Cookie Policy
Cookie Policy
How and why we use cookies on the St Peter Chanel website — and how you can control them.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files placed on your computer, tablet or phone when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the people who own the website.
Some cookies are essential for the website to function properly. Others help us understand how visitors interact with our site so we can improve it.
How we use cookies on this website
We use cookies on st-peterchanel.bexley.sch.uk to:
- keep the website secure and stable
- remember your preferences (such as language and cookie consent choices)
- understand how visitors find and use our website, so we can improve it (using Squarespace Analytics and Google Analytics)
- allow embedded content (such as our Instagram feed) to function
We do not use cookies to:
- collect any personal information about you that you have not provided
- identify you personally (unless you have logged into a service we provide)
- sell information to third parties for marketing purposes
Cookie categories we use
1. Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are essential for our website to function. They cannot be turned off because the website would not work properly without them. They are usually set in response to actions you take, such as setting your privacy preferences or completing a form.
2. Performance and analytics cookies
These cookies help us understand how visitors use our website by collecting and reporting information anonymously. We use Squarespace's built-in analytics and Google Analytics to improve the structure, content and design of our site. You can choose to refuse these cookies.
3. Third-party cookies
Where our site links to or embeds content from third-party services (such as Instagram, Google Analytics or YouTube), those services may set their own cookies. We do not control these cookies — please see the relevant third party's cookie policy for details.
The cookies we use
Our website is built on Squarespace. The cookies set on this site come from Squarespace's platform, Google Analytics, and any embedded third-party content.
| Cookie name | Set by | Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| crumb | Squarespace | Strictly necessary | Security — prevents cross-site request forgery attacks. Session only. |
| SS_MID | Squarespace | Performance | Anonymous visitor identification for Squarespace Analytics. Expires after 2 years. |
| ss_cvr | Squarespace | Performance | Tracks recurring visitor data for Squarespace Analytics. Expires after 2 years. |
| ss_cvt | Squarespace | Performance | Tracks visitor sessions for Squarespace Analytics. Expires after 30 minutes. |
| ss_cpvisit | Squarespace | Performance | Records the visitor's last page-view time for analytics. Expires after 2 years. |
| ss_cookieAllowed | Squarespace | Strictly necessary | Remembers your cookie consent preferences. Expires after 30 days. |
| test | Squarespace | Strictly necessary | Tests whether your browser supports cookies. Session only. |
| _GRECAPTCHA | Google (via Squarespace forms) | Strictly necessary | Set when our contact and tour-booking forms use Google reCAPTCHA to prevent spam. |
| _ga | Google Analytics | Performance | Distinguishes unique visitors by assigning a randomly generated number as an identifier. Expires after 2 years. |
| _ga_<ID> | Google Analytics 4 | Performance | Used to persist session state for Google Analytics 4. Expires after 2 years. |
| _gid | Google Analytics | Performance | Distinguishes users for short-term analysis. Expires after 24 hours. |
| _gat | Google Analytics | Performance | Used by Google to throttle the rate of requests. Expires after 1 minute. |
| ig_did, ig_nrcb | Instagram (Meta) | Third-party | Only set if you click the Instagram link in our footer and Instagram embeds load. Used by Meta for security and feature delivery. |
Google Analytics collects anonymised information about how visitors use our website. You can read more about how Google uses this information in their privacy and terms documentation. You can opt out of Google Analytics across all websites by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
Managing your cookie preferences
When you first visit our website you'll see a banner asking whether you accept non-essential cookies. You can change your mind at any time.
To change your preferences on our site: clear the site's cookies via your browser settings and reload our website — the consent banner will reappear so you can make a fresh choice.
To block or delete cookies in your browser: most browsers allow you to refuse cookies altogether, or to delete cookies already stored. The exact method varies by browser:
Please note that if you block strictly necessary cookies, some parts of our website (such as form submissions) may not work properly.
Got a question about cookies?
If you have any questions about our use of cookies or this Cookie Policy, please contact:
St Peter Chanel School Office
Email: admin@st-peterchanel.bexley.sch.uk
Telephone: 020 8302 6029
Your right to complain
If you are not happy with how we handle cookies, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator.
Changes to this Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our website, the cookies we use, or for legal or operational reasons. We encourage you to revisit this page periodically.