Privacy Policy

Last updated: 14 September 2026

The Chef School SA respects your privacy. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, and how we look after it, in line with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).

Who we are

The Chef School SA is a culinary school based at 2 Du Plessis Street, Oatlands, Krugersdorp, Gauteng, operating since 2001. The Chef School SA is the “responsible party” under POPIA for the personal information described in this policy.

You can contact us at:

• Email: info@thechefschoolsa.com
• Phone and WhatsApp: see our Contact page
• Address: 2 Du Plessis Street, Oatlands, Krugersdorp, Gauteng, 1739

Our Information Officer

Our Information Officer is Minnie Brink. You can reach her at info@thechefschoolsa.com with any question, request, or concern about your personal information.

What personal information we collect

We collect personal information when you:

• Fill in the enquiry form on our Contact page (name, email address, phone number if you give it, the type of enquiry, and your message).
• Fill in the enquiry or application form on our International Diploma page (name, email address, phone number, and a message if you add one).
• Message us on WhatsApp.
• Email us directly.
• Visit us in person, apply, or enrol as a student.

When you use our website forms, some technical information, such as your IP address, browser type, and device information, is also processed to protect the forms against spam. See “Cookies and similar technology” below.

Why we process your information

We use your personal information to:

• Respond to your enquiry or application.
• Process your course application and, if you enrol, administer your studies, assessments, and student records.
• Register you with City & Guilds of London for accredited qualifications, if you enrol for one.
• Meet legal, accreditation, or regulatory requirements.
• Protect our website and forms against spam and abuse.

We rely on one or more of the following lawful grounds under POPIA: that processing is necessary to respond to your enquiry or perform a contract with you (such as enrolment), that it is required by law, that you have consented, or that it is in our legitimate interests (for example, keeping our forms free of spam) in a way that does not override your own rights.

Who we share your information with

We do not sell or share your personal information with anyone. The only exception is City & Guilds of London: if you register as a student for an accredited qualification, we give them your name so they can register you for your assessments and certificate.

Cross-border transfers

Our website uses Cloudflare Turnstile, a tool provided by Cloudflare, Inc. (based in the United States), to tell human visitors apart from bots when you submit a form. Turnstile processes limited technical information such as your IP address and browser and device signals. Because Cloudflare is based outside South Africa, this involves a transfer of personal information across borders, as regulated by section 72 of POPIA. Cloudflare applies its own privacy safeguards. You can read their Privacy Policy and Turnstile privacy notice.

If you message us on WhatsApp, your message is handled by WhatsApp (provided by Meta), and WhatsApp’s own privacy policy applies to that conversation.

How long we keep your information

We keep enquiry, application, and student records for 5 years, after which we delete or destroy them. You can ask us to delete information we no longer need at any time (see “Your rights under POPIA” below).

Technical information used for spam prevention (a hashed version of your IP address) is kept for no longer than one hour, purely to limit repeated submissions from the same source.

How we protect your information

Enquiry and application details you submit through our website are stored as private records that only authorised staff can access. They are never publicly visible. We use reasonable technical and organisational measures, including spam and bot protection, to guard against loss, unauthorised access, and misuse of your personal information.

Applicants under 18

Applicants must be at least 16 years old. If you are 16 or 17, a parent or legal guardian must give consent before you apply or enrol, and we may ask for their contact details as part of that process.

Your rights under POPIA

You have the right to:

• Ask us to confirm what personal information we hold about you, and to access it.
• Ask us to correct or update inaccurate or outdated information.
• Ask us to delete or destroy personal information we no longer have a valid reason to keep.
• Object to us processing your personal information in certain circumstances.
• Withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on your consent.
• Lodge a complaint with us, or with the Information Regulator, if you believe we have handled your information incorrectly.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Information Officer, Minnie Brink, at info@thechefschoolsa.com.

Complaints to the Information Regulator

If you are unhappy with how we have handled a request or your personal information, you can also contact South Africa’s Information Regulator directly at inforegulator.org.za.

Cookies and similar technology

Our website does not use analytics or advertising cookies. We use Cloudflare Turnstile, which processes some technical information (such as your IP address and browser signals) only to protect our forms from spam and bots, as described above. Our website fonts are hosted on our own server, not loaded from a third party. If you choose to load the map on our Contact page, this loads content from Google Maps, which has its own privacy practices.

Links to other sites

Our website may link to other websites, such as WhatsApp or Google Maps. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites, and we encourage you to read their privacy policies before sharing any personal information with them.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, for example if the way we use personal information changes. We will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page whenever we do.