Kent Test Scores for children found suitable for a single grammar school

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Kent County Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Kent County Council,

FOR 2018 AND 2019 I WOULD LIKE THE REDACTED KENT TEST SCORES FOR EACH SECTION AND TOTAL FOR ALL CHILDREN WHO FAILED THE KENT TEST BUT WERE FOUND SUITABLE FOR A SINGLE GRAMMAR SCHOOL INCLUDING THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL THEY WERE FOUND SUITABLE FOR AND WHETHER OR NOT THE HEADTEACHER SUBMITTED AN APPEAL FOR THE KENT TEST AND WAS IT UPHELD OR NOT.
How many of those children were found suitable for more than one grammar school. How many of those children sat entrance tests for another grammar school but were found unsuitable.

Yours faithfully,
Claire Thornton

 

Information request
Our reference: 9897977

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Dear Ms Thornton
   
Thank you for your email which we received on 3 November 2019.
 
Kent County Council (KCC) acknowledges your request for information, which
we will consider under the relevant legislation (Freedom of Information
Act 2000 and/or Environmental Information Regulations 2004).
 
Assuming KCC holds this information, we will endeavour to supply the data
to you as soon as possible but no later than 29 November 2019 (20 working
days from date of receipt).
 
We will advise you as soon as possible if we do not hold this information
or if there are exemptions to be considered and/or any costs for providing
the information.
 
Please quote our reference - 9897977 in any communication regarding this
particular request.
 

Please see our [1]Information Rights Privacy Notice for details of how we
process your personal data.

 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Carly Wattle
Information Access Officer
Strategic and Corporate Services
+443000417061

 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

References

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1. https://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-counci...

1 Attachment

 

Information request
Our reference: 9897977

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Dear Ms Thornton
 
Thank you for your request for information received on 4 November 2019.
 
Please find attached our response to your request.
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Kelly Leeson
Strategic and Corporate Services
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Dear Kent County Council,

Thank you for your response.

I would like to revise my request having referred to the information from the ICO.

Are you able to supply total kent test scores for all children found eligible for a single grammar school?
I am particularly interested in those found eligible through the shepway and dover tests. It would be helpful if you could indicate the gender but it would suffice to state Dover or shepway.

I do not need to know anything that may identify a child. I do not see anything in the public domain regarding those who were found eligible for a single grammar school. Please can you point me towards the information you are referring to.

If you are unable to supply the information from this updated request then please submit my request for an internal review.

Yours sincerely,
Claire Thornton

 

Information request
Our reference: 9975977

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Ms Thornton
   
Thank you for your email which we received on 5 November 2019.
 
Kent County Council (KCC) acknowledges your request for information, which
we will consider under the relevant legislation (Freedom of Information
Act 2000 and/or Environmental Information Regulations 2004).
 
Assuming KCC holds this information, we will endeavour to supply the data
to you as soon as possible but no later than 3 December 2019 (20 working
days from date of receipt).
 
We will advise you as soon as possible if we do not hold this information
or if there are exemptions to be considered and/or any costs for providing
the information.
 
Please quote our reference - 9975977 in any communication regarding this
particular request.
 

Please see our [1]Information Rights Privacy Notice for details of how we
process your personal data.

 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Carly Wattle
Information Access Officer
Strategic and Corporate Services
+443000417061

 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-counci...

1 Attachment

 

Information request
Our reference: 9975977

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Ms Thornton
 
Thank you for your request for information received on 5 November 2019.
 
Please find attached our response to your request.
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Carly Wattle
Information Access Officer
Strategic and Corporate Services
+443000417061

 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Dear Kent County Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Kent County Council's handling of my FOI request 'Kent Test Scores for children found suitable for a single grammar school'.

I am not requesting any personal information and since there are approximately 350 children for whom they have been found suitable for a single grammar school under their own entrance tests, i do not see how it could in any way be used to identify a child.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/k...

Yours faithfully,

Claire Thornton

 

Information request
Our reference: 9897977

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Dear Ms Thornton
 
Thank you for your request for a review received on 12 November 2019. I am
sorry that you are dissatisfied with our attempts to handle your request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
I can confirm that we are considering your concerns and we will aim to
provide you with a response by 10 December 2019.
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Kelly Leeson
Strategic and Corporate Services
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

 

Information request
Our reference: 9897977

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Dear Ms Thornton
 

Thank you for your 12th November email.

Firstly, it may help if I provide some background detail for our stance
not to provide Kent Test results in any greater detail than the level we
currently proactively publish in the Kent Test Scores Report 
[1]https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-ch...

Following a complaint from a parent to the Information Commissioner (ICO)
about the fact that she could identify her own child from a publication of
Kent Test results broken down to school level on the WhatDoTheyKnow
website, it has been necessary for KCC to reconsider the extent to which
we disclose Kent Test related data. 

After the ICO had investigated the complaint, they wrote to KCC in January
2018 advising that where KCC is publishing Kent Test results to school
level in response to FOI requests, the publication of this level of
detail, especially for small schools where only one or two children may
have taken the test, is allowing some people to identify students and the
results that they have achieved.  As a result, the ICO advised KCC that it
had breached the Data Protection Act 1998, and requested that we consider
both the complaint in question and review the way in which this type of
data is published in the future.

Taking the ICO's advice into account, along with our obligations under the
new Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and the General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) that together form part of the current data protection
regime in the UK, we consider disclosure of the information you have asked
us for will, or will be likely to enable the identification of individual
students, not only by others but also themselves. 

As a result, disclosure on this occasion would place KCC in breach of our
data protection obligations, specifically Article 5(1) of the GDPR that
says:

'1. Personal data shall be:

(a)       processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in
relation to the data subject ('lawfulness, fairness, transparency')'

I therefore consider that KCC was correct to withhold the information you
have requested on the basis that disclosure to school level would breach
our obligations under the data protection legislation and I am unable to
uphold your complaint.

Ironically, the more you refine your request, the more likely it is that
individuals can be identified not only by others but also by themselves. 

If you remain unhappy and consider KCC has not complied with legislation,
you can appeal to the Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance
with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Data Protection Act 2018 &
General Data Protection Regulation. Details of what you need to do, should
you wish to pursue this course of action, are available from the
Information Commissioner's website 
[2]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/, or you can phone the ICO Helpline
on 0303 123 1113.

Best regards

Caroline Dodge | Information Governance Manager | Information Resilience &
Transparency Team | Kent County Council | Room 2.87, Sessions House,
Maidstone, ME14 1XQ | Phone 03000 416033 | Fax 03000 420303 |  [3]Access
to Information | Please see our [4]Information Rights Privacy Notice for
details of how we process your personal data in line with our data
protection obligations |  

 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-ch...
2. https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
3. https://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-counci...
4. https://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-counci...