Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

1.1 Acorn Aspirations Ltd trading as Teens in AI (company number 09349572), registered in England and Wales, with its registered office at 50 Woodgate, Leicester, LE3 5GF, United Kingdom (“Teens in AI”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this policy), is the data controller for the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK-GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1.2 We run hackathons, bootcamps, incubators, accelerators and informational webinars, in which young people aged 13–18 learn to identify problems in their communities and solve them using artificial intelligence and data science. We also provide AI Adventures, our online self-paced courses, designed to teach foundational and advanced skills in artificial intelligence and related fields.

1.3 Together, these offerings are referred to as our “Services”. This Privacy Policy explains how we process personal data relating to all of our Services, including those delivered via third-party platforms such as Thinkific (see clause 6).

1.4 Teens in AI is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. Where we decide the purpose or means for which personal data you supply through these Services is processed, we are the “data controller” for the purposes of the UK-GDPR.

1.5 This policy explains the following:

What information Teens in AI may collect about you;
How Teens in AI will use information we collect about you;
Whether Teens in AI will disclose your details to anyone else; and
Your choices and rights regarding the personal information you have provided to us.

1.6 Our online services contain hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by third parties. These third-party websites may have their own privacy policies, and we recommend you review them. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third parties, and your use of them is at your own risk.

1.7 By participating in Teens in AI programmes, including AI Adventures via the Thinkific platform, you agree to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 We collect and process the following information, which may include your personal data.

Information provided by you when using our Services.

2.2 We collect and process personal data that you provide in the following situations:

Setting up an account and/or profile
Enrolling on Thinkific (for AI Adventures courses)
Signing up for events
Signing up for speaking opportunities
Attending our events
Using our Services
Signing up for our newsletter
Contacting us with enquiries

2.3 Such information may include:

Contact data: including your full name, email address, phone number, and how you heard about us.
Student information: including full name, date of birth, school, gender, student sign-out options, medical information, educational needs, and emergency contact details.
Transaction data: where you attend an event or access paid-for content or a course, we will keep information related to your purchases, such as billing address, order numbers, and payment method. Payments are handled by third-party processors such as Stripe and PayPal; Teens in AI does not store card details.
Your enquiries and feedback: if you contact us about our Services, we may retain the content of such enquiry. You are under no obligation to provide us with any details, but if you do not provide all relevant information, we may not be able to help.
Photos: we may take these at our in-person or online events, provided we have obtained prior parent or guardian consent from those being photographed.
AI Adventures enrolment: name, email address, and login details.
AI Adventures course activity: lesson progress, course feedback, quiz results, and certificates achieved.

2.4 Information may be collected directly from you or via third-party platforms such as Thinkific (see clause 6), which hosts our AI Adventures courses and manages course-related data.

3. How We Use Your Information

Providing the Services

3.1 We may use and retain your personal data where we need to perform the service we are about to enter into or have entered into with you, such as to:

register you as a user of our Services; and
deliver our Services to you.

3.2 We may also use and retain the personal data you provide to us when requesting our Services, to pursue our legitimate interests of providing our Services to you, such as to:

respond to your enquiries and communicate with you;
contact you about participating in our events;
analyse and improve our Services, such as to optimise logistics and future event offerings;
provide you with information and updates about the Services we offer; and
ensure legal and regulatory compliance.

4. Our Legal Basis for Processing Personal Data

4.1 We are required under UK-GDPR to identify a lawful basis for processing your personal data. We rely on the following:

Contract: Where processing is necessary to perform a contract with you or to take steps at your request prior to entering a contract.
Legal obligation: Where processing is necessary to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject.
Legitimate interests: Where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. Our legitimate interests include operating and improving our Services, communicating with participants, and ensuring the safety and security of our events.
Consent: Where you have given us explicit consent to process your data for a specific purpose, such as subscribing to our newsletter or the processing of special category data. You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting us at hi@teensinai.com.

4.2 Sometimes more than one lawful basis will apply to the same processing activity.

5. Cookies and Tracking

5.1 We use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies on our website. These fall into the following categories:

Strictly necessary cookies: Essential for the website to function correctly, including session management and security.
Analytics cookies: Used to collect anonymised information about how visitors use our website, such as pages visited and time spent on site. We use Google Analytics for this purpose, with IP anonymisation enabled. This data cannot be linked to you as an individual.

