It depends on who's looking, and that's how it should be. The information needed to play a match is narrower than the information needed to administer a student's participation. An opponent needs to know who they're playing, while the teacher looking after a school's entries needs a fair bit more. A good platform gives each person the information their role calls for, and you should be able to check each view yourself before students sign up. This is one part of safeguarding and student privacy in school esports.
What can opponents see about my students?
School Esports' demo privacy guide describes standard opponent-facing rosters showing first names and game usernames, with student emails, surnames, student IDs and other private roster fields excluded. The parents' guide explains the same boundary for families. School and team context may also identify who is playing; this is a limited roster view, rather than a promise that only two fields appear anywhere on the platform.
A student can still put personal information into match chat, despite the chat rules telling them to keep it out. A game username linked to a school and match history can also point to a real person. Showing fewer fields reduces what's exposed, but it doesn't make anyone anonymous.
What does the public see?
Some of the competition is meant to be seen. The demo's sample participant notice describes public draws, results and standings showing team names and game usernames. That's part of what makes a league easy for families and the wider school community to follow. This is a demo notice, so check your event's actual public pages and participant notice before students join.
In the school account flow described by the parents' guide, there's no dedicated parent dashboard. Parents can view the tournament information the organiser makes public. For a child's information or a privacy request, contact the organisation named in its notice; identity and authority may need to be checked.
What can teachers and student coordinators see?
Approved teachers can act on matches involving teams at their own school, as the teacher setup guide explains, while roster management has separate permissions. Entries still go through approval and eligibility checks, so a staff role doesn't automatically mean being able to see or do everything.
Where enabled, an approved teacher can appoint an eligible student coordinator for a set duration, with tools for permitted school events. Access is tied to the appointment and responsible teacher; it isn't an organisation administrator role. School Esports owner Jonathan Jansen describes coordinators approving teams without billing requirements where their permissions allow it. In his account, billing data, fee-bearing approvals and school disciplinary decisions stay with teachers. Competition staff still review reports under the event's rules.
In match chat, authorised teachers and staff can access relevant rooms, and shared images are restricted to authorised conversation viewers. Being able to open a room doesn't mean someone is watching it all the time, so your usual supervision still matters.
What do organisers, referees and platform staff see?
Organisers need private information for legitimate operating tasks. The main-site School Esports privacy policy describes competition and moderation access, and separately covers provider staff access for necessary support, security and maintenance. People outside your school can therefore have legitimate access to some private fields. Ask how that access is logged and reviewed. For referees, ask to see which assigned and unassigned tournaments they can access; the published policies don't demonstrate that exact permission boundary.
Exports need a bit of thought, too. The same policy covers organisations exporting tournament data. Once a copy leaves the platform, its privacy also depends on how that organisation stores and shares it.
How do optional gamer profiles fit in?
They serve a different purpose from school competition records. Where Gamer Profile features are enabled, the demo's provider privacy policy describes publication after claiming a handle and visibility across sites in the same operator family, with hiding and moderation controls. A local profile, shared sign-in and family profile are different records, so removing one won't necessarily remove competition records. Check a student's bio and picture separately: private roster fields being excluded doesn't stop someone adding personal information there.
How can a school check who sees what?
Ask for a demonstration with made-up data, viewed through each role. It's a useful way to get past general descriptions and see the actual fields on screen. The Privacy Commissioner's guidance for schools on digital technologies supports checking what a provider collects, uses and shares, how it keeps information secure, and when records are removed. A useful demonstration covers:
- each viewpoint: opponent, public visitor, teachers from two different schools, coordinator, assigned and unassigned referees, organisation administrator and provider support
- what each person can do as well as see, including exports, images and notifications
- what changes when a role is added, expires or is removed, including access to old conversations and downloads
- which outside services receive which fields, starting with the provider's subprocessor register
On School Esports: the documented standard opponent roster shows first names and game usernames, and optional gamer profiles sit apart from competition records. If you're considering schoolesports.org for your school, ask for a role-by-role demonstration using sample data.
You can also read about school eligibility and teacher approval.
