Privacy policy | Chemistry Coach

This policy explains what personal information we collect when you use Chemistry Coach, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and what control you have over it. Please read it alongside our Terms and conditions.

We have written it in plain English on purpose. Most of the people using Chemistry Coach are sixth-form students, and you have a right to understand what happens to your information without wading through legal language.

1. Who we are

Chemistry Coach is a trading name of Scidekick Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 15035394).

Scidekick Ltd is the data controller for the information described in this policy. That means we decide what information is collected and what it is used for, and we are responsible for looking after it.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator.

For any question about this policy, or to use any of your rights, email rich@chemistrycoach.co.uk.

2. Who this service is for

Chemistry Coach is designed for students aged 16 and over who are studying A Level Chemistry.

By creating an account you confirm that you are 16 or over. There is no under-16 version of the service. We do not check your age when you sign up, so we rely on what you tell us. If we become aware that an account belongs to someone under 16, we will close it and delete the data.

If you are a parent or carer and believe a child under 16 has created an account, contact us and we will remove it.

If you are under 18, we ask that a parent or carer knows you are using Chemistry Coach and agrees to you doing so. This matters both because the service involves an AI tutor and because a parent or carer may need to be involved if we ever have a concern about your wellbeing (see section 6).

Because most of our students are under 18, we follow the ICO's Children's Code (the UK's rules for online services used by under-18s). In practice that means we collect only what each feature needs, say plainly why, and never use your information for advertising.

3. What information we collect

a) Account information

When you sign up we collect:

Your first name and surname
Your email address
A password, which is stored securely so that no one, including us, can read it
Your exam board (AQA or WJEC)
The year you will sit your A Level exams
The date and time you accepted our terms

The first time you open Dexter, it asks what you would like it to call you. You can change that on your account page.

Inside the platform you can also tell us your target grade and, if you are in Year 13, the AS grade you achieved. That is optional.

If you subscribe, payment is handled by Stripe. We receive confirmation that a payment succeeded and a record of your subscription status. We never see or store your card number.

b) Your conversations with Dexter

Dexter is the AI tutor inside Chemistry Coach. Everything you type to Dexter, and everything Dexter replies, is stored against your account. This is not incidental logging: it is how the service works. Dexter can only pick up where you left off last week because last week was written down.

Conversations are stored so that you can scroll back through them yourself, so that Dexter can remember what you have covered, and so that we can review the service for quality and safety.

c) Your learning record

As you use the platform we build up a record of your work, which includes:

Flashcard progress: which decks you have studied and how you scored
Practice, test and past-paper results, broken down by topic and by question
Your scores in the Test part of Rich's interactive tools, and which of those questions you got wrong, when you are logged in
Which topics you have told us you have covered in school
Your revision priorities and focus list
Short written summaries of your sessions, made automatically at the end of each one
Observations about your strengths, weaknesses and common misconceptions, made from your work
The dates you have used the platform, used to show your activity streak

Section 5 explains how these observations are made and how you can push back on them.

d) How you use the platform

We record which features you open and use, for example when you open a past paper, start a test or play a flashcard deck. This is used to improve the product, to spot features that are not working, and to understand how the platform is being used. It is not used to judge you.

If you give feedback using the thumbs up or thumbs down buttons on Dexter's answers, we record that alongside the answer so we can improve the teaching.

e) Live sessions

If you attend a live teaching session, we record that you attended, any questions you submit, and whether you later watch the recording. Live sessions are recorded and the recording is made available to other Chemistry Coach students. Your name is not shown to other students during a session unless you choose to submit a question.

f) Visitors to our website

You do not need an account to browse chemistrycoach.co.uk.

The Chemistry Toolbox. Rich's interactive tools run entirely in your browser. If you are not logged in, we do not collect your name, email address or anything you do in a tool. If you are logged in, your Test scores in a tool are saved to your learning record (section c). On a phone, "Send to my laptop" opens your phone's own share menu or copies the link. We do not see or store anything you send.
The weekly quiz. Your answers stay on your device. Nothing you choose is sent to us or saved.
The website chat. If you use the chat bubble to ask Dexter about Chemistry Coach, what you type and Dexter's replies are stored so Rich can see what visitors ask and improve the answers. There is no account: we do not ask for your name or contact details, and the chat is linked only to a random number your browser makes for itself. Please do not type personal details into it. If a message suggests someone may be at risk, Rich is alerted (section 6).
Counting visits. We count visits to the website with a privacy-friendly tool that uses no cookies and does not identify you or follow you to other websites.

g) Dexter Lite

Dexter Lite is a classroom version of Dexter used with Rich's own classes. It has no accounts: students do not give their name, email address or any contact details, and conversations are not linked to a name or an account. Conversations are kept so they can be reviewed, and deleted after 30 days.

h) Technical information

Like any website, we and our providers automatically receive standard technical information when you use the platform: your IP address, browser type and device type. This is used for security, to keep the service running, and to understand which features are being used.