We do not use advertising cookies or cookies that track your activity across other websites for commercial purposes.

5.2 You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings. Please be aware that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our website. For guidance on managing cookies in your browser, please refer to your browser’s support pages.

6. Data Minimisation and Purpose Limitation

6.1 We collect only the personal data that is necessary for the specific purposes described in this policy. We do not use personal data collected through our Services for any purpose other than those set out here.

6.2 We do not use personal data for automated profiling, targeted advertising, or any form of commercial monetisation. We do not sell, rent, or otherwise provide personal data to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

7. Data Origin, Sharing and Disclosure

7.1 We may share your information with the following categories of recipients, for the purposes described:

Thinkific Labs Inc.: To manage course enrolments, access, and support for our AI Adventures programme. Thinkific collects, processes, and stores student data on our behalf as a data processor (see clause 9).
Google Workspace: We use Google Cloud services for data storage and internal communications. Data may be stored across geographically dispersed data centres (see clause 11).
Payment processors (Stripe and PayPal): To process event and course payments. These processors handle transaction data under their own privacy and security policies. Teens in AI does not store payment card details.
Email delivery providers: To send programme communications, newsletters, and event notifications.
Event delivery partners and contractors: Organisations or individuals engaged to support the delivery of our in-person or online programmes, subject to appropriate data protection agreements.
Legal and regulatory authorities: Where required by law, or where necessary to protect the rights, safety, or property of Teens in AI, our users, or others.

7.2 We do not sell your personal information.

7.3 We do not share, disclose, sell, rent, or otherwise provide personal information to other companies for the marketing of their own products or services.

7.4 We do not show external advertisements in any of our programmes, including AI Adventures online, self-paced courses.

7.5 Our programmes, including AI Adventures online, self-paced courses, do not utilise AI in either development or delivery.

8. Data Retention

8.1 We retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Our default retention periods are as follows:

Participant and event registration data: Retained for three years from the date of the relevant event or programme, after which it is securely deleted or anonymised.
Course enrolment and activity data (via Thinkific): Retained for the duration of a participant’s active enrolment plus three years, after which it is deleted or anonymised.
Financial and transaction records: Retained for six years in accordance with HMRC requirements.
Contact and newsletter data: Retained until you unsubscribe or request deletion.
Safeguarding records: Retained in accordance with applicable safeguarding legislation and guidance.

8.2 Data related to completed courses or programmes may be anonymised for reporting and evaluation purposes and retained indefinitely in that anonymised form.

9. Teens in AI’s AI Adventures Online, Self-Paced Courses Hosted on Third-Party Platform ‘Thinkific’

9.1 Thinkific Labs Inc. is a Canadian company which hosts and manages student data for Teens in AI, including:

Course enrolment and login information; and
Course progress, quiz results, and activity data.

Data Protection

9.2 Thinkific uses security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. Procedures have been put in place to deal with any suspected personal data breach, and Thinkific will notify us and any applicable regulator of a breach where required by law.

9.3 Teens in AI ensures that our use of Thinkific complies with applicable data protection laws, including UK-GDPR. You can view Thinkific’s Privacy Policy and Sub-Processors Policy at: https://www.thinkific.com/privacy-policy/ and https://www.thinkific.com/thinkificsubprocessors/

Child Safeguarding

9.4 Our AI Adventures programme does not allow interactions between users and users cannot create their own content.

9.5 Our AI Adventures programme does not use AI to generate content.

10. Children

10.1 Our Services are designed for young people aged 13–18. We fully appreciate that children and young people require particular protection when their personal data is collected and processed, as they may be less aware of the risks involved. Accordingly, we only use their data for the limited purposes of providing our Services and have safeguarding policies in place for our personnel, event partners, and speakers.

10.2 For participants under the age of 18 (or the applicable age under local laws in the EEA), we require verifiable consent from a parent or legal guardian before collecting personal data. We verify parental consent via online consent forms or written consent obtained at registration.

10.3 Parents and guardians may at any time request access to, correction of, or deletion of their child’s data by contacting us at hi@teensinai.com. We will respond to such requests within 30 days.

10.4 If a parent or guardian believes that their child has provided us with information without their consent, they should contact us immediately at hi@teensinai.com. We will delete such information from our records within a reasonable time.

