Last updated: 23 July 2026

Purple Carrot School of Culinary Arts (Pty) Ltd respects your privacy and is committed to handling personal information responsibly and in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”) and other applicable South African law.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect through purplecarrot.co.za, our online forms and related communications, why we use it, who may receive it, and the choices available to you.

1. Who we are
The responsible party is:

Legal name: Purple Carrot School of Culinary Arts (Pty) Ltd
Registration number: 2016/361876/07
Trading name: Purple Carrot Chef School
Physical address: 2 Luke Street, Zigmart Building, 1st Floor, Potchefstroom, North West, 2531, South Africa
Website: https://purplecarrot.co.za/
Email: thea@purplecarrot.co.za
Telephone: 082 556 0779
Privacy contact: Thea Prinsloo
2. Who this policy applies to
This policy applies to website visitors, prospective students, applicants, students, parents and guardians, account payers or sponsors, emergency contacts, referees, and anyone who contacts or supplies information to Purple Carrot through the website.

3. Personal information we collect
Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

Names, identity or passport numbers, dates of birth and preferred titles.
Telephone numbers, email addresses, residential addresses and preferred communication methods.
Parent, guardian, sponsor, account payer and emergency-contact details.
Course choices, education history, qualifications, examination results, computer skills, motivations and reference information.
Medical, allergy, medication, accessibility, learning-support, medical-aid and emergency-care information.
Copies of identity documents, qualifications, CVs, proof of residence, reference letters and other documents you choose to upload.
Application declarations, consents, correspondence, interview notes and application outcomes.
Payment and account information if you later enrol or make a payment. Bank mandates and suretyship information are handled separately from the online application.
Technical information such as your IP address, browser type, device information, form-submission time, security logs and cookie choices.
Any other information you voluntarily provide when contacting us.
4. Special personal information and information about children
Medical and health information is special personal information under POPIA. We request it only where reasonably relevant to student support, accessibility, safety, practical training or emergency care. We process it with appropriate consent or where otherwise permitted by law, and we restrict access to people who reasonably need it.

If an applicant is under 18, a competent parent or guardian should submit or approve the application and the processing of the minor’s personal information. By supplying information about a minor, you confirm that you are authorised to do so.

5. How we collect information
We usually collect information directly from you when you browse the website, submit an application or enquiry, upload documents, speak to us, attend an interview or correspond with us.

We may also receive relevant information from a parent, guardian, sponsor, account payer, referee, school, qualification body, accreditation body or service provider where you have authorised this or where the law permits it. If you provide another person’s information, you confirm that you have told them why it is being provided and are authorised to share it.

6. Why we use personal information
We may use personal information to:

Respond to enquiries and provide information about courses.
Receive, verify, assess and administer applications.
Arrange interviews, assessments and admissions communication.
Confirm identity, age, qualifications and supporting documents.
Assess and provide reasonable student, accessibility and learning support.
Protect health and safety and respond to emergencies.
Administer enrolment, classes, practical training, assessments, examinations, certification and student records if an applicant is accepted.
Register students with applicable accreditation, awarding, assessment or examination bodies.
Administer fees, invoices, payments and accounts under a separate enrolment or payment agreement.
Communicate with students, applicants, guardians, sponsors and account payers.
Maintain the security, availability and performance of our website and systems.
Prevent fraud, misuse, unauthorised access and other unlawful activity.
Comply with legal, regulatory, accreditation, audit and record-keeping obligations.
Establish, exercise or defend legal rights.
Improve our courses, administration, website and applicant experience using appropriate statistics or de-identified information.
We process information where you have consented, where it is necessary to consider your application or perform an agreement, where the law requires or permits it, or where it is necessary to protect the legitimate interests of you, Purple Carrot or another person. You may withdraw consent, but this will not affect processing already performed lawfully and may prevent us from continuing with an application or providing a requested service.

7. Required and optional information
Fields marked as required are reasonably necessary for us to process the application or enquiry. If required information is not supplied, we may be unable to consider the application or respond properly.

Document uploads on the online application are optional. We may request outstanding documents later if they are needed to assess or complete an application.

