Your privacy, explained simply

Version privacy@2026-09-07 · In force from 2026-09-07

In force, and prepared in-house.

This document is binding on Firma Limited from the date shown above. It was written by Firma Limited from the source code of the product, and has not yet been reviewed by an independent lawyer — we say that plainly rather than imply a review that has not happened. When that review takes place, no commitment made to schools, families or students will be weakened without the notice process each document describes.

This page is about Taonova — the website your school uses for classwork, grades, attendance and reports. It explains what happens to information about you. The full version is longer and written for adults. Everything on this page is also in there.

Who has your information

Your school does. Your school decides what goes into Taonova, who can see it, and how long it is kept.

Taonova is made by a company in New Zealand called Firma Limited. We look after the software for your school. We follow your school's instructions — we don't get to decide things about your information on our own.

So if you want something changed or deleted, ask your school first. They can usually fix it faster than we can, because they are the ones who can see it.

What Taonova knows about you

Depending on what your school uses, this can include:

your name, your school email address, and sometimes your photo
what classes and groups you are in
your attendance — whether you were in class
your grades, marks and teacher comments
work you upload — writing, projects, photos, files, journal posts
messages and comments you write inside Taonova
if your school uses forms for trips or sports: things like allergies, medical conditions and emergency contacts

Some of that is private information about your health. Your school decides who can see it. It should be a small number of people who need to know.

Things we do not do

These are promises, not just descriptions. They are written into our contract with your school, so they are binding.

We do not show you ads. There are no adverts anywhere in Taonova.
We do not sell your information. Not to anyone, ever. There is no way in the software to do it even if someone wanted to.
We do not track you around the internet. Taonova has no trackers, no analytics, no advertising pixels. We checked the whole codebase and found none.
We do not build a profile of you to sell things to you or to anyone else.
We do not use your work to train AI models.

Who else can see your information

People at your school. Your teachers, and staff whose job needs it. Not every teacher can see everything — it depends on the settings your school chooses.

Your parents or guardians, if your school has given them access. They can usually see your grades, attendance and reports.

Other students — only where something is meant to be shared, like a group project or a class discussion. Your private work is not visible to other students.

Some other companies, but only ones your school has deliberately turned on. For example, if your school uses OneDrive, files you save there go to Microsoft.

About AI

Some schools turn on an AI assistant — a computer program that can answer questions, give feedback on your work, or help a teacher write something. Here is the honest version:

Most schools have it switched off. It does not work at all unless your school turns it on and sets it up. If your school has not, no part of your work ever goes to an AI company.
If your school has turned it on, then when the AI is used, the text involved is sent to an AI company — such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or another one your school picked — for that company's computers to read and reply to.
Your name is swapped out first — everywhere text goes to an AI. Before anything is sent, names are replaced with short stand-in labels — ⟦P1⟧, ⟦P2⟧ and so on — and swapped back in the answer you read. The AI company sees "⟦P1⟧ was away 4 times", not your name. The label is written in brackets like that, rather than as words like "Person 1", so that an AI asked to translate or rewrite the text cannot turn it into different words and lose track of who it stands for. If the swap cannot be done for some reason, the text is not sent at all.
Swapping names also cannot hide everything. If you write an essay about your own life, it is still about you even with your name taken out. And a few names — very short ones, or names that are also ordinary words — are left alone, because swapping them would scramble normal sentences.
Voice recordings and imported files cannot be name-swapped, so those AI features stay off unless your school separately decides to turn them on.
The AI companies your school might pick are in other countries. One of the options is in China. Your school chooses.

If you would rather your work was not sent to an AI, tell your teacher. Ask them to check what your school has turned on.

If you are under the age your school has set (usually 13), an adult at your school has to record whether AI can be used with your information, and if your family says no for you, that "no" wins. There is a personal setting that can stop the product asking you again — that is only a "don't ask me again" preference, and it does not give permission for anything.

Automatic decisions

Sometimes Taonova works something out without a person doing it — for example, it can mark a unit or a course as finished based on the grades already entered.

When that happens, a teacher can always see it and change it. A computer does not get the final say about your progress. If you think something has been marked wrongly, ask your teacher — they can correct it.

Your rights

You have rights over information about you. Which ones exactly depend on which country you are in, but everywhere, you can ask what is held about you, ask for it to be corrected if it is wrong, and ask why it is kept and for how long. In Europe and the UK you can also ask for information to be deleted, ask for a copy you can take elsewhere, and object to some uses.

How to ask: talk to your school — a teacher you trust, the school office, or whoever your school says looks after privacy. If you are not sure who to ask, ask any teacher and they will point you at the right person.

How long things are kept

Your school decides. Schools normally keep school records for years, because they need them for reports, references and legal reasons. The exact periods your school has chosen are in the full Privacy Policy.

Keeping your account safe

Do not share your password, not even with a friend.
Log out on a shared or school computer.
If you think someone else has got into your account, tell a teacher straight away. You will not be in trouble for reporting it.
Remember that what you write in Taonova is school work, not a private diary — teachers can see it.

Questions

Ask your teacher. If they are not sure, they know who to ask. There is no such thing as a silly question about your own information — it is yours, and you are allowed to ask about it.

And if something on this page does not make sense, ask a teacher or another adult you trust to explain it. You have a right to understand what happens to information about you.

Taonova is a product of Firma Limited, a company incorporated in New Zealand. Governing law: New Zealand.

New Zealand Business Number 9429036053421. Registered office: 64 Ngatiawa St, One Tree Hill, Auckland 1061, New Zealand.

Privacy questions, data-subject requests, security reports and legal notices: info@taonova.com.