10.5 Where a safeguarding concern arises in connection with our Services, we follow established escalation procedures. Access to participant data is restricted to authorised personnel only. Mentors, volunteers, staff, and event partners are subject to appropriate behavioural expectations and guidance.

10.6 Teens in AI maintains a Safeguarding Policy governing the conduct of all personnel, mentors, volunteers, event partners, and speakers involved in our programmes. This policy is available on request by contacting us at hi@teensinai.com.

11. Your Rights

11.1 Under UK-GDPR, you (and, where applicable, your parent or guardian) have the following rights regarding your personal data:

The right to access your personal data.
The right to correct or update inaccurate data.
The right to request deletion of your data (“the right to be forgotten”).
The right to withdraw consent for specific processing activities.
The right to object to processing or to request that processing be restricted.
The right to data portability (where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means).

11.2 To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at hi@teensinai.com. We will respond to all requests within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.

11.3 You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at https://ico.org.uk, the supervisory authority for data protection matters in the United Kingdom.

12. Data Security

12.1 We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, loss, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include:

Encrypted data transmission (TLS/SSL) across all our digital platforms.
Access controls restricting personal data to authorised personnel only.
Regular review of our data protection practices and internal policies.
Staff awareness of data protection obligations.

12.2 Thinkific (see clause 9) also maintains its own security measures to protect data hosted on its platform.

13. Breach Notification

13.1 In the event of a personal data breach that is likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, we will notify the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach, in accordance with our obligations under UK-GDPR.

13.2 Where a breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of affected individuals, we will also notify those individuals directly without undue delay.

13.3 We maintain an internal record of all data breaches, including those that do not meet the threshold for notification.

14. Special Categories of Data

14.1 “Special categories” of personal data – such as data concerning health, racial or ethnic origin, or religious or philosophical belief – are granted higher levels of protection under data protection law.

14.2 Teens in AI may process information about physical or mental health or disability status where necessary to ensure the health and safety of participants at our events and to provide appropriate adjustments. We will only process this type of information where we have a lawful basis to do so, such as where it is necessary to protect your vital interests or where you have provided explicit consent.

14.3 Where you have made special category data manifestly public – for example, by featuring in publicly available videos or materials – we may process this information where it is relevant to our Services and we have a lawful basis under data protection law (such as Article 9(2)(e) UK-GDPR). We will not actively infer, profile, or create new special category data from such materials.

15. Child Safety and Prevention of Harassment and Fraud

15.1 We may process your information for the legitimate interests of ensuring that use of our Services is lawful and non-fraudulent, does not disrupt the operation of our Services, and does not involve harassment or bullying of our personnel or other individuals.

15.2 Where we suspect unacceptable activities, we may investigate and retain a record of such investigation and its conclusion. Where an investigation results in a ban from our Services, we will retain details of such a ban to ensure it can be enforced.

15.3 We process information for the legitimate interest of complying with HMRC requirements by retaining records of customer purchases and transactions.

15.4 Where we reasonably believe that you are or may be in breach of applicable law, we may use your personal information to inform relevant third parties, your email or internet provider, or law enforcement agencies.

15.5 Our AI Adventures online, self-paced courses programme does not allow interactions between users and users cannot create their own content.

15.6 Our programmes, including AI Adventures online, self-paced courses, do not use AI to generate content.

16. International Data Transfers

16.1 Teens in AI is a UK organisation. We use Google Cloud services for the storage and protection of our data. Google replicates customer data between multiple geographically dispersed data centres and logically isolates customer data. Our data is stored in data centres listed at: https://cloud.google.com/about/locations.

16.2 Where we transfer your data outside of the UK and/or EEA – including to Thinkific Labs Inc. in Canada, a country recognised as providing an adequate level of data protection – we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place in compliance with applicable data protection law. Such safeguards may include standard data protection clauses approved by the European Commission or the UK Information Commissioner.

16.3 If you would like further information about these safeguards, please contact us at hi@teensinai.com.

17. Policy Updates

17.1 This Privacy Policy may be updated periodically to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. The effective date at the top of this document indicates when the policy was last revised. Where changes are material, we will notify participants by email or via a notice on our website.

18. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us:

Acorn Aspirations Ltd trading as Teens in AI

For the Attention of Elena Sinel, CEO and Data Controller

50 Woodgate, Leicester, LE3 5GF, United Kingdom

Email: hi@teensinai.com

Company number: 09349572

Last updated: June 2026