Cookie Policy

A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store on your device. When you return, the browser sends that file back, which lets the site recognise your device and remember something about your visit.

Cookies cannot run programs, read other files on your device, or carry viruses. They simply hold small pieces of text — typically a random identifier rather than anything meaningful in itself.

This policy also covers similar technologies where we use them, such as local storage (a browser feature that stores data in much the same way) and session storage (which is cleared the moment you close the tab).

This Cookie Policy forms part of, and should be read alongside, our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

SchoolsPortal holds the academic records, attendance, results, and fee information of Nigerian schoolchildren. That places a particular obligation on us, and it shapes how we treat cookies.

Our position is straightforward: we use the minimum number of cookies required for the platform to function, and nothing more. We do not use cookies to build advertising profiles, to follow visitors around the internet, or to sell information about you or your pupils to anyone.

If that ever changes — for example, if we introduce analytics to understand how schools use the platform — we will update this policy, and we will ask for your consent before setting any cookie that is not strictly necessary.

The table below lists every cookie SchoolsPortal sets.

During a computer-based test, the platform also keeps a small amount of information in your browser's session storage so that answers are not lost if your connection drops briefly. This is cleared automatically when the tab closes, is never transmitted for any purpose other than saving your answers, and is not a cookie.

We think it is important to be straightforward about services that sit outside our own servers, even where they set no cookies at all.

Because SchoolsPortal handles children's records, the commitments below matter as much as the list of what we do use.

You are in control of cookies on your own device. Every major browser lets you view what is stored, delete it, and block cookies entirely or per site.

You may also use your browser's private or incognito mode, which discards all cookies automatically when you close the window.

We would rather set out the consequences plainly than discourage you from exercising a choice that is yours to make.

• Browsing the public site — our homepage, news, and information pages work perfectly well with cookies disabled.
• Logging in — this will not work. Without a session cookie the platform cannot tell one page request from another, so you would be returned to the login screen after every click.
• Sitting a computer-based test — this will not work, for the same reason.

Many SchoolsPortal users are children. Their accounts are created and administered by their school, not by us directly, and their parents or guardians hold accounts linked to them.

The same single session cookie applies to pupil accounts as to every other account. Specifically:

• We do not place advertising or profiling cookies on any account, and least of all on a child's.
• We do not track a pupil's browsing beyond the pages of the portal itself.
• A pupil's cookie is deleted when they close the browser, exactly as for any other user.

Schools remain responsible for ensuring that their use of SchoolsPortal complies with the NDPR 2019 in respect of the pupils and staff in their care, as set out in our Terms of Use.

SchoolsPortal is operated from Nigeria by SparkleCity Nigeria Limited and is subject to the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation 2019 (NDPR), administered by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), together with the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.

Our lawful basis for the session cookie is that it is strictly necessary to deliver a service you have asked for — namely, access to your account. Cookies of this kind do not require prior consent, because the service cannot be provided without them.

We set no cookies on any other basis. If we did, we would obtain your consent first.

We may update this Cookie Policy when the platform changes, when we adopt a new service, or when the law requires it. The date at the top of this page always shows when it was last revised.

Where a change is material — in particular, if we begin using any cookie that is not strictly necessary — we will not rely on you noticing a revised date. We will tell school administrators directly and, where consent is required, ask for it before that cookie is set.

We would encourage you to look over this page occasionally. Continuing to use SchoolsPortal after a change is published means you accept the updated policy.

If anything in this policy is unclear, or you would like to ask what we hold about you, please get in touch. A real person will reply.