Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Acorn Tutoring (“we”, “us”, “our”) operates the tutoring marketplace at acorntutoring.com, gcsetutors.com, and mandarintutors.com. We are based in Malaysia. For privacy enquiries, contact us at privacy@acorntutoring.com.

2. Data We Collect

• Contact information — name, email address, phone number when you submit a tutoring enquiry.
• Student details — student name, age, subject, level, exam board — provided voluntarily when completing our lead form.
• Account data — email and password hash for parent portal accounts.
• Payment data — we use Stripe for payments. We do not store card numbers. Stripe's privacy policy applies to payment processing.
• Usage data — pages visited, form interactions, session duration (via Google Analytics, with your consent).

3. How We Use Your Data

• To match you with suitable tutors and respond to your enquiry.
• To operate and secure your parent portal account.
• To process lesson payments and send receipts.
• To send service-related communications (booking confirmations, session reminders).
• To improve our platform through aggregated analytics.

We do not sell your data to third parties.

4. Legal Basis (UK/EU Users)

We process your data on the basis of: (a) contract performance — to fulfil the tutoring service you requested; (b) legitimate interests — to operate and improve our platform; (c) consent — for marketing communications and analytics cookies, which you may withdraw at any time.

5. Data Retention

Enquiry data is retained for 24 months or until you request deletion. Account data is retained while your account is active. Payment records are retained for 7 years for legal compliance. You may request deletion at any time by emailing privacy@acorntutoring.com.

6. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Request correction of inaccurate data.
• Request deletion of your data (“right to be forgotten”).
• Object to processing for marketing purposes.
• Withdraw consent for cookies at any time via the cookie banner.

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@acorntutoring.com.

7. Cookies

We use strictly necessary cookies to operate the platform and optional analytics cookies (Google Analytics) that require your consent. You can manage cookie preferences via the banner shown on your first visit.

8. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services:

• Supabase — database and authentication infrastructure.
• Stripe — payment processing.
• Resend — transactional email delivery.
• Cloudflare — CDN, DDoS protection, Turnstile CAPTCHA.
• Google Analytics — usage analytics (consent-gated).
• Vercel — hosting and deployment.

9. Children's Privacy

Our services are directed at parents, not children. Student data (name, age, subject) is provided by a parent or guardian and used solely for tutor matching. We do not knowingly collect data directly from children under 13.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated by email to registered users. Continued use of the platform after changes constitutes acceptance.

11. Contact

For any privacy-related questions: privacy@acorntutoring.com