Cookie Policy
Effective: 22 April 2026 · Version 2.0.0 Supersedes: Cookie language in the Privacy Policy dated 1 October 2019
This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are, which cookies the Skilly platform sets, and what choices you have. It is published by Skillscan Limited (trading as Skilly) and forms part of our Privacy Policy.
In one sentence: we set only the cookies that are strictly necessary to run the site and the platform. We do not run analytics, advertising, or behavioural-tracking cookies. There is currently no consent banner because nothing we set requires your consent under the ePrivacy Regulations.
1. Who we are
| Field | |
|---|---|
| Legal entity | Skillscan Limited |
| Trading name | Skilly |
| Company registration (CRO) | 565995 |
| Registered office | 5 Kinross, Fey Yerra Lane, Leopardstown Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18, Ireland |
| Data protection contact | legal@skillysolutions.com |
2. What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small text file placed on your device by a website you visit. Most modern web applications use cookies to keep you signed in, to protect forms from cross-site request forgery, and to remember preferences. Cookies are sent back to the website that set them on each subsequent request.
Cookies are governed in Ireland and the EU by the ePrivacy Regulations 2011 (which implement Directive 2002/58/EC) and, where the cookie also processes personal data, by the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679.
The ePrivacy framework distinguishes between:
- Strictly necessary cookies — required to deliver a service the user has explicitly requested. These do not require consent.
- Non-essential cookies — including analytics, advertising, social-media plugins, and behavioural tracking. These require informed prior consent before being set.
3. The cookies we currently set
We currently set only strictly necessary cookies. There are three of them.
| Cookie | Purpose | Lifetime | Type | Consent required? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
skilly-session | Authenticated user session — only set after you sign in. HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite=Strict. Without this cookie you cannot stay signed in between pages. | Per role: 8 hours for admins, 24 hours for coordinators, 3 days for teachers and pupils | First-party · session token | No (strictly necessary) |
skilly-csrf | Cross-site request forgery protection token, used to verify form submissions originate from the platform itself. Without this, any state-changing action would be vulnerable to CSRF attacks. | Session (deleted when you close your browser) | First-party · security token | No (strictly necessary) |
skilly-consent | Records your response to any cookie banner so we do not ask again. Today this cookie is rarely set, because we do not currently run a banner — but it is reserved so the moment we add anything that needs consent your preference will be remembered immediately. | 1 year | First-party · preference | No (strictly necessary) |
We do not set any other cookies on the platform.
4. What we do NOT use
We do not currently set any of the following on either skilly.ie or app.skilly.ie:
- Analytics cookies — no Google Analytics, no Plausible (cookie-mode), no Fathom, no Hotjar, no Mixpanel, no FullStory.
- Advertising / retargeting pixels — no Google Ads, no Meta / Facebook Pixel, no LinkedIn Insight Tag, no TikTok Pixel.
- Social media widgets — no Facebook Like buttons, no embedded Twitter timelines, no YouTube auto-embeds with cookies (we use privacy-enhanced embed mode where video is shown).
- Session-replay tools — no recording of user sessions.
- Third-party fonts — fonts are self-hosted; no Google Fonts cookie.
- Third-party CDNs setting cookies — we do not embed any third-party scripts that set cookies.
If you inspect cookies in your browser's developer tools while using the platform you should see only the three cookies in the table above and no others. If you ever see a cookie not on this list, that is a defect — please tell us at legal@skillysolutions.com.
5. Other browser storage
Some web applications use technologies similar to cookies — local storage, session storage, IndexedDB. The Skilly platform uses session storage sparingly to cache role-specific UI state (for example, your preferred filter on a page) for the duration of a single tab session. Nothing in session storage is shared with any third party, persists between browser sessions, or carries personal identifiers. It is cleared when you close the tab.
6. If we add product analytics in future
Skilly is a young platform serving sensitive school data. We have made a deliberate choice not to ship third-party analytics today.
When the time comes to understand product usage in more depth (for example, which features teachers use most often, where coordinators get stuck), the route we will take is self-hosted, privacy-first analytics. Concretely:
- A self-hosted instance of a privacy-respecting analytics tool such as Umami or PostHog Community Edition, deployed on our own infrastructure inside the EU
- Configured to not set cookies (these tools support an anonymous-visitor mode using hashed identifiers, with no tracking across sessions)
- Configured to not collect personal data — no IP address retention beyond what is needed for spam filtering, no cross-site tracking, no fingerprinting
- Aggregate metrics only, never individual user behaviour
Properly configured along these lines, the resulting analytics typically falls outside the consent requirement of the ePrivacy Regulations, because nothing is being stored on or accessed from your device.
If we ever introduce anything that does require consent (a non-essential cookie, a third-party tracker, anything fingerprintable), we will:
- Display a clear consent banner before any non-essential storage is accessed
- Default to reject — non-essential cookies are off until you opt in
- Update this Cookie Policy with the new tool, the new cookie, the lawful basis, and the retention period
- Notify the school admin by email for material changes
We will not roll out tracking technology silently behind a "by continuing to use this site you agree" notice. That model does not meet the GDPR consent standard and we will not use it.
7. How to control cookies in your browser
Even though our cookies are strictly necessary and do not collect personal data, you remain in full control. You can:
- Block all cookies — your browser will let you do this in its privacy settings. The platform will not work because you cannot stay signed in. We mention this for completeness; we do not recommend it for the Skilly platform itself.
- Clear cookies — your browser will sign you out of the platform immediately. Useful on a shared school device.
- Use private / incognito mode — cookies live only for the duration of the private window and are deleted when you close it.
Browser-specific instructions:
8. Children's privacy
The Skilly platform is used by pupils aged 12 to 18. We have deliberately limited the cookie footprint to the absolute minimum necessary so that pupils — including those below the Digital Age of Consent (16 in Ireland; 13 in the UK; varies elsewhere in the EU) — are not subject to any tracking or profiling on the platform.
For more on how we protect pupils' data generally, see Section 9 of our Privacy Policy.
9. Where this fits
This Cookie Policy sits inside our broader data-protection commitments:
- Privacy Policy — what personal data we hold, why, and your rights
- Sub-processors — the third parties we engage to deliver the platform
- Terms of Service — the contract under which schools subscribe
10. Changes to this policy
When we make a material change — adding a new cookie, introducing analytics, changing a retention period — we will:
- Publish the updated policy at skilly.ie/cookies
- Update the version-history table below with the date and a description
- Surface a notice on the next sign-in for affected users where the change directly affects them (for example, the appearance of a consent banner)
Non-material changes (typographical fixes, link updates) are published with a bumped version number but without notification.
11. Contact
For questions about this Cookie Policy or about how we handle data more generally:
📧 legal@skillysolutions.com 📞 +353 87 418 8829 📮 Data Protection · Skillscan Limited · 5 Kinross, Fey Yerra Lane, Leopardstown Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18, Ireland
You also retain the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission (Ireland) at www.dataprotection.ie or with the Information Commissioner's Office (UK) at ico.org.uk.
Version history
| Version | Date | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 2.0.0 | 22 April 2026 | First standalone Cookie Policy. Replaces the cookie language that was embedded in the 1 October 2019 Privacy Policy. Documents the three currently-set cookies, confirms the no-tracking baseline, and commits to a self-hosted privacy-first analytics path if and when the time comes. |
| 1.0.0 (in Privacy Policy) | 1 October 2019 | Original cookie language (within Privacy Policy) — superseded. |