Please read this cookie policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how we use cookies and similar tools to improve performance and enhance your user experience whilst using our website https://www.theverbal.co/ (the Site) and our Verbal Reading Rooms mobile application (the App). 

This policy should be read together with our Privacy Policy which sets out how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information generally, as well as your rights in relation to your personal information and details of how to contact us and supervisory authorities if you have a complaint.

By continuing to use the Site or App, you agree to our use of cookies.

WHO WE ARE

The Site and App are operated by Verbal Arts Centre (Northern Ireland) Limited, a registered charity and not-for-profit company incorporated in Northern Ireland under charity number NIC101482 and company number NI26500, with registered office address Stable Lane and Mall Wall, Bishop Street Within, Derry-Londonderry, BT48 6PU (we, us or our).

WHAT ARE COOKIES?

Cookies are text files which a website may put on your computer or other device when you first visit a site or page. The cookie will help the website, or another website, to recognise your device the next time you visit. Web beacons or similar files can also do the same thing. The term “cookies” is used in this policy to refer to all files that collect information in this way.

Cookies serve many functions. For example, they can help analyse how well the website is performing, to remember your username and preferences, or even allow recommendations to be made regarding content we believe will be most relevant to you.

Personal information can contain certain personal information – for example, if you click to “remember me” when logging in, a cookie will store your username. Most cookies won’t collect information that identifies you, and will instead collect more general information such as how users arrive at and use the website, or a user’s general location.

WHAT SORT OF COOKIES DO THE SITE OR APP USE?

Generally, we use cookies to perform up to four different functions:

1. ESSENTIAL COOKIES

Some cookies are essential for the operation of the Site or App. For example, some cookies allow us to identify registered users and ensure they can access their ‘registered users only’ pages. If a registered user opts to disable these cookies, the user will not be able to access all of the content that registration entitles them to.

1. FUNCTIONALITY COOKIES

Functionality cookies allow us to remember your preferences. For example, cookies save you the trouble of typing in your username every time you access the Site or App. 

1. ANALYTICAL OR PERFORMANCE COOKIES

Other cookies analyse how visitors use the Site or App and to monitor website performance. We can therefore try to provide a high-quality experience by customising our offering and quickly identifying and fixing any issues that arise. For example, performance cookies keep track of which pages are very popular, which method of linking between pages is best, and can be used to determine why some pages are receiving error messages. We might also use these cookies to highlight articles or site services that we think will be of interest to you based on your usage of the Site or App.

We also use Google Analytics to collect information about traffic on our website, what type of device was used to view the website and the probable geographic location of the visitor. To learn more about Google Analytics click here.

SPECIFIC COOKIES

We use both ‘Session ID Cookies’, which allow us to track your actions during a single browsing session, but do not remain on your device afterwards, and ‘Persistent Cookies’, which remain on your device between sessions, for the purposes outlined below. Unless otherwise specified below, each of the cookies we use are Persistent Cookies. 

Session ID and Persistent Cookies can be either first or third party cookies. A first-party cookie is set by the website being visited and a third-party cookie is set by a different website. Both types of cookie may be used by us or our business partners, and we have divided the specific cookies below into first-party and third-party cookies. 

Any third-party cookies will be governed by their own terms and privacy policies, so you should read these before giving your consent to enable these third-party cookies. Please note that we have no control over third party cookies. 

We may also collect and store personal data on your computer or other device using application data caches and browser web storage (including HTML 5) and other technology.

You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:

The Site: 

The App:

DOES ANYONE ELSE USE COOKIES ON THE SITE OR APP?

Advertisers sometimes use their own cookies to provide you with targeted advertising. For example, advertisers may use a profile they have built on websites that you have previously visited to present you with more relevant advertisements during your visit to the Site or use of the App. We believe that it is useful to our users to see advertisements that are more relevant to their interests.

We also use or allow third parties to serve cookies that fall into the four categories above. For example, like many companies, we use Google Analytics to help monitor the website traffic. Our Privacy Policy describes how we may collect data in further detail. We may also use third party cookies to help with security, market research, revenue tracking, improving Site functionality and monitoring compliance with our terms and conditions and copyright policy.

CAN A USER BLOCK COOKIES?

As explained above, cookies help you to get the most out of the Site or App. 

The first time you accessed the website, you should have seen an overlay which explained that by continuing to access the Site or App, you are consenting to the use of cookies by us.

Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can however obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:

1. 1. 1. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en (Chrome);
      2. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences (Firefox);
      3. http://www.opera.com/help/tutorials/security/cookies/ (Opera);
      4. https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies (Internet Explorer);
      5. https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21411 (Safari); and
      6. https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edge-and-privacy (Edge).

Please remember that if you do choose to disable cookies, you may find that certain sections of the Site or App do not work properly. If you block cookies, you will not be able to use all the features on our website.

DO WE TRACK WHETHER USERS OPEN OUR EMAILS?

Emails from us may contain a single, campaign-unique “web beacon pixel” to help us determine whether our emails are viewed and verify any clicks through to links or advertisements within the email. 

This information may be used for purposes including determining which emails are more interesting to users, to query whether users who do not view emails wish to continue receiving them and to inform our advertisers in aggregate how many users have clicked on their advertisements. The pixel will be deleted when you delete the email. If you do not wish the pixel to be downloaded to your device, you should select to receive emails from us in plain text rather than HTML.

UPDATES TO THIS POLICY

If we make any material update to this Cookies Policy, we will notify you. Otherwise you should check this policy whenever you use our Site or App to ensure you are happy with its content at that time, as it will be binding upon you without further notice. 

This policy was last updated on [●] June 2022.