Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act - help!

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mystery
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Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act - help!

Post by mystery »

I am trying to get hold of my child's Early Years Foundation Stage Profile assessment. This is something done at the end of Year R and submitted for each school to the LEA as a datafile. I did not know last year that I could ask for it, but the DFEE website makes clear that a parent can have it on request. I have requested it, but have not received a clear answer saying that I will get it, or how long it will take. Do you think I could speed things up by making a request under the Data Protection Act? Is this the relevant Act, and how would I make the request?

Also, the school is small so is not required to publish KS2 results as Year 6 each year is too small. Also they will not say that their 11+ results are. Do you think I could request previous years' KS2 and 11+ results under FOI Act? If so how?

How would you suggest I do all this without seeming annoying? Also, could I request these results from the LEA rather than the school without the school knowing?
Sally-Anne
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Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act - help!

Post by Sally-Anne »

This extract from the Appeals Q&A may be helpful:
Remember that, under the Data Protection Act, you have a legal right to your child’s school record. In the first instance, it’s best just to ask to see the record. If the school doesn’t co-operate fully, the following makes clear what your rights are.

“Technical Guidance Note – Access to personal information held by schools in England.”

http://www.ico.gov.uk/tools_and_resourc ... ction.aspx

The following extract is relevant: bq. under the Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005, referred to here as the Regulations, a parent has the right to access their child’s educational record. Under the subject access right parents will only be able to see all the information about their child when the child is unable to act on their own behalf or gives their consent.

Who has responsibility for requests for information? bq. Under the Regulations, requests from parents to view their child’s educational record should be dealt with by the Board of Governors. All other requests for personal information from the pupil, or someone acting on their behalf, should be dealt with by the school. In practical terms this will make little difference in dealing with requests. However, it is important that requests for personal information are passed to the appropriate person as soon as possible after the request is received.

Requests for information from pupils, or parents, for information that contains, wholly or partly, an educational record must receive a response within 15 school days.

Unless a parent simply asks to see the official educational record under the Regulations, schools and authorities are entitled to receive any fee first.

The scale of charges for a copy of the record is shown further down. Note that the correct approach is actually to make your request to the Governors, not the Head. I suggest that you copy the Head though, because the clock will need to start ticking as quickly as possible.
I would recommend a polite note saying that you now realise that you should have quoted the DPA specifically in your request, and hope that they will now be able to provide you with a copy of your child's record within the 15 days that the DPA specifies.

I am not quite so hot on the FOI Act, but I believe that there is a specific exemption where amounts of data are very small and could therefore lead to individuals being identified. Etienne is probably the best person to answer that question.
mystery
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Re: Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act - help!

Post by mystery »

Thank Sally-Anne, that's great.

Etienne, when you have time would be great to have your thoughts on the other part of the question.
wonderwoman
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Re: Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act - help!

Post by wonderwoman »

Sally-Anne wrote: I am not quite so hot on the FOI Act, but I believe that there is a specific exemption where amounts of data are very small and could therefore lead to individuals being identified. Etienne is probably the best person to answer that question.
I don't know much about the FOI act either, but I do know that small schools' data is not published because it is easy to identify individual pupils. Also it might not be of much value as each child will represent a huge percentage and scores may appear to vary widely from year to year.

I don't know what area you are in but here the Grammar schools run the 11+ and so a primary school, here, would be giving results of a test set and marked by the GS, but by agreement taken at primary school.
Sally-Anne
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Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act - help!

Post by Sally-Anne »

wonderwoman wrote:I don't know much about the FOI act either, but I do know that small schools' data is not published because it is easy to identify individual pupils.
Yes, it is for this reason that the published Bucks 11+ results tables (only published because of an annual FOI request from a local newspaper) now show "<5" for passes and number of successful appeals rather than the exact number.

That was also the reason that the Bucks Head Teacher's Recommendations were abolished. It was possible to identify individual children from the lists, and FOI does not override the right to personal privacy.

I think the school gates gossip machine might be more fruitful than an FOI request!
mystery
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Re: Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act - help!

Post by mystery »

Yes I'm sure for the 11+ results that is probably wise advice, but what about for KS2 SATS where there are fewer than 15 pupils so no requirement to go in the newspaper league tables. Let's say there were 14 pupils - how would telling you the percentage at each level enable you to identify individual pupils?

I know the results will fluctuate wildly - buts let's say you never saw a level 5 ever in any year - it would tell you something either about the intake or the teaching and this might be useful depending on what you wanted to know and why.
wonderwoman
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Joined: Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:07 pm

Re: Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act - help!

Post by wonderwoman »

Yes good advice if you want to know 11+ results - parents at our school generally know them before the teachers.

Last year my DC was in a year group of 14 Y6, as was my eldest DC some time ago. The results were published and I can assure you that by the time I knew his results and his friend's it was easy to work out the rest. Each child was worth 7% of the results, so the results between the 2 different years looked massively different when comparing percentages.

I would look at your Ofsted inspection if you want to know about level 5s. It won't say, exactly, but there is nearly always a comment about the standards reached and whether enough pupils are reaching the higher levels. To get level 5 writing is quite hard; reading and science quite easy; maths somewhere in between.
mitasol
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Re: Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act - help!

Post by mitasol »

For the govt. attainment tables it is 10 or less.
The school had 10, or fewer, pupils eligible for KS2 assessment at the time of the 2008 tests. Results are not shown because of the risk of an individual pupil’s results being identified; or no absence data is shown where the school has 10, or fewer, day pupils of compulsory school age on roll.
These are the most recent attainment tables for Kent (2009). Which will include much of the data you are looking for.

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/cgi-bin/performa ... =p&Year=09
Amber
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Re: Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act - help!

Post by Amber »

Forgive me, but why do you want your child's EYFS profile?
mitasol
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Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:59 am

Re: Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act - help!

Post by mitasol »

I've just had a look through the list I gave and there is one solitary school with more than 10 who has reported 0% for all scores and levels including 0% recorded AT (ie they were not absent or unable to access the tests). :?

So that will probably turn out to be the one you want. :roll:
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