Privacy policy
Our current pre-launch privacy and data-handling information.
Read together: Privacy · Terms · Data retention ·
Covenant Academy is operated by Australian National Covenant Message Inc, referred to here as Covenant Message. This policy covers covenant.academy and the learning site at learn.cov.academy. The Academy has not launched yet. Contact info@cov.academy about privacy.
1. Information we collect
The enquiry form collects your first name, email address and whether you are interested as a student, teacher or both. Its log also records the submission time, a submission identifier and email-send status. An enquiry does not create a learning account or enrol you in a course.
The learning site stores account details such as username, email address, display name and password credentials. It also stores enrolments, lesson progress, assessment answers, marks, feedback, attempt history and course-completion certificate records. Optional information includes profile photos and email-notification preferences. Content you submit through enabled learning features can form part of your learning record.
The minimum age for learning accounts is 14. Date of birth is collected at sign-up and recorded on the account to check the minimum age and whether AI marking is allowed. Existing learners without a recorded date of birth are asked to provide it before continuing. Date of birth is used only for these age and marking checks, is not sent in the AI grading prompt and is deleted with the account. The sign-up form does not collect a parent or guardian email address.
Avoid including unnecessary personal information about yourself or others in answers or messages. Religious beliefs can be sensitive personal information. We do not need a personal statement of your beliefs to receive an enquiry.
2. How we use information
Enquiry details are used to record and respond to interest in the Academy. Learning records are used to manage accounts, provide course access, track progress, assess work and support teaching. Technical information helps operate and protect the sites and investigate errors or misuse.
Students and teachers must complete the Welcome course once before accessing other courses as learners. Administrators are exempt. Completion is recorded so it does not need to be repeated. Teachers can still build and preview their own courses.
The enquiry form does not itself subscribe you to a newsletter. New optional learning-notification emails are currently disabled; preferences can be saved. Existing account, password-reset and certificate email functions are separate.
3. The enquiry form, Google and email
The form submits to Google Apps Script. Enquiries are recorded in a Google Sheet and an email notification is sent to info@cov.academy from noreply@cov.academy through Google’s email service. The log contains the form details, time, submission identifier and email-send status. The script also keeps a daily duplicate-control value derived from the email address. An enquiry may remain in the log even if its email notification fails.
The enquiry log is used for Academy administration, not for public display. Email and Sheet copies are separate records. Contact info@cov.academy if you want to ask about these records.
4. Learning records and access
The learning site uses WordPress and the Covenant Academy LMS on the hosting service. Account and learning records are stored there. Administrators and people with appropriate teaching permissions can access information needed to manage and teach courses. The current profile-photo feature allows your enrolled-course teachers to see your photo; it is not a public biography. Any sharing through community features depends on the features enabled at the time.
5. AI-assisted marking and Google's unpaid Gemini service
The Academy uses Google’s unpaid Gemini service to assist with marking written answers only for learner accounts with a recorded date of birth showing they are 18 or older. Written answers from learners under 18, or without a recorded date of birth, are saved for manual marking by a teacher rather than sent to an AI marker. One submitted answer is sent with the question, answer-length guidance, marking rubric, model answer and marking instructions. The current grading code does not add your account name, email address, user ID, profile, progress or other answers to that prompt. Anything you put in the answer itself will nevertheless be sent to Google. The resulting mark and feedback are stored on the LMS. Multiple-choice marking is performed by the LMS.
Under Google’s unpaid-service terms, inputs and outputs may be used to improve Google products and machine-learning technology, and human reviewers may read, annotate and process them. Those terms say not to submit sensitive, confidential or personal information. Do not put personal details, confidential information or sensitive information, including personal religious beliefs, into answers submitted for AI marking. Write about the course material without disclosing private facts about yourself or others.
A personal-details warning appears at the start of each module, not at every answer box. That short warning does not name Gemini; this policy provides the full explanation. AI marks and feedback can be wrong. Contact info@cov.academy about an assessment concern or to ask about teacher review. No specific teacher-marking or review turnaround is promised here.
Google’s Gemini terms are available at https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms and its privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy.
6. Technical data, cookies and other providers
The sites and hosting/security services can process technical information such as IP addresses, requested pages, browser details, timestamps and login events. WordPress uses cookies for sign-in and site functions. Learning-site interface preferences may be remembered in your browser. Blocking cookies may prevent sign-in or other functions.
Marketing pages load Montserrat from Google Fonts. Font requests send Google technical details including your IP address, browser headers and the referring page. Google says its Fonts API does not set or log cookies and does not use its data for targeted advertising.
7. Storage, overseas processing and security
The sites use Namecheap’s hosting service. Enquiry processing uses Google Apps Script, Sheets and email; AI marking uses Google Gemini. These providers may process information outside Australia. We have not confirmed all storage, backup or processing locations, or every country in which provider personnel may access information. Contact info@cov.academy to ask about an overseas-processing concern.
The sites use HTTPS and the learning site requires sign-in. Access controls help protect information, but no online service can guarantee complete security. This policy does not claim that every provider processes data only in Australia.
8. Retention and deletion
The Data retention, deletion and inactivity policy sets the Academy’s retention commitments: a limited permanent completion record; learning data up to 12 months after completion; enquiries 12 months; inactive learner accounts expire after 24 months with notices 30 and 7 days before. Other account and learning information is deleted on request, subject to applicable law. Access/correction/deletion requests are acknowledged within 5 business days and completed within 30 calendar days, or any legal or identity obstacle is explained within that time.
Requests are handled manually now; automatic expiry and deletion tools are being rolled out. Stopping study does not itself trigger instant erasure. Backups and provider-held records may need separate handling, and the Academy cannot pull back answers already processed by Google. Read the retention policy for the completion-record exception and practical limits.
9. Your choices, access and correction
You can browse the marketing pages without completing the enquiry form. Without the required form details, the form cannot record or respond to your enquiry. An account is needed for protected learning features.
You can update the profile fields and preferences offered by the learning site. For access to your information, correction, deletion or a privacy concern, email info@cov.academy. Include enough detail to identify the record, but do not email your password. Identity checks may be needed before information is released or changed.
10. Complaints and changes
Send privacy complaints to info@cov.academy. Explain what happened and the outcome you want. Access, correction and deletion request timing is set out above. Other privacy complaints do not have a separate fixed response deadline in this policy.
Information about Australian privacy rights and complaints is available from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at https://www.oaic.gov.au/. Covenant Message adopts this policy as voluntary good privacy practice. It does not limit any legal rights you have.
This policy may be updated as the Academy’s data handling changes. The date at the top identifies this version. Read it alongside the Terms of use.
The Academy will retain anonymous aggregate statistics, such as monthly enrolment totals and course completions, after account deletion. These statistics contain no names, email addresses or other personal details.