4. Why we are allowed to use your information

UK data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for everything we do with your information. Ours are:

Contract. Almost everything described in section 3 exists to deliver the personal tutoring service you signed up for. Without your conversations and your learning record, there is no product.
Legitimate interests. Keeping the platform secure, preventing misuse, counting visits, understanding how features are used, and improving the teaching.
Legitimate interests: keeping students safe. Checking conversations for signs that a student may be at risk, and acting on a concern. Where this involves sensitive information, such as something about your health, we also rely on the safeguarding condition in the Data Protection Act 2018 (safeguarding of children and of individuals at risk), and we keep a written policy setting out how we handle it. In a genuine emergency, where someone's life may be at risk, we may rely on vital interests. See section 6.
Consent. Marketing emails about new features and offers. You can withdraw this at any time and it will not affect your access to the service.
Legal obligation. Keeping financial records for tax purposes, and responding to lawful requests.

5. The AI tutor, and how we build a picture of your learning

How Dexter works

Dexter is an AI. When you send a message, the content of that message is sent to an AI model for a response, together with relevant context from your learning record, for example the topic you are working on, your target grade and a short summary of recent sessions.

Dexter will always tell you it is an AI if you ask. It is not a human teacher and it is not Rich. Its answers are made automatically and, although it is built around your exam board's specification and Rich's 21 years teaching this exact course, it can still get things wrong. Check anything important against your own notes, your textbook or your teacher.

Your conversations are not used to train the AI provider's models. They stay inside Chemistry Coach.

Automatic observations

Chemistry Coach automatically forms observations about your learning, for example that you are strong on a topic, or that a particular misconception keeps coming up in your answers. These observations shape what Dexter suggests you work on and what appears in your progress view.

This is automatic, but it is not an automated decision with a legal or similarly significant effect. Nothing is decided about you: no grade is awarded, no access is restricted, nothing is shared with your school. It is a study aid making suggestions.

You can dismiss any observation you disagree with, directly in the app, and it will stop being used. You can also tell Dexter it has got something wrong and ask it to correct your record. If you would rather we did not build this picture at all, email us, but be aware that this removes most of what makes the service different from a general-purpose chatbot.

6. Safeguarding: please read this section

Your conversations with Dexter are checked automatically for signs that you might be at risk.

Most of our students are under 18. Occasionally, a student talking to a tutor about chemistry says something that suggests they are struggling with something much bigger: self-harm, abuse, an eating disorder, or serious distress. We would rather know than not know.

So, in the background and without interrupting your conversation, messages are checked for signs of concern. If something is picked up:

A record is made containing your name, the date and time, the type of concern, and the message itself
Rich is notified by email
Rich reads the conversation and decides what, if anything, to do

Rich Warburton is our Designated Safeguarding Lead and holds an enhanced DBS check (the background check for people who work with young people). Safeguarding records are stored separately from your normal learning record, are visible only to the person responsible for responding to them, and are never used to shape your tutoring or your progress view.

Depending on what is disclosed, we may need to contact your parent or carer, your school, or an outside agency such as social services or the police. Where it is safe and appropriate to do so, we will tell you first. Where a child is at risk of serious harm, we may have to act without your agreement. That is what safeguarding means, and we would rather be honest with you about it up front.

Chemistry Coach is not an emergency service and is not monitored around the clock. Alerts are reviewed by one person during normal waking hours. If you need help now, contact Samaritans on 116 123, Childline on 0800 1111, or the emergency services on 999. Dexter will always point you towards a real person rather than trying to handle a crisis itself.

The automatic check is a safety net, not a guarantee. It will sometimes flag innocent messages, and it will sometimes miss things.

There is a shorter version of this section on our Safeguarding page.

We do not sell your information, we do not rent it, and we do not use it for advertising.

