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How We Use Cookies at SCIS

Recent Legislation Affecting Use of Cookies

At SCIS we are very aware of privacy and particularly how it relates to the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011. The regulations place an obligation on organisations such as ourselves to be clear with site visitors how we use cookies.

A Little Information About Cookies

Cookies are tiny text files stored on your device. They come from the websites that you visit and are stored by your web browser. Virtually every website uses cookies and many sites would fail to work without them. The vast majority are innocuous –most do one of four very simple tasks a) improving the use of a website according to your preferences, b) helping to smooth your journey through an e-commerce process as you fill your basket, c) tracking advertising campaigns or d) providing the website owner with site usage data (which pages are most popular and the paths that website visitors take to find and navigate through the site).

Cookies can be either first party or third party cookies. First party refers to the website owner, so in our case, Scottish Council of Independent Schools is the website owner and hence the ‘first party’. Some sites use advertising networks to display a series of ads on many sites, for example an ad network may place ads on several newspaper sites. These networks often place ‘third party’ cookies on visitor devices. These simply track which ads have been served to different visitors.

Many cookies are short lived things - at the end of your session the cookie is removed. Others may persist for a period of time, to allow website owners to, for example, identify frequently returning visitors. Try this site for more detailed information about cookies.

Cookies On SCIS Website

At SCIS, we use a Google Analytics tracking cookie to help us figure out which pages are working best for our visitors we can then use this information to make improvements to our content and the site in general. We may also use cookies to help improve your experience of using the site, for example when you complete an enquiry form on our site. We do not host advertising on our site so no third party cookies from advertisers will be placed on your PC by our site.