2 Rivergate
T 0300 123 1231
Temple Quay
Textphone 0161 618 8524
Bristol
xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx
BS1 6EH
www.ofsted.gov.uk
25 April 2019
Our Reference
: CAS-420191-N2CWFB
Steiner Waldorf School Fellowship
By email:
request-556079-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Sirs
Your request for information
Thank you for your email of 26 March 2019, in which you requested disclosure of
information via the whatdotheyknow website in relation to the following inspections -
Beechtree Steiner Initiative (URN 144620) on 12 June 2018, Greenwich Steiner
School (URN 132086) on 27 November 2018, and Iona Steiner School (URN 122941)
on 4 December 2018. Specifically:
“copies of briefing material made available to Ofsted inspectors preparatory to
the inspections and records of emails or other written exchanges within
Ofsted discussing the outcome/grading of these schools, or commenting on
the (as yet unpublished) reports.”
The Freedom of Information Act
We are dealing with your request in accordance with the Freedom of Information
(FOI) Act 2000. The first requirement of the Act is that we should confirm whether or
not we hold information of the description set out in your request.
I can confirm that we hold information that falls within the scope of your request;
however we believe that the exemption at section 31 of the Freedom of Information
Act applies to that information.
Section 31(1)(g) of the FOI Act states that “information (…) is exempt information if
its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice—
(1)(g) the exercise by any public authority of its functions for any of the
purposes specified in subsection (2),
[…]
(2)(c) the purpose of ascertaining whether circumstances which would justify
regulatory action in pursuance of any enactment exist or may arise”.
The findings of independent school inspections are used by the Secretary of State to
determine whether regulatory action is required, pursuant to their powers under the
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Education and Skills Act 2008, and therefore this exemption would apply where
disclosure would be likely to harm any of the functions concerned with this type of
regulatory activity.
Section 31 is a qualified exemption and, in deciding whether we should refuse to
disclose certain information under it, we are also required to consider whether the
public interest in maintaining it outweighs that in release of the information.
Under section 10(3) of the Act, we are able to extend the statutory time limit of 20
working days, where we require more time to consider whether the balance of the
public interest lies in maintaining the exemption or disclosing the information. This
consideration of the public interest is still ongoing in relation to your request,
therefore we will not be in a position to respond by the original target date provided
to you.
We will write to you again as soon as this decision-making process is complete, with
our final response. If you have any questions about this letter, please email our
Information Rights and Access Team at
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx.xx. Yours sincerely
Sophie Young
Principal Officer, Unregistered and Independent Schools
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