

6. Children's written answers — extra care

A student's own written answers are personal work. We restrict them as follows:

• They are used to generate marking feedback and to show the student their own history and progress.
• Parents linked to a student's account can see progress and results summaries, but not the text of the student's written answers by default.
• They are never used for advertising or sold, and are not used to train AI models (section 4).

7. How long we keep data

• Account and learning data: for as long as the account is active, and for a short period afterwards so you can return, after which it is deleted or anonymised.
• Payment records: as required by tax and accounting law (typically 6 years).
• If you ask us to delete an account, we delete the associated personal data except what we must keep by law.

8. Your rights

You (and, depending on their age and understanding, the student) have the right to: access the personal data we hold; correct it; have it deleted; restrict or object to certain uses; and receive a copy in a portable format. Parents and guardians may exercise these rights on behalf of their child. To use any of these rights, email hello@lightbulblearning.co — we respond within one month.

You also have the right to complain to the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): ico.org.uk / 0303 123 1113. We'd appreciate the chance to resolve any concern first.

9. Cookies

We use:

• Strictly necessary cookies — keeping you signed in and the service secure. These don't require consent.
• Analytics — to understand how the service is used so we can improve it. Where consent is required for analytics cookies, we ask for it before setting them.

10. Security

Data is encrypted in transit, access to production systems is restricted, and student data access is protected by per-user security rules at the database level. No online service can promise perfect security, but we treat the fact that our users are children as a reason for extra caution, not less.

11. Changes to this policy

If we make significant changes we'll take reasonable steps to tell you — for example by email or a notice in the app. The "last updated" date at the top always shows the current version.

12. Contact

Philip Halpin, trading as Lightbulb Learning
204 Winchmore Hill Road, London N21 1QR
hello@lightbulblearning.co