for business managers, IT and privacy officers
Built for the privacy review.
What your assessment needs to know: where student data lives, who can see it, what happens to recordings, and what Descant will never do with it.
Where data lives
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| Student records, case notes and reports | Stored in Australia (Sydney) |
| AI drafting of notes | Runs in Australia; nothing is kept by the AI service |
| Speech-to-text for spoken notes | Processed in Australia; the recording is deleted once it is transcribed |
| Enquiry and notification emails | Sent through an email provider in the United States; no student information |
| Website analytics (public pages only) | United States |
| Card payments, if a school pays by card | United States |
How access and records are controlled
Encrypted
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
Closed by default
Each school’s data is separated at the database level and access fails closed: if the system can’t confirm who you are and which school you belong to, it shows nothing.
Role-based access
Staff see what their role allows. A referral is open to the people working on it. Every access to a student record is logged.
De-identified oversight
Leaders see how the support service is running — referrals, waiting times, workload — without student names.
No recordings kept
Spoken notes are turned into text and the audio is deleted. Only the reviewed written note is kept.
People decide
The AI drafts notes; it never triages, diagnoses or categorises a student. Every draft is reviewed by a person.
Never used to train AI, never sold
Your school’s data is not used to train AI models and is never sold.
Children’s privacy: the changes due in December 2026
The Children’s Online Privacy Code
Australia’s first code for children’s privacy online is due to be in place by 10 December 2026. Descant is about students, so we expect it to apply to us, and we are preparing for it now. We will say what changes once the final code is registered.
What is already true
Students don’t have Descant accounts or passwords. A student check-in asks one required question; the rest is optional. Nothing is used to advertise or market to students, no location is collected, and student data is never sold or used to train AI.
Automated decisions
From 10 December 2026, privacy policies must explain automated decisions that could significantly affect someone. In Descant, a student’s check-in can be flagged automatically for a staff member to review, for example when the student asks to talk to someone. A person always decides what happens next.
Sources: OAIC, Children’s Online Privacy Code · OAIC, transparency in automated decision-making
Privacy law and state requirements
We align with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles. Each state and sector assesses new platforms differently; our state-by-state guides explain what your school’s process is likely to ask for.
School privacy compliance by state · Privacy policyQuestions assessors ask
Where is student data stored?
Student records, case notes and reports are stored in Australia, in Sydney. Spoken notes are turned into text in Australia; the recording is then deleted and only the written note is kept. Student information is processed and stored only in Australia.
Is Descant ST4S assessed?
We lodged our Safer Technologies 4 Schools (ST4S) Readiness Check in March 2026. We will not describe Descant as ST4S-approved unless and until it is. Ask us for the current status.
Who are your service providers?
We keep a register of the service providers who process data for us, with what each does and where. We provide it on request as part of a school’s assessment.
Does the Children’s Online Privacy Code apply to Descant?
The code is due to be in place by 10 December 2026. Descant is about students, so we expect it to apply, and we are preparing for it now. We will publish what changes once the final code is registered.
Can staff outside the support team see student notes?
No. Educators who contribute through a link see only their own contribution. Access to a student’s record follows each person’s role in the support team.
What does the AI do with student information?
It turns an educator’s words into a written note for a person to check. It does not make decisions about students, and the data is not used to train AI models.
Need something for your assessment?
Ask for the service-provider register, our ST4S status or anything else your process needs.