We use a small number of specialist providers to run the platform. Each one acts as a data processor on our behalf, under a contract that restricts what they can do with your information:

Anthropic makes Dexter's responses. Your messages are processed through their service.
Hostinger hosts the server that coordinates conversations between the platform and the AI, which also keeps a copy of each conversation.
Supabase is our database, hosted in the EU. This is where your account, conversations and learning record are stored.
Vercel hosts the Chemistry Coach website and app.
Cloudinary hosts our PDF study materials and images.
Vimeo and YouTube host our explainer videos and live session broadcasts.
Stripe processes payments and holds your card details. We never see them.
Resend delivers automatic emails, including your welcome, password, payment and cancellation emails, and safeguarding alerts to Rich. It is set up to process in the EU.
UQ Web Design hosts our email accounts, so any email you send us (for example to hello@ or rich@chemistrycoach.co.uk) is held on their mail server.
MailerLite delivers our marketing and update emails, if you have opted in.

We may also share information where we are legally required to, or where it is necessary to protect someone's safety (see section 6).

Some of these providers are based outside the UK, mainly in the United States. Where information leaves the UK, it is protected by the safeguards required under UK data protection law, such as International Data Transfer Agreements or the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

8. Learning from patterns across students

We look at patterns across all our students to improve the teaching. For example, if 40 students all misunderstand the same part of electrode potentials, that tells us to build a better explanation of it.

This work is done on anonymised, combined information only. Individual students cannot be identified in it, and conversations flagged for safeguarding are left out of it entirely.

9. How long we keep your information

Your account and learning record: for as long as your account is active, and for 12 months after you cancel or stop using the service. Many students return for a second year, and this means their history is still there when they do. After 12 months it is permanently deleted.
Conversations: as above, deleted with your account record.
Dexter Lite conversations: 30 days.
Website chat conversations: 12 months.
Safeguarding records: kept separately for up to 3 years from the date of the concern, or longer where an ongoing matter requires it. These are not deleted when you close your account, because we may need to account for how we responded.
Payment and invoice records: 7 years, as HMRC requires.
Marketing contacts: until you unsubscribe.

If you close your account but do not ask us to delete it, we keep your data so that you can come back to it, and delete it 12 months after your last activity.

10. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

See a copy of the personal information we hold about you
Have wrong information corrected
Have your information deleted (the "right to be forgotten")
Restrict how we use your information
Object to what we do on the basis of legitimate interests
Receive a copy of your information in a format you can take elsewhere
Withdraw consent for marketing at any time

To use any of these, email rich@chemistrycoach.co.uk. You can also delete your account from your account page. We will respond within 1 month and there is no charge. We may ask you to confirm who you are first, so that we do not hand your information to someone else.

There are a few limits worth being upfront about. We cannot delete safeguarding records on request, financial records we are legally required to keep, or our record of a complaint you have made to us. Everything else goes.

11. Complaints about your information

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us. We would rather put it right.

You can complain in any way that suits you. You do not need to use a form or particular words. Email is the quickest way to reach us.
We will confirm we have received your complaint within 30 days.
We will look into it properly, keep you updated, and tell you the outcome without unnecessary delay.
We keep a record of every data protection complaint and how we dealt with it.

If you are still unhappy, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

12. Reporting a problem

If Dexter says something that worries you, if you see content on the platform that should not be there, or if another user behaves inappropriately in a live session, you can report it using the thumbs down or feedback button inside the app, or by emailing us directly. We read every report.

13. Cookies and browser storage

We use essential cookies when you log in: they keep you logged in, and let the website's menu show your account rather than the trial button. They hold nothing about you beyond your log-in. We also use browser storage to remember your place in the app. These are needed for the service to work, and they are not used to track you.

The website chat keeps two things in your browser: the random number that links your chat together, and whether you have already seen its welcome note. Neither is used to track you.

Our payment provider, Stripe, sets cookies on its payment pages to keep card payments secure and prevent fraud.

The rest of the website sets no cookies. Our visit counting uses none. We do not use advertising cookies and we do not track you across other websites.

14. How we protect your information

Your information is held in an EU-hosted database with access controls that mean one student's record cannot be reached from another student's account. Connections are encrypted. Passwords are stored securely so that no one, including us, can read them. Access to the administrative view is limited to Rich.

No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee that information sent over the internet is completely safe. If a breach happens that puts your rights at risk, we will tell you and the ICO as the law requires.

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the platform develops. The date at the top will change. If we make a significant change, particularly one affecting what we collect or who we share it with, we will email you about it.