Last updated: 13 October 2026
CourseworkHQ uses one cookie, and only in one situation: when a student starts signing in to OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox to pick a file. We don't use any third-party analytics or advertising trackers. We do count visits to our own public pages, on our own server, without storing anything in your browser and without keeping your IP address — that is described in full below. This page explains exactly what we do store in your browser and why, in the interest of being fully transparent rather than because the law requires a long policy for it.
| Name | Type | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
lms_token | Local storage (not a cookie) | Keeps you signed in between visits, so you don't have to log in again on every page | When you log out, or after a period of not using CourseworkHQ — 2 hours for a student account, 30 days for a teacher account (you'll be asked to log in again). The clock restarts each time you use the site, and every session ends after 90 days whatever happens. Student accounts are the shorter of the two because school computers are usually shared. |
lms_device_token | Local storage (not a cookie) | Only if you tick “don't ask for a code on this device”. It tells us this browser has already passed the code step, so you aren't asked again on it. It is a random string and nothing else — it records nothing about your device, browser or location | After 30 days, or when you sign out of your other devices |
lms_user | Local storage (not a cookie) | Remembers your name and role locally so the interface can display them without an extra request | When you log out |
lms_portfolios | Session storage (not a cookie) | Two true/false values — whether you are in a Transition Year group and whether you are in a Life, Community and Work cohort. If you are a student, it is there so the menu can show you only the portfolio you are actually in rather than offering you one you cannot open. It holds no names, no marks and nothing about what you wrote | When you close the tab, and whenever you sign in or out |
chq-demo-tour | Local storage (not a cookie) | Demo site only. Remembers which step of the guided tour you are on, and whether you have closed it, so it doesn't start again on every page | Until you clear your browser's site data |
chq-demo-as | Local storage (not a cookie) | Demo site only. Remembers which of the four demo people you chose to look around as | Until you clear your browser's site data |
helpPromptShown | Session storage (not a cookie) | Teachers only. Remembers that the welcome message pointing to the help guides has already been shown during this visit, so it doesn't reopen every time you return to your dashboard. If you tick “don't show this again” that choice is saved to your account instead, so it holds on every device you sign in from | When you close the tab or browser |
lms_return_session | Local storage (not a cookie) | Teachers only, and only while you are using a practice student to see what your students see. Holds your own sign-in so that “Back to my account” can put you back without asking for your password. Removed the moment you go back, sign in or sign out | Until you go back, sign out or sign in again |
lms_notice_seen | Local storage (not a cookie) | Remembers that you have already closed the message telling you the site will be down for planned maintenance, so the same message doesn't reopen on every page. It holds the date and time that notice was last edited, and nothing about you | Replaced by the next notice; until you clear your browser's site data |
companion-…-auth-token | Local storage (not a cookie) | Students only, and only if you sign in to OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox to hand up or to add to your portfolio. It is the permission slip that lets CourseworkHQ fetch the one file you choose, so you are not asked to sign in again for each file. The name in the middle is whichever service you used. It holds no marks and nothing you wrote, and your files are not read unless you pick one | When you log out or log in again — so a shared school computer never leaves your OneDrive open to the next person |
connect.sid | Cookie (set by us, secure, same-site) | Students only, and only at the moment you press the OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox button to pick a file. It holds a random reference to a short-lived record, on our server, of the sign-in you have just started, so that when OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox sends you back to CourseworkHQ we know it is the same sign-in. It is not set for anyone who does not press one of those buttons, it is never set for teachers, and it holds no name, mark or anything you wrote | After ten minutes. The record on our server is cleared at the same time |
lms_admin_panels | Local storage (not a cookie) | Administrators of CourseworkHQ only. Remembers which sections of the admin page you left open, so the page comes back as you had it instead of every list at once. It holds section names and true or false, and nothing about you or about anybody else | Until you clear your browser's site data |
The two chq-demo- entries exist only on the demo site. The demo has no accounts and no sign-in — these record where you are in a tour of invented data, and nothing about you.
Apart from the one cookie above, these are stored using your browser's "local storage" and "session storage," not cookies — but they do the same kind of job a login cookie would, so we're covering them here for clarity. When you choose OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox, the company you choose also sets its own cookies on its own sign-in page; those are theirs, not ours, and they are described in that company's own policy. Under ePrivacy rules (as reflected in Irish Data Protection Commission guidance), technologies that are "strictly necessary" to provide a service you've directly asked for — like staying logged in to an account you created — don't require cookie-consent banners or opt-in. That's the only reason data is stored in your browser by CourseworkHQ.
We keep a count of how many people visit the public part of this site — the front page, pricing, the free resources, the policy pages, the sign-in page — so that we know whether anyone is finding it. It is worth being precise about how, because it is not how most sites do this.
Because nothing is stored on your device and no one is identified, this does not require a cookie banner or your consent under ePrivacy rules; we do it on the basis of our legitimate interest in knowing whether our own website works. If you would rather not be counted at all, most browsers' “do not track” and private browsing modes make no difference here (they are honoured by no one) — but you are welcome to write to us at the address below and we will explain anything about it you want to know.
If we ever add a third-party analytics service, or any other tool that sets cookies or uses local storage for something beyond keeping you logged in, we'll update this page, and — where consent is legally required — add a proper consent option before any such technology runs.