Requests to enter reception class at compulsory school age - summer born school admissions

The request was partially successful.

Dear Norfolk County Council,

1. How many requests has Norfolk County Council received pertaining to 'admission of children outside their normal age group' from parents of summer born children regarding entry into reception class at compulsory school age for the school years 2013-2014, 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 respectively?

2. How many of these requests have been granted and how many have been refused by Norfolk County Council for the school years 2013-2014, 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 respectively?

3. How many requests are still under consideration for the school year 2015-2016?

Yours faithfully,

Michelle Melson

Norfolk County Council

Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations
2004

Dear Ms Melson

Thank you for your Information request, received on 16/03/2015 which has
been logged with reference ICM0004027

Our twenty working day deadline for your request is 13/04/2015 and we aim
to respond as soon as possible within the time period.

You will be informed in advance if there is a charge for supplying copies
of the information. We will also provide an explanation if a ny
information is not released to you.

If the requested information contains references to any third parties, we
may need to consult with them before deciding whether or not to release
the information.Should you have any queries regarding your request, please
feel free to contact me.

Yours Sincerely

*** - Invalid Code ***

Information Compliance Team

01603 222661

[1][email address]

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To see our email disclaimer click here [2]http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/emaildisclaimer

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Information Management, Norfolk County Council

Dear Michelle

 

Freedom of Information Request ICM0004027- Refusal

I am writing to confirm that Norfolk County Council has now completed its
search for the information you requested in your correspondence received
on 16 March 2015. I do apologise for the delay in this response.

In accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000,
I have now processed your request.

  

You Asked:

 

1.  How many requests has Norfolk County Council received pertaining to
'admission of children outside their normal age group' from parents of
summer born children regarding entry into reception class at compulsory
school age for the school years 2013-2014,  2014-2015 and 2015-2016
respectively?

 

2.  How many of these requests have been granted and how many have been
refused by Norfolk County Council for the school years 2013-2014,
2014-2015 and 2015-2016 respectively?

 

3.  How many requests are still under consideration for the school year
2015-2016?

Our Response:

 

Your request has been considered and is refused in accordance with section
12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

This is because the cost of locating and retrieving the information
exceeds the "appropriate limit" of £450 as stated in the Freedom of
Information & Data Protection (Appropriate Limit & Fees) Regulations 2004.
 

The information requested is not recorded separately and so to obtain the
information, a manual search of over 9000 records will need to be carried
out. It is estimated that it would take over 150 hours to comply with your
request and cost over £3,750.
 
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this letter acts as
a Refusal Notice.

If you are dissatisfied with our handling of your request you have the
right of appeal through the Council's internal complaints procedure by
setting out the grounds of your appeal in writing to:

The Compliments and Complaints Manager
FREEPOST 1H 2076
Norwich NR1 2BR
E-mail: [1][email address]

An appeal should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of this
notice and should be identified as "FOI Appeal".

If you are dissatisfied after pursuing the complaints procedure, you may
apply to the Information Commissioner under Section 50 of the Act for a
decision whether your request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of Part I of the Act. Contact details as
follows:-

First Contact Team
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
E-mail: [2][email address]
[3]http://www.ico.gov.uk

 

This response will be published without identifying any personal data on
the Norfolk County Council Freedom of Information website
[4]http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/Council_and_de...

 

Lewis Freeman

Information Compliance Officer

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To see our email disclaimer click here [5]http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/emaildisclaimer

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Michelle Melson

Dear Norfolk County Council,
Thank you for your reply.

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Norfolk County Council's handling of my FOI request 'Requests to enter reception class at compulsory school age - summer born school admissions'.

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews. I am writing to request an internal review of Norfolk County Council’s handling of my FOI request ‘Requests to enter reception class at compulsory school age - summer born school admissions’ logged with your reference ICM0004027.

You advised that “[My] request has been considered and is refused in accordance with section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.” and that “The information requested is not recorded separately and so to obtain the information, a manual search of over 9000 records will need to be carried out. It is estimated that it would take over 150 hours to comply with your
request and cost over £3,750”

The information I requested, by its very nature requires Norfolk County Council to consider each case, therefore I am unconvinced that Norfolk County Council does not record the information separately.

Also, as local-authority-maintained schools submit their census data to the local authority and this data includes number of pupils by age by national curriculum year group (i.e NCYearActual=R) and the data for 2013-2014 reception classes has already been returned and for school year 2014-2015, census returns for two out of the three census dates have been and gone, you will have some if not all of that data contained in a basic data set which can be filtered and searched and not require a ‘manual’ search.

Furthermore, on BBC Look East broadcast on 05 May 2015, the BBC ran a statement from Richard Snowden, Head of School Admissions Service at Norfolk County Council which said that Norfolk County Council have supported deferral for half of cases. Fully considered requests will be recorded. I remain unconvinced that Norfolk County Council is unable to provide me the requested information within the terms of the FOI Act."

Moreover, in your annual report to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator you said "Statistics not maintained", (http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/view/NCC153678) there is a disparity between your annual report and your response here.

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

Yours faithfully,

Michelle Melson

Compliments & Complaints, Norfolk County Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Melson,

I am now able to confirm that the review of your FOI appeal has been carried out by our reviewing officer.

The outcome of your appeal can be found in the attached report.

Should you remain dissatisfied with the response to your appeal, you may wish to contact the Information Commissioner at the following address,

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

Tel: 0303 123 1113 (or 01625 545745 if you would prefer not to call an ‘03’ number)

You may also find the following link to the Information Commissioner website useful:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...

Please contact me if you require any further information.

Yours sincerely,

Chloe Fish
Complaints Case Officer
Compliments and Complaints
Customer Service and Communications shared Service
Direct Line: (01603) 638046
email: [email address
www.norfolk.gov.uk
http://intranet.norfolk.gov.uk/cex/csandc/

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