Census of School Pupils in Cambridgeshire

Richard Taylor made this Freedom of Information request to Cambridgeshire County Council

The request was partially successful.

From: Richard Taylor

8 April 2009

I attended a presentation by council officer Steve Hawkes yesterday
in which he mentioned the existence of an annal census of school
pupils in Cambridgeshire run by the County Council. He reported
that this had a 100% completion rate.

Could you please release:

1. The survey questions used for each of the last five years.
(Including any variation by age if the same questions are not asked
of both 5 and 16 year olds).

2. Any summaries of data collected, or in the event of the absence
of summaries, the raw data.

3. Any standard letter to parents (or similar information)
explaining the census.

4. Links to any information you have on the council's website about
this census, specifically any reports to, or decisions by elected
councillors relating to the decision to run this census and what
questions to include. I am not seeking an exhaustive list of all
references to the exercise or statistics from it, just some
pointers to key documents.

Many thanks,

--

Richard Taylor

Cambridge

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

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From: Ainsworth Paul
Cambridgeshire County Council

15 April 2009

Dear Mr Taylor

Thank you for your enquiry. I consulted a colleague whose Team collates
the census data. She has sent me the information below which I hope will
answer all your queries. If it does not then please let me know.

"The submission of the School Census returns, including a set of named
pupil records, is a statutory requirement on schools under section 537A of
the Education Act 1996. Putting the School Census on a statutory basis:

. means that schools do not need to obtain parental or pupil
consent to the provision of information;

. ensures schools are protected from any legal challenge that they
are breaching a duty of confidence to pupils; and

. helps to ensure that returns are completed by schools.

The data is published annually on the Cambridgeshire website (see link
below) (2009 Schools Book will be published and linked by the end of
May) and detailed data specifications and Fair Processing Notices, which
are issued to schools each September to co-inside with their annual data
update, can also be found on the Teachernet website (see link below)

[1]http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/educati...
(Cambridgshire Schools Book)
[2]http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/ind... (Guidance
documents, Data Level specification tables and Parents Fair Processing
Notices)

Cambridgeshire schools submit an electronic Census return and there are
only a couple of actual questions each school has to complete manually,
the number of whiteboards in schools, number of teachers who have access
to laptops and the actual number of free schools meals taken on census
day. In 2010 the first two questions will be dropped from the census as
this data was used to inform a government initiative around IT in
schools."

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to Helen Maneuf, Head of Audit and Information
Governance, Box RES 1405, Room 307, Shire Hall, Castle Hill, Cambridge CB3
0AP within 40 days of receiving this response.

If you are not content with the outcome of any complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner (IC) for a decision. Generally
the IC cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the Council's own
complaints procedure. The IC can be contacted at Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Paul Ainsworth

Communications and Customer Relations Manager

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Richard Taylor left an annotation (17 April 2009)

It appears from the "data specification" that most, if not all, of the information required by the census is data extracted from management information systems which schools maintain for other purposes. It would appear difficult to determine what information schools hold, or collect, for their own purposes and what, if anything, is collected specifically for the purpose of the census.

The claimed 100% response rate from pupils which had been reported to me is explained as the "data specification" does not allow schools to enter data with respect to the pupil level questions for anything less than 100% of pupils. I find it literally incredible that absolutely every parent or pupil in the county has actually reported what mode of transport they use to get to school, or compliantly reported their ethnicity.

The data specification reveals that parents' contact details and addresses are collected from schools for entry into the national Contact Point database.

Parents or children are asked if their parents are in the armed forces.

Though not included directly in the response, I was prompted to find out from elsewhere that in Wales and Scotland school censuses ask pupils what they consider to be their ethnic origin and nationality / "national identity", and in Northern Ireland data is collected on religion. Welsh pupils were asked to choose between their Welsh and British identity, in 2008 6% refused to make that choice (it's a nonsensical choice which I also refuse to make when asked too).

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/busine...
http://new.wales.gov.uk/statsdocs/school...

Whereas the Welsh and Scottish pupils appeared to have been asked these questions directly for the purpose of the census, it is not clear where the data in Cambridgeshire's schools' databases comes from, so I will ask for clarification.

--

Richard Taylor

Cambridge

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

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From: Richard Taylor

17 April 2009

Dear Mr Ainsworth,

Many thanks for your very informative reply.

It appears from the "data specification" to which you provided a
link that most, if not all, of the information required by the
census is data extracted from management information systems which
schools maintain for other purposes. Could you please clarify if
there any questions asked directly of pupils and/or parents
specifically for the purpose of the census?

For example, are pupils in Cambridgeshire asked to define their own
ethnic background for the census? Are pupils or parents asked what
mode of transport is used to get to school?

The link you provided to statistical information obtained by the
census appears to focus on the school level, rather than the pupil
level questions, and does not cover all the statistical information
collected. Could you please release any available summaries of
information collected by the census relating to:

i/ mode of travel to school

ii/ access to information technology and whiteboards

iii/ ethnic backgrounds and first languages of pupils

--

Richard Taylor

Cambridge

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

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From: Ainsworth Paul
Cambridgeshire County Council

24 April 2009

Dear Mr Taylor

On your first question, schools send parents a data collection sheet
each September, accompanied by a Fair Processing notice. Parents of
children under 12 are asked to provide ehnicity information while
students over 12 are able to declare their own ethnicity. Collected
information is then stored on the school's management information
system.

On your second point, we don't, I'm afraid, have summaries of the
collected information. The raw data is sent, on a school by school
basis, direct to the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Yours sincerely

Paul Ainsworth
Communications Manager

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