8. Automated decisions
Purple Carrot does not accept or reject an applicant solely through an automated decision-making process. Applications may be reviewed by authorised staff and may include an interview, assessment or request for further information.

9. Who we share information with
We do not sell personal information. We may share only what is reasonably necessary with:

Authorised Purple Carrot employees, lecturers, assessors and administrators.
Website hosting, email, backup, IT support, form-processing, communications and cloud-service providers acting on our instructions.
Accreditation, registration, awarding, moderation, assessment and examination bodies applicable to the selected programme.
Workplace, internship or practical-training partners where relevant and appropriately authorised.
Medical professionals, emergency services or medical-aid providers where reasonably necessary to protect life, health or safety.
Professional advisers, auditors, insurers, debt-recovery providers and legal representatives where lawfully required.
Government departments, regulators, courts, law-enforcement bodies or other authorities where required or permitted by law.
A successor or purchaser in a lawful business restructuring, subject to appropriate confidentiality and privacy safeguards.
Service providers must process information only for the agreed purpose and apply appropriate security and confidentiality measures.

10. Storage and transfers outside South Africa
Our website, email, backup or cloud-service providers may process or store information in South Africa or another country. Where personal information is transferred outside South Africa, we take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient is subject to a law, agreement, binding corporate rule or other protection providing an adequate level of privacy protection as required by POPIA.

11. Security
We use reasonable technical and organisational safeguards appropriate to the nature of the information. These may include secure website connections, access controls, authentication, software updates, backups, confidentiality duties and restrictions on access to applicant documents and medical information.

No internet transmission or storage system can be guaranteed completely secure. If we become aware of a security compromise affecting personal information, we will investigate and notify the Information Regulator and affected people where required by law.

12. How long we keep information
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or as required for legal, contractual, accreditation, tax, audit, safety or dispute-resolution purposes.

Application information may be retained while the application is considered and for a reasonable period afterwards to deal with queries, re-applications, complaints or legal obligations. If an applicant enrols, relevant information becomes part of the student record and may be kept for the duration of the relationship and the required record-retention period afterwards. When information is no longer required, we will delete, destroy or de-identify it where reasonably practicable.

13. Cookies and similar technology
Our website may use cookies and similar technology for:

Necessary functions: security, form operation, session management and remembering privacy choices.
Preferences: remembering selected settings or display choices.
Analytics: understanding website usage and improving performance where enabled.
Embedded and marketing content: loading services such as maps, videos, social-media content or advertising tools where enabled and permitted.
Third-party content may set its own cookies and receive technical information when you interact with it. You can manage cookies through any consent controls displayed on the website and through your browser settings. Blocking necessary cookies may affect website or form functionality.

14. Direct marketing
Application and course-administration messages are service communications, not marketing. We will send electronic direct marketing only where permitted by POPIA. You may opt out at any time by using the unsubscribe method provided or by contacting us. Opting out of marketing will not prevent necessary communication about an application or enrolment.

15. Your rights
Subject to applicable law, you may:

Ask whether we hold personal information about you.
Request access to your personal information and information about who has received it.
Ask us to correct or update inaccurate, incomplete, misleading or outdated information.
Request deletion or destruction where we are no longer authorised to retain the information.
Object to particular processing on reasonable grounds where POPIA permits.
Withdraw consent where processing depends on consent.
Object to or opt out of direct marketing.
Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator.
To protect you and others, we may ask for proof of identity or authority before acting on a request. Some rights may be limited by POPIA, the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 or another applicable law.

16. Privacy requests and complaints
Please first contact our privacy contact so that we can try to resolve the matter:

Privacy contact: Thea Prinsloo
Email: thea@purplecarrot.co.za
Telephone: 082 556 0779
Address: 2 Luke Street, Zigmart Building, 1st Floor, Potchefstroom, North West, 2531, South Africa
You may also lodge a POPIA complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa):

Website: https://inforegulator.org.za/complaints/
POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
Telephone: 010 023 5200
Toll-free: 0800 017 160
17. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy when our website, forms, services or legal obligations change. The latest version will be published on this page with its updated date. Material changes may also be communicated directly where reasonably necessary.