Information from Inspection Report 286539 Dorchester Primary School, Surrey

Dear Mr James Martin
Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI Act) – Dorchester Primary School

Thank you for your email received 30 March 2009 regarding the Ofsted inspection of Dorchester Primary School on 17-18 March 2008. Your request relates to the following statement made in the published report: ‘Though a small minority of parents have concerns about the behaviour of a few pupils, most pupils behave well in lessons and around the school’.

The information you have requested is:

a) What evidence was provided or used by the inspectors to justify the above statement, as well as a copy of such evidence?

b) What evidence was provided by the school to suggest that some children do not behave well, as well as a copy of that evidence?

Please accept this as an acknowledgement to your request. We will write to you again shortly and within the statutory 20 working days with our full response.

Yours sincerely

Jeremy Honeywill
Information Manager
South region, Education, Learning & Skills

The attached docfile contains the following text:
"Dear Mr Martin

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI Act) – Dorchester Primary School.

Thank you for your email received on 30 March 2009 requesting information on the inspection report for the March 2008 Ofsted inspection of Dorchester Primary School.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the provisions of the FOI Act, and we are responding within the 20 working days required.

I can confirm that Ofsted does not hold the requested information. Evidence that was used to justify the following statement in the report, “Though a small minority of parents have concerns about the behaviour of a few pupils, most pupils behave well in lessons and around the school”, as well as evidence provided by the school regarding poor behaviour, would have been included in the evidence base for that inspection.

Evidence bases gathered at inspections are destroyed 3 months after the inspection report is published, in line with Ofsted’s document retention policy. Therefore all documents relating to the inspection of Dorchester Primary School, other than the published report, have been destroyed.

If you are unhappy with the handling of your request, you may request an internal review by writing to:

The Deputy Director of Corporate Services
Ofsted
Alexandra House
33 Kingsway
London
WC2B 6SE

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision as to whether or not we have complied with our obligations under the Act with respect to your request. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

If you have any further queries then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Jeremy Honeywill
Information Manager
South region
Education, Learning and Skills"

I found it quite worrying that the Government agency destroys all evidence in relation to school inspections after ONLY 3 months!

In effect this is devaluing the inspection process and confirming it is only a 'snap shot' of a school's performance 'on the day' and places the inspection process in the same league as that of a MOT for your